How to Restore Your Yellowed Plastic Keyboard Keys - Audio Mentor (2024)

FAQs

How do you clean yellow plastic keys? ›

Mix four spoonfuls of tap water with a spoonful of white vinegar. Dip a piece of flannel or cheesecloth into the water and wipe down each individual key to get rid of any yellow staining. Don't use pure vinegar for this—acid can wear down the ivory over time. You can also wipe down your keys with an old T-shirt.

Use bleach - Bleach is easily available and is used as a whitening product. Mix 1 cup of bleach in 1 cup of water. Apply this solution pon your plastic items and let it sit for two hours. After this, you can rinse the plastic with soap and water thoroughly.

Coat your yellowed plastic gadget and wrap it. In a nutshell, all you need to do is to coat the plastic (cleaned and dried, of course) evenly with the cream peroxide. Avoid having the cream coming in contact with your skin or eyes, as it can cause burns.

Hydrogen peroxide works well on plastics that have turned entirely yellow instead of in just one spot. Fill a plastic bag with enough hydrogen peroxide to cover the plastic. Stick the plastic in the bag of hydrogen peroxide and lay it out in direct sunlight. Wait 3-4 hours before rinsing it off with clean water.

Plastic. Plastic keys are opposite of ivory keys, meaning you can use gentle cleaning solutions to whiten the keys. One of the easiest methods is to mix a couple of drops of dish soap into a damp white washcloth and wipe the keys down with a soft cloth, from top to bottom and not side to side.

Just add some oxy cleaner to some boiling water and let it dissolve, then mix that with the peroxide paste and apply to the caps/keyboard and then leave it under the lamp for a few hours. When I've done it I've left it overnight and the results have been great.

Is there a method for getting gunk and dirt off piano keys? If they're plastic, rub them with a chamois cloth dipped in vinegar mixed with warm water. But if they're ivory, use a barely damp cloth and a bit of gentle soap to wipe (do not let moisture leak down the sides); dry ASAP.

The most gentle method to whiten washable clothes is to mix a solution of warm water and oxygen-based bleach. Follow the package recommendations as to how much to use per gallon of water. Submerge the white garments and allow them to soak at least eight hours or overnight.

Baking soda paste needs to be mixed with water. Apply directly to the discolored areas of the plastic container. Allow the object to sit for twenty to thirty mins before applying with a moist cloth to the container. Then rinse and dry.

What will bring color back on plastic? ›

Fortunately, you can easily remove oxidation with sandpaper, vinegar, or a bleach solution. Plastic that has faded to a yellow or brown color was made with bromine, which causes the plastic to change color over time. However, you can reverse bromine discoloration with hydrogen peroxide.

This will only work on smaller appliances, but is still a great solution to revitalize yellowed appliances. "Mix equal parts of white vinegar and water and fill a container with your solution. Then, place your appliance into the solution until the stained or yellowed part is totally submerged.

White Vinegar

Lemon, vinegar, and baking soda are all natural cleaners that will lift discoloration from plastic.

For one of the most commonly used plastics, polyethylene, it's long been suggested that ultraviolet (UV) light — the same light that gives us sunburns — initiates reactions in the backbone of the polymer's structure that cause the yellow color change.

Mix 