Cleaning carts?

[Mock]

ok no Armor All jokes allowed...

 

What do you guys use to clean your carts with? I was thinking of goofing around with a few silver label commons to see what would work best...I have a few that have names on them with a marker and some are just dirty looking carts....figured I might experiment a little.

 

Any of you have suggestions?

[bjk7382]

I use a mild all purpose cleaner on the labels if they are dirty, and I usually spray it on the paper towel first and then wipe the cart. If they have stickers on the label, goo gone is the best and it never screwed up any labels I put it on.

 

I have heard that alcohol wipes the labels right off, so don't use that.

 

When I first saw this thread I though it was just the start of another armor all joke. I guess we'll see

[moycon]

On carts with a one piece lable like 20th Century Fox.

Often a white crack appears at the corners:

 

http://www.atariage.com/cart_page.html?Sof...wareLabelID=296

 

I use a black sharpie to cover up the white and it looks 100% better afterwards.

 

As far as just cleaning...I guess I just use a rag and water. Or a rag with some multi-purpose cleaner on it....

 

Like this:

 

Multi-purpose Cleaner

 

Seriously

[bjk7382]

On carts with a one piece lable like 20th Century Fox.

Often a white crack appears at the corners:

 

http://www.atariage.com/cart_page.html?Sof...wareLabelID=296

 

I use a black sharpie to cover up the white and it looks 100% better afterwards.

 

Seriously

 

I also use a sharpie on my black label common ones with white spots. Not any rare ones like Room of Doom or anything.

[JCroniger]

Be very careful with silver/metalic and paper labels. I use a paper towel with a little bit of water. This seems to work pretty well. For the plastic case, I use an old tooth brush and some windex. For the PCB part, I use a little que-tip with some windex on it.

[mechanized]

I'd avoid the Black Sharpie at all costs, actually. It seems like it'd be the best idea, but the type of ink has a different look to it than most blacks used in labels, cards, and other packing (and I only say "most" because there could be some out there, but so far I have *never* encountered an instance where the Sharpie is ideal).

 

Look for a good Bic or Pentel black pen with a ballpoint that releases a lot of ink (not the really cheap ones that you have to 'start' to get writing, the ones that get ink clumps on the points and write sort of clumpy and tend to 'skip') or a fine-tipped felt tip. These make a more solid black without the iridescent, slightly purple-ish sheen that a Sharpie will leave when the light hits it at odd angles.

 

The pens I mentioned are just what I have in my pen cup right now that I've used; you're encouraged to experiment a little to find the perfect pen for label touch-ups. You basically need to find a 'true' black ink that is thin enough in its consistency that you can tap the tip to worn areas of black labels (etc) and saturate it with ink. Examine the test subject from various angles in good lighting to make sure there aren't any unwanted ink tones in different angles of reflected light. A Sharpie-touched label will have a noticably different ink tone, which is all the worse for multiple touch-ups on a single piece, giving it a mottled, spotty look.

[mechanized]

Oh, I nearly forgot.

 

If you have some particularly valuable Atari titles, you might try laminating the labels. I don't have any laminate handy, or I'd try myself on a few spare carts, but if you or someone else has some handy maybe they'll experiment and get back with some results.

 

I also wonder if a gloss might be good on labels. An even application of a spray gloss to a label sounds like it might be viable.... just masking tape the cart around the edges of the label... spray.... hm. I'll have to give this one a shot on one of my spare Combat carts.

 

I wouldn't imagine a good laminating job to protect the label would depreciate the value of a cart, or glossing if that works out. I have no idea, though, if it actually would... that'd be something for a bigger collector to answer.

[Mock]

i wouldn't laminate anything...IMHO that would kill any value.

[CPUWIZ]

i wouldn't laminate anything...IMHO that would kill any value.

 

Yeah, you laminate a Eli's Ladder and I'll kill ya' !

[Clock]

If you need to remove marker pen from the plastic then it might be worth trying acetone or lighter fluid - DON'T DO THIS ON LABELS or they will be ruined most likely.

 

Acetone or lighter fluid are normally plastic safe. - Try on a shitty cart first, wear safty goggles and wear rubber gloves - ask an adult to help you if you are unsure etc etc etc

[Csonicgo]

i wouldn't laminate anything...IMHO that would kill any value.

 

uh huh......

 

and this is the guy that uses Armour All, gentlemen!

 

 

 

[Mock]

[Csonicgo]

I'll be here all week, folks.

[tiw]

For cleaning the contacts, use a rubber eraser, as all you want to do is to remove the oxides that have built up over the years. I agree on the rest, tooth brush if needed, soft cloth and the famous "multipurpose" cleaner!

[mechanized]

Heh... alright... so laminated labels is out of the question.

 

But!

 

For the Erasing thing... many art supplies stores sell electric erasers (battery, rechargable, etc) in the drawing aisles. VERY handy things, and much gentler and easier to control than manually erasing. I've used these for other things (namely removing undesirable markings [pencil and ink] from old books) but using them to clean cartridge connects seems a very viable use to me.

 

....And there's always the Dremel, with a buffer.