Hi, and welcome to this video, on how to restore
plastic, that is browning.
There is lots of guides on the internet about
how to supposedly restore the colour of plastics,
so this video aims to document effectively
the use of a hydrogen peroxide based hair
bleach on plastics.
So this is the product I'm choose to use.
It's got a 12% peroxide solution, but it effectively
is just a cheap hair bleach.
So this is me at the start of the exercise,
holding up that piece of paper, doing my comparison,
and just trying to imagine what it will look
like to be a slightly more crisp white colour.
It's important to remember that this exercise
is removing some of the browning that has
happened to the plastic, so it is going to
return to a colour similar, but probably not
not exactly, what it was when you originally
purchased it.
OK, for this demonstration, I'm just going
to take the fan cover off and utilise that.
After I've done this, I did decide the remove
the whole fan, and do the rest of the casing,
but just for the purposes of demonstration,
I'm going to take the fan cover off, and use
that.
Given this is peroxide solution, I chose to
just put some rubber gloves on while handling
it.
As you can see, it's definitely got a bit
of a yellow tint to the plastic which originally
came out something like a cream colour.
As the product needs to be in conduct with
the fan cover in order to cause the lightening,
I've very carefully gone over every area I
can, just to brush it into all the plastic
that needs to be lightened.
Now the next thing all the guides are very
clear about, is making sure that the product
doesn't dry out, while it's being sunned effectively
in the sunshine.
So some cling film is always recommended,
so I put a thin piece of cling film over,
being careful to keep the folds out the way
of the sides where I feel the light needs
to take most effect.
Hopefully that will allow the light to get
in, but the moisture will hopefully will remain
as much as possible within the package itself.
As ultraviolet light is meant to be the catalyst
effectively for this bleaching effect, I've
put it in the window, to catch the sunshine.
I'm not going to bother showing you the wash-up,
effectively cleaning the product afterwards,
but I just washed it up with standard dishwashing
soap.
I popped it back on the fan once it had dried.
As you can see, it definitely looks a lighter
shade.
Particularly when you compare it to the rest
of the casing of the fan.
Which still has a yellowy tinge.
So this is a before and after photo.
They're not perfect images, but I did hold
the same piece of paper underneath both to
give a comparison of white, so at least the
difference in colours in the photos wouldn't
effect the analysis.
To my eye, at least, it's pretty clear that
it has improved the shade of the plastic,
returning it to more original colour in terms
of light cream, and that's particularly evident
when you look at the comparison with the case
itself, where in the "before" shot the case
and the cover are very similar shades.
In the "after" shot, they are distinctly separate.
So that in effect is my demonstration.
It does appear to work as a technique, so
I will use it going forward, and hopefully
that's helped someone else do the same.
Thanks for watching!