Brick de-yellowing techniques

[Calabar]

So the only thing I need is 3% peroxide, right?

What about right dose for lego?

@ super curry max

Amazing result! Something similar will save many bricks from my infantry!

[fred67]

So the only thing I need is 3% peroxide, right?

What about right dose for lego?

@ super curry max

Amazing result! Something similar will save many bricks from my infantry!

There's no "right dose." At only 3%, you don't want to dilute it any more than that. My first time I just used straight 3%, but it took several days to really work (and the plastic ended up being "soft" and needed to "cure" for a few days after that).

[Calabar]

Perhaps it could seems a stupid question but... "3% peroxide" is a liquid mixture?

However super curry max obtained that great result in few hours!

So.. a little appeal: can you create a "guide for dummies", explaining step by step the procedure and specifying every little "trick"?

[CP5670]

I should have taken pics of what i did today but there really wasn't any change in the shade of the color bricks i did today.

I did a few blue bricks that had the yellowized sort of greenish tint to it and also some gray pieces and a few old grey mountain pieces that were also greenish. The blue bricks showed no diminishing change color and came out great. As for the grey walls on the parts that were greenish those parts ended up slightly lighter in color than than the rest of the piece but(for me at least) you can hardly tell. I mean you can see where the yellow part was but only if you are really looking for it. I'm more than happy with how this turned out.

It's much better than the yellowed look, in any case. I only have a few gray pieces that are discolored (as opposed to numerous white pieces), but I would like to restore their colors too.

Did you put the entire brick in the liquid or only the yellowed portions of it? I'm wondering if the substance has any effect on the normal, non-yellowed surfaces.

[super curry max]

It's much better than the yellowed look, in any case. I only have a few gray pieces that are discolored (as opposed to numerous white pieces), but I would like to restore their colors too.

Did you put the entire brick in the liquid or only the yellowed portions of it? I'm wondering if the substance has any effect on the normal, non-yellowed surfaces.

Yeah i just threw the entire brick into the jar. There really wasn't any way to get at just the yellowed parts. But as far as I can tell the surface of the bricks not yellowed were unaffected by the peroxide. If you look at the Flag I did at the blue and black parts nothing happened to those colors at all.

As for a step by step guide:

1. Get a clear jar large enough to hold all the bricks you want to do. I used a glass jar with a lid so i could turn it over on its side for maximum sun penetration.

2. pour in 2 teaspoons of oxyclean(or something similar)

3. throw in your ugly bricks.

4. pour in enough peroxide to submerge all the bricks.

5. Close lid and shake jar a bit and set outside in direct sunlight.

6. check every now and then.

Oh and inside the jar the bricks will fizzle like when you put an antacid(like alka seltzer) into water. Don't worry there is nothing wrong and your bricks are not dissolving. :)

[fred67]

Perhaps it could seems a stupid question but... "3% peroxide" is a liquid mixture?

However super curry max obtained that great result in few hours!

So.. a little appeal: can you create a "guide for dummies", explaining step by step the procedure and specifying every little "trick"?

Start with what super curry max wrote, but keep in mind you don't need oxyclean, it just seems to help go faster (in my experience).

I don't know about Italy, but you can't buy 100% Hydrogen Peroxide solution in the U.S., as far as I can tell.

Some places you can get higher concentration, but all I have been able to find is 3% hydrogen peroxide (they sell you a container with 97% water and 3% hydrogen peroxide). I could look in other places, but 3% works good enough for me.

[Calabar]

As for a step by step guide:

1. Get a clear jar large enough to hold all the bricks you want to do. I used a glass jar with a lid so I could turn it over on its side for maximum sun penetration.

2. pour in 2 teaspoons of oxyclean (or something similar)

3. throw in your ugly bricks.

4. pour in enough peroxide to submerge all the bricks.

5. Close lid and shake jar a bit and set outside in direct sunlight.

6. check every now and then.

Oh and inside the jar the bricks will fizzle like when you put an antacid(like alka seltzer) into water. Don't worry there is nothing wrong and your bricks are not dissolving. :)

Really Thanks!!!

Can I ask some questions?

- So oxyclean is necessary? You use it to obtain you results?

- peroxide is the solution at 3%? Is it a "ready" fluid or a powder I've to mix with water?

- in you experience, is two hours the amount of time you think is necessary to obtain the correct result? With or without oxyclean?

- have I to shake or move the jar in order to best expose all sides of bricks to the sunlight?

- is the sunlight necessary if I don't use oxiclean?

- is it possible to recycle the Hydrogen Peroxide for other bricks?

Excuse me for insistence, but because of my poor English, I fear to misunderstand something important!

EDIT:

I miss fred67 post, that replays to some of my answers.

