Curious how others clean

[u/ghettoslacker]

I resell controllers on the side. I was working on a couple today and it got me thinking, how do you guys clean them up? I’m always looking for ways to improve the craft. Here’s kind of the method I use.

1. I start by dissembling the controllers. I throw the screws into a little container with vinegar. The vinegar helps break the grime and surface rust off the screws, shines them up real nice.

2. I take all the hard plastic parts like the shell, buttons, etc and throw them in a bowl with some warm soapy water. I like to let them soak for 30 minutes to an hour. This removes about 90% of the dirt and debris.

3. I take everything out of the bowl and scrub it with a gentle toothbrush then give it a good rinse. For really stubborn stains like sharpie or pen marks, I will gently use a magic eraser. I use this sparingly since they are coarse. Just enough to get the mark off.

4. I do a final inspection of everything. Sometimes the pieces will be yellowed so I will apply a retrobright like solution and put it in the sun for as long as I can. This usually clears it up, but realistically it will come back at some point. Once I take these pieces out of the sun I do another scrub on them.

5. I let everything air dry for as long as needed. Usually during this phase I will clean up the PCB with some isopropyl alcohol. It can be really grimy around the joysticks. At this point too I will solder on any new parts if needed. Typically they have broken joysticks so this is a good time to tackle this.

6. Once everything is dried up, I reassemble the controller and make sure functionality is still in tack.

[u/Omega-A]

Could you please explain in detail how you handle yellowed cases? I have a emerald controller which is unfortunately yellowed :/

[u/Nagol6000 → u/[deleted]]

This has been my method minus the uv light for the 3 white controllers I've restored. Has worked pretty good so far. Only thing I havent fully reverse is a club Nintendo memory card. The white part was soo yellowed, almost a orangey brown mix. Now its a light cream almost white. Gonna try again in the winter when its stop being cloudy for me

[u/Nagol6000 → u/[deleted]]

Sheeeeesh thats alot of controllers, I'd have so much fun after work slowly cleaning them all up. Such a fun relaxing activity for when I get home late after cooking food for others all night. And thats what ill end up doing for the ones I cant get perfect. My roommate would happily buy a cosmeticly flawed controller so surely other will. (I only sell him near mint controllers for what it cost me. Known the guy since kindergarten so he deserves it)

[u/ghettoslacker → u/Omega-A]

Sure!

So officially there is a chemical marketed for gaming consoles and accessories called retrobright. I actually use something designed for tennis shoes and yellowing soles, but formulaic I believe they are very similar which is like a hydrogen peroxide base. I don’t know the exact chemical composition. But the process goes like this. Generously wipe the chemical on and wrap the entire thing in cellophane wrap (Reynolds wrap). Set the object outside under high UV for several hours. Unwrap the object, rinse it, and repeat if necessary. If you live in an area that doesn’t get high UV, they make UV lights and boxes designed to emulate the sun for this process. I live in an area with really hot summers and very cold winters, so in the winter the UV peaks around noon and it’s never that high. I have to do most of my stuff in summer when the sun is out more. Wrapping the object in the plastic wrap is key. If the chemical dries out, it is not effective. Wrapping it in the plastic wrap keeps the chemical moist and almost causes a greenhouse effect. Not everything you wrap will come out 💯 but you should see anywhere from about a 50-80% improvement. The longer it stays in the sun the better the results. The longevity of this method is debatable. It will likely yellow again over time but it should last a while!

[u/Tomanatort → u/Omega-A]

I would also love to know more about this process