"yellow" white plastic

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I was afraid of that...

I kinda knew there isn't much you can do with this junk. I took a dishwasher in on consignment. Mechanically, its great-Kenmore ultra washII-but that horrid yellow plastic. I was just hoping some one had a miracle. To bad this stuff uglies out before it wears out. I hate all this new plastique junque
 
Count me in two-I have a Panasonic microwave that someone gave me because they were moving-Its outside "white plastic" border around its front panel has turned "yucky yellow" as well-the machine works just fine though-could it be the aging of the plastic??the plasticizers are changing state in it.Too bad you can't clean the "yucky Yellow" away.
 
sunbeam mixer

I have a sunbeam mixmaster that is all plastic that was purchased in 87,under the turntable i can see how white this mixer used to be,the yellowing almost makes it look like it came that way.
 
Have you tried those Mr. Clean Eraser Pads yet on the yellow stuff? I've had relatively good success with it, cleaning the white, padded plastic handles on my fridge as well as the outside of the box. I've also used them on the white painted kitchen cabinets and my 20+ year old Cuisinart food processor. Granted the food processor isn't back to new, but it did take it up a few shades lighter. Though you're just supposed to use water with the pads, I've also tried them with dish soap and Windex. They'll also easily tear, but they keep on working.

Another trick I've tried is very, very carefully using Brasso polish. Test the plastic first to if it may scratch or melt. I've been able to restore old paint on cars with it and the painted surface of an old Kitchenaid mixer my Mom got me at a garage sale many years ago. Brasso did bring up the finish on a couple of old clock radios I used to have. It took off years of cigarette smoke and polished them up very nicely.
 
I've heard the same thing about the Mr. Clean eraser pads on the plastic - it may not bring them to white again, but it gets them clean for sure.

Great ideas for Brasso polish - I would have never thought it would work for painted things as well. I'll have to remember that!
 
Brasso

Usually a can of this stuff is at some early AM transmitter sites-Engineers even used it to polish unplated coils in some AM transmitters.We have a can of it here-use it to polish some of the coils.You don't want to use it on silver plated items(coils)-I would be hesitent to use it on painted surfaces as well-Brasso is quite abrasive.
 
I think having a product in direct sunlight can age the plastic much faster. I have noticed that appliances in sunny rooms or direct sunlight rather go yellow. But products kept in darker areas fair better, from what i have observed.
 
sunlight and plastics

Yes-that makes sense-the powerful UV light from sunlight can certainly fade and break down plastics-the plasticizers cand be "aged" or degraded and chemically changed from the ultraviolet light.Witness what happens to some of the plstic lenses or diffusers on some flourescent light fixtures-the UV light causes the plasticizers to yellow.also I visited a factory that built very powerful Ultraviolet lamps-they made their lamps as a quartz glass sphere containing argon and mercury-no electrodes-they energized the sperical bulb by exposing it to microwaves-from an ordinary microwave oven magnetron.Went thru the "test" area where they "ran in" the finished bulbs.They had peices of "clear" lexan over the test fixtures-that plastic YELLOWED VERY fast!!
 
I`ve had good luck with a fine automotive polish like 3M Ultra Fine for clearcoat finishes. there are also some cheaper ones that work just as well.I`m now using one by Kit. It works great on plastic and painted surfaces. Ive had several show cars where shine is important but you dont want to damage the finish and started using this. Ive just finished an older rival canopener that had yellowed and it turned out very good. The plastic looked better than the rest of it! I think that textured surfaces mighe be a bit harder to polish but I wouldn`t be afraid to try. Just my two cents!
 
You can paint hard plastic, you just have to clean it really good first with TSP, Amonia or Denatured alchol. Or instead of fighting it you could paint the rest yellow too! Ouch!
 

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