I notice now that "Hydrogen Peroxide" is the common disinfectant that I've at home already!

That makes things much clearer

Edited August 31, 2010 by Calabar

[fred67]

Really Thanks!!!

Can I ask some questions?

- So oxyclean is necessary? You use it to obtain you results?

- peroxide is the solution at 3%? Is it a "ready" fluid or a powder I've to mix with water?

- in you experience, is two hours the amount of time you think is necessary to obtain the correct result? With or without oxyclean?

- have I to shake or move the jar in order to best expose all sides of bricks to the sunlight?

- is the sunlight necessary if I don't use oxiclean?

- is it possible to recycle the Hydrogen Peroxide for other bricks?

Excuse me for insistence, but because of my poor English, I fear to misunderstand something important!

EDIT:

I miss fred67 post, that replays to some of my answers.

I notice now that "Hydrogen Peroxide" is the common disinfectant that I've at home already!

That makes things much clearer

In my experience, oxyclean acts as a catalyst (something that does not affect the outcome, but makes it happen faster), but it's also a cleaner, so it can remove dirt and oils as well as helping restore color, so if you can find it then try it. Otherwise you will just have to leave your bricks out in the sun longer (in my experience).

As you guess, hydrogen peroxide is a liquid available in different concentrations.

Two hours is not enough for really discolored bricks. With oxyclean, I put the container out in the sun before I go to work and it's ready when I get home, so 8 or more hours. Without oxyclean, it takes several days. That is my experience, anyway.

You don't really have to shake or stir the jar, in my experience, although it would not hurt.

Sunlight is always necessary... both for discoloring and fixing the bricks, ironically.

Don't know about recycling, but I don't see why not. It's pretty cheap here, so I just dump it.

Edited August 31, 2010 by fred67

[BrickWild]

Is oxyclean available in my country?

That is an ingenuious way of restoring your bricks!

[Wolfy 8880]

Is oxyclean available in my country?

Vanish Napi-San Oxi-Action? (Advertised relentlessly on daytime TV.)

[Gareth]

Hi I think this would be the right place to post this but if anyone doesn't agree please move to the appropriate section.

I read on here somewhere about cleaning white and Gray Lego pieces with bleach using a mix of 50% Bleach and 50% water.

I tried this at first on a selection of old white (more like yellow) bricks and left them for about 12hours, the results were different but the Lego bricks were still yellow.

So I decided to try the bleach neat, 100% bleach with no dilution, I didn't know what would happen to the plastic if it would be alright or what. So I set the next batch of bricks in the bleach and originally I was going to leave them for 12 hours again, but I forgot and got them out around 24hours later.

Now to my surprise the bricks were completely white and no sign yellowing at all, almost to the point were they were identical to new pieces of Lego. Also I do not know what the long term effects of this process is yet.

I have only tried this on the white colour and shall also try on the other colours Gray being the next but I will be taking close and regular observations so as not to loose the colour constancy of the bricks, might try blue (green) as well.

Hope this is of use to anyone, and if there is any long term affects that are known please let me know.

Thank you

Gareth

[LEGO Guy Bri]

Greetings Gareth,

I have read numerous topics about restoring UV damaged/ dirty bricks. I can't seem to find the discussions I read but, I will give you the tips I know.

I'll start with a brief on myself. I am an avid collector of classic town and modern city sets. 98% of my purchases are from eBay. I always look for the cheapest price for my sets so I never have any trouble accumulating bricks in rough shape. I am kind of a perfectionist and love to have my sets in as near mint shape as possible. Here is what I do with very good results:

Dirty Bricks:

I use water tight tupperware with hot water from my sink (hot as it gets but, thats just me) with a few squirts of dawn dish soap AND a splash of a cherry scented car wash soap. Obviously the Dawn is for dirt, grime, ect. The car soap is for a bit of protection for the plastic. Great for molded car bumpers and bricks. I let them soak for a while and occasionally spin them. The longer they soak the more temporarily cherry they smell (pleasant to me). If I deem necessary, will also grab my brick brush (a new tooth brush) and give them a little scrub. That step is totally up to you as thoroughly cleaning bricks is a timely process.

Yellowed Bricks:

I use Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2). You can use bleach but, I have read that bleach can make the bricks brittle and can understand why. H2O2 is an oxidizer, used in place of bleach. A few on here have said, "soak yellowed bricks for a few days to a week" which you can do. I, however am not patient enough for that I keep them in for up to a couple hours. A week may be necessary if they are extremely damaged, in which case, they may be unsalvageable. Still never hurts to try. I reuse my H2O2, anyway. After that I put them in the bath stated above. I don't know if anyone has ever noticed that peroxide and skin = foul smell. I'm guessing from the bacteria on your hands. Its still nice to get those other cleaning agents on the bricks.

After that I rinse thoroughly in a pasta strainer, put them on a towel, and stick them in front of a fan. I have had 100% or near 100% improvement with this method, taking years (sometimes a decade) off of my sets.

One last thing. This is important! For baseplates use LUKE WARM water. Too hot can warp the plate because its so thin. That and I use dawn soap and if it has scuffs, crayon/marker stain a light scrub with a MR. Clean Magic Eraser.

I've done this for the past three years (since I started collecting again) and haven't lost a set so you should be golden. Take what you want from here and do what you feel is comfortable for your bricks. Hope this helps and good luck!

Edited April 20, 2011 by Leg Godt Gud

[Solscud007]

Hydrogen Peroxide has been found to reverse severe yellowing. It has made it around the toy collecting areas.

Some one reversed the yellowing on his old Super Nintendo.

The concetration of Hydrogen Peroxide is important. Also for some odd reason, putting it out in the sun also speeds up the de-yellowing process. Go figure.

[Gareth]

Ah okay that could be of use. Is it good for all colours of Lego? and where do I buy it from?.

[Solscud007]

Ah okay that could be of use. Is it good for all colours of Lego? and where do I buy it from?.

Im not sure. it helps to do a test on plastic. Im not sure about the UK but I assume you can get it at any pharmacy. Try Boots. It is similar to Walgreens and CVS here in the states.

[Brickdoctor]

Im not sure. it helps to do a test on plastic. Im not sure about the UK but I assume you can get it at any pharmacy. Try Boots. It is similar to Walgreens and CVS here in the states.

It's usually diluted, though. You have to add something like OxiClean to get a good concentration so you don't have to leave it soaking for a long time.

I know there's a topic on this somewhere...

[Solscud007]

Really oxiclean?

Here is a thread on a transformers forum I frequent. I had heard of this miracle through my Transformer boards.

http://www.cybertron.ca/boards/showthread.php?t=15647

Im anxious to try it out since I recently picked up a Episode 1 naboo fighter. The gray wings are yellowed but I dont care too much about that. The gen 1 R2D2 body is yellowed. I want that to be white again.

Edited April 22, 2011 by Solscud007

[Mr. TopHat]

To restore the color of ABS plastic that has yellowed over time, you have to place it in a solution of hydrogen peroxide and oxiclean under the sun or UV light for a couple of hours. I have tried this with a handful of old white yellowed lego bricks and it worked. I used 9% hydrogen peroxide (50ml) with a table spoon of oxiclean (this only made a small amount, enough for a couple bricks to soak in the solution for 5 hours under the sun). Don't use bleach it makes the bricks brittle and they will break.

If you want to know more about how to make the solution and the chemistry behind the reaction there is a website called Retr0Bright where it is all explained.

-TopHat

[super curry max]

in this topic: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=30285&st=36 are pictures of my results doing regular peroxide and oxyclean.

as you can see it totally works and is the easiest thing ever. As someone else mentioned be sure to use a glass jar can not stress that enough.

[LEGO Guy Bri]

in this topic: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=30285&st=36 are pictures of my results doing regular peroxide and oxyclean.

as you can see it totally works and is the easiest thing ever. As someone else mentioned be sure to use a glass jar can not stress that enough.

Those are very impressive results on some very yellow bricks!

[BrickWild]

This method may also be ideal for your aging Nintendo controllers for your NES, SNES, or even your Wii remotes!

[Legoist]

As for a step by step guide:

1. Get a clear jar large enough to hold all the bricks you want to do. I used a glass jar with a lid so i could turn it over on its side for maximum sun penetration.

2. pour in 2 teaspoons of oxyclean(or something similar)

3. throw in your ugly bricks.

4. pour in enough peroxide to submerge all the bricks.

5. Close lid and shake jar a bit and set outside in direct sunlight.

6. check every now and then.

Thank you so much for your work! Now the sun is back to Finland, I can try to replicate your process to my few old discoloured bricks as well. It seems unbelievably simple!

[LegoCityMann]

Has anyone tried this with old Grey or old Dark grey (Mid-90's bricks)? I have several of both colors that are quite discolored.

~LCM

[Brickdoctor]

Has anyone tried this with old Grey or old Dark grey (Mid-90's bricks)? I have several of both colors that are quite discolored.

~LCM

If I remember correctly, there was an article on TBB where a builder effectively restored blue bricks in addition to white, so I would assume it works on greys.

[egosheep]

Thanks for the advice about peroxide. I recently got a huge lot of 1X2 white bricks off BL, and a few are discolored. I can't wait to try this!