Retrobright ATARI 1040 STF – attempt no. 2

The results of my first attempt at whitening the ATARI 1040 STF were not particularly satisfactory. Many dark patches remained on the plastic parts, following the pattern of the stretch film in which the parts had been wrapped. On a discussion forum I was advised that you cannot wrap the plastic like a suitcase at an airport; there should be only one layer without lots of folds. I cut two clear acrylic sheets to 55 × 35 cm and placed the two halves of the computer separately on them. After applying an even layer of 12% peroxide, I stretched film over each piece. It worked very nicely and visually the film had no folds. At the same time everything was well sealed against air because the film could be stretched tightly over the edges of the acrylic.

I placed both parts in the sun and again turned them to different angles roughly every half hour so that all areas would whiten evenly. After three hours I decided that should be enough and removed the film and rinsed the plastic. Imagine my disappointment when the result was still not perfect. Overall there was a major improvement in the degree of whitening. However, I consider using stretch film directly against the plastic highly unsuitable, because condensed water formed droplets that apparently washed away the peroxide and left the areas beneath them unwhitened.

There is nothing left to do but try a third — and hopefully final — attempt. This time I intend to approach it professionally. No wrapping in film and no relying on sunlight. I would build an MDF box containing four UV lights on opposing sides. Is it nonsense, or isn’t it? We’ll see.

Take a look at this video, where the author achieved an excellent result using the same basic method (wrapping in film).

And here are photos showing how mine turned out.