Restoring discolored plastic

[McHeath]

You can read about my adventure trying to restore my badly yellowed 1500 here:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=566.0

Now for the 25 dollar question, does anyone have any ideas on how to get this yellow out of these phones?  I read this article and it was interesting:

http://www.vintagecomputing.com/index.php/archives/189

So in a fit of adventure I rubbed some acetone on the shell of my 1500.  Low and behold a good deal of the yellow scrapped off.  Huh?  No amount of scrubbing with soap and water had made a dent in it, but suddenly I could use my fingernail and remove it.  What would happen if I soaked the case in acetone for a bit?  Would it dissolve?  What about bleach?  Would soaking the case in bleach possibly remove the yellow, which it seems is now a surface coating more than I realized at first.

Weirdness.

[BDM]

You can read about my adventure trying to restore my badly yellowed 1500 here:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=566.0

Now for the 25 dollar question, does anyone have any ideas on how to get this yellow out of these phones?  I read this article and it was interesting:

http://www.vintagecomputing.com/index.php/archives/189

So in a fit of adventure I rubbed some acetone on the shell of my 1500.  Low and behold a good deal of the yellow scrapped off.  Huh?  No amount of scrubbing with soap and water had made a dent in it, but suddenly I could use my fingernail and remove it.  What would happen if I soaked the case in acetone for a bit?  Would it dissolve?  What about bleach?  Would soaking the case in bleach possibly remove the yellow, which it seems is now a surface coating more than I realized at first.

Weirdness.

Well, an A+ for determination What about mineral spirits. Works real well on plastic radio dials, without removing even a shade of numbering.

[Perry]

I hadn't thought of trying it for phones, but there was a problem a few years ago with some of the white plastic iBooks turning yellow where the users' hands rested. The best trick for removing the yellow was non-acetone nail polish remover:
http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/3163

[Dennis Markham]

The only thing I know is that Acetone will melt Tennite (soft plastic).  DO NOT use it on soft plastic.

[benhutcherson]

I'd be very, very leary of using acetone on any plastic telephone component.

The hard plastic ones are ABS(acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) if I'm not mistaken, which is easily dissolved by acetone. You can, in some cases, permanently damage the plastic if you're not careful.

[Dan/Panther]

I have aqua WE500 that someone has apparently soaked in a very strong solvent. The lettering on the handset is all but gone, and you can see where the plastic has run inside the case.
Like I mentioned in my 302 thread about removing old paint etc., you can remove it but be VERY careful there is a thin line between success and disaster.
D/P

[McHeath]

Currently the shell is soaking in Goo-Gone, which I've done before on phones with no harm and successfully removed gunk.  It was the darnest thing however, wiped a little acetone on the back of the shell, and could then scrap off the yellow/green color with my fingernail.  And it was not digging into the plastic, I did a small patch to see if this was consistent and it was.  I suppose I could do the whole shell this way, oy vey that would be a lot of work.

As for the handset I sanded, if you saw it -I'll post pics later- you'd say it is blue.  However you can clearly see that there is discolor to the blue, a subtle yellowish/green cast, much more than the receiver cap came out with.  Disappointing to say the least, the phone in the e-bay ad looked dirty and yellowed some, but it's far worse in person and is really uniformly green all over. 

[McHeath]

Goo-gone failed utterly.  Made not a wit of difference.  So, it's off to get some acetone and cotton wipes and try surface application and scrubbing.  I think that removing the worst of the yellow this method will be more productive that sanding it down to the nubs. 

[BDM]

I'm going to give mineral spirits a try on one of my parts sets. I'll post my results maybe this weekend.

[Dan]

I tried "Mr Clean Magic erasers" on my yellow aqua blue phone, with great results. Wallmart even makes their own house brand, which are a little cheaper.

[McHeath]

Interesting idea on the magic erasers, who'd a thought that might work?

Well after major work this evening the handset and caps are all aqua again.  Sanded with 220, then scrubbed with acetone, then sanded with 320, then scrubbed with acetone, then sanded with 400, 800, 1000 and 2000.  Final coat of auto rubbing compound. 

Horrible amount of work.  Spent about two hours on the handset, but it certainly looks good and I'm pleased with the results.

Then I went over the shell with the first scrubbing of acetone.  Dramatic change of color right away.  Got to be very careful with the acetone, it will melt the plastic pretty quick. 

[Dan]

Mr Clean magic erasers are the only thing to take pinball swirl marks off a pinball machine playfield. I have restored my machine with them and  thought they might work well on phones. I'm sure the acetone method works great, too. I'm copying your method, McHeath. I have an old princess that the erasers won't completely fix.

Have you been able to get the "shine" back  after using 320 and 400, or is it dull and clean? Thanks

[McHeath]

The shine comes back after using the 2000 grit and then rubbing compound.  They really look good at that point.  Be careful with that acetone, it will melt the plastic if you pour it right on.  Use a good strong rag and wet it, then scrub the phone.  A lot of color will come off.