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C-64 keyboard key graphics easily rubbing off


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Has anyone else experienced the front petsci graphics just wiping off their keycaps with a finger brush? I made the mistake of using 9x% ipa to clean the function keys and the front letting came off. So I was flicking a piece of debris off the 8 key and the petsci white letting just rubbed off. 

 

I'm not sure if this keyboard is an odd ball or not, but i've used ipa on others and never had this issue.

 

Oh, and just to get this out there; the ipa use was months ago. The finger brush rub-off was like 10 minutes ago. 

 

If it takes that little effort, there will only be top key characters left on that keyboard.  Come to think of it, I can barely see faint markings on the function keys that came off.  Anyone know of any method to repaint them?

 

Thanks all,

Mortis...

 

 

Edited by Mortis
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What I usually do is to release all the key caps and put them into a pot, together with water and concentrated dish soap. Leave them during 4 hours and removing from time to time. After 4 hours I rinse carefully all they keys with water and later I use a hair dryer to dry the keys. Last discovery was to place all the caps in a bag (one of those to put delicate items in the washig machine) because in this way the caps don't "fly" outside the table. In this way the caps are perfectly dry, even the water into the small holes that have. I save I lot of time using this procedure instead of drying the caps one by one with a soft cloth. You have seen that I never use a brush.

 

I cleaned around 10 complete keboards from my retrocumputers in this way and the graphics on the caps never has been deleted or damaged in any way.

 

 

Fitxer_029.jpeg

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Thanks everyone for the replies, I really appreciate it. 

 

I looked at all my other keyboards and none have demonstrated this behavior. This has to be a one-off process that Commodore used or something. Or maybe there was another chemical contamination or something. 

 

But anyone looking to cleanup or restore their keys, I'd take the advice of carlsson and Papalapa!

 

Lesson learned for me...

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Hi All,

 

It appears that this is not related to 303 or anything like that. I had a quick dialog with Adrian Black (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE5dIscvDxrb7CD5uiJJOiw) and he also tested a spare key that he had and confirmed that IPA is the cause. If you haven't seen Adrian's work, I highly recommend that you check out his channel NOW. He is really the best at what he does and is always willing to help out if needed.  

 

Anyway, this is what Adrian confirmed:

"Yep -- at first the printing was fine with the 99% IPA... I almost thought it was fine and unaffected. 

 
THen, after about 30 seconds I was able to wipe it right off the key. -- although I needed a little bit of IPA to do it -- but I would assume it broke down something in the print as it became super easy to rub off."
 
So, don't do what I did; if you want to keep your petsci graphics anyways.
 
Thanks again Adrian,

 

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Too bad about the damage, but at least you got your theory verified. :( Always begin with the least abrasive you can imagine, like only water. Add soap/dish liquid if you need a detergent. Any stronger stuff like alcohol of any kind, gasoline or acetone you should probably look up or try very carefully. Heck, even the various Retr0brite recipes using peroxide, water, UV light and TAED as the catalyst have caveats about it can bleach printed surfaces.

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Carlsson - very wise information there.

 

If anyone else does this (I hope not), I GENTLY painted clear nail polish on the graphics in hope to keep them stable. So far it has worked out well. I'm not sure if this will cause issues in the future, but it is a strong, clear, protective coating for now. 

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