GPO 746 bell tinkle problem

[royalbox]

Hello Andy,
I used "Vanish Crystal White Oxi Action" in hot water. I made a small UV enclosure thing a few years ago for exposing printed circuit boards, though I never got round to doing that. It was just veroboard with lots of UV leds and resistors. Unfortunately it only worked for a few days before a lot of the LEDs started going dim, don't know why, so my other ivory phone is half done. I'll wait for the summer now and try it outside on a sunny day.

I't's difficult to get decent pictures without even lighting but here it is anyway on a white background. The curly cord is new, so you can see that it matches that quite well.
Barry.

EDIT: Looks patchy in the pictures, probably due to reflections because it's very shiny, I finished it with novus 2. Looks good in real life, honest!

[andy1702]

Looks pretty good to me!  I did the outside in the sun thing last summer. I found the problem was I had to keep moving the bucket because as the sun went round the thing went into shadows cast by buidings/trees etc. I might try getting a UV lamp and giving it another try. I had a go at the US method of sanding and polishing but it took forever to do just a case let alone the handset.

The interesting question about retrobright is will it fade cak again? I've heard some reports that the process reverses pretty fast and others who say it's stable.

Andy.

[twocvbloke]

You can get UV lamps pretty cheap these days thanks to women and their need to have nail art painted on their fingers, as they use UV-curing varnishes to solidify everything, and of course, they're useful for making PCBs and getting retrobrite to work...

As for how long it lasts, well, it depends on the plastics, some that are so yellow that they look like they were soaked in rusty water can go bad again pretty quickly, but others that have taken decades to develop a mild yellowing tend to last longer...

[royalbox]

Yes, I read online about them reverting back again. Just have to wait and see I suppose.

If you do get a UV lamp, I'd be interesting to see how you get on with it and which type you got. I've read online that you have to get one with the right wavelength. Also read that there are some fake UV bulbs that are literally just painted and don't give off any UV.

I would have a similar problem in the sun as you I think Andy, I have tall trees aound me.

Barry.

[andy1702]

I wonder if a 'grow lamp' as sold in garden centres for giving your plants a bit of extra daylight would work? Surely that must be the same as the sun, isn't it? I've seen the bulbs on sale for screwing into a normal lamp holder.

Andy.

[twocvbloke]

The grow lamps are just providing certain spectrums of blue & red light, rather than UV, so unless you're planning to grow indoor tomatoes (or other, ahem, "greenery"), then it's better to look for UV lamps...

[Jim Stettler]

Halogen lamps are high in UV and are cheap and easy to find .
Just a thought,
Jim S.

[andy1702]

darn! I just replaced all my hallogen spotlights with LEDs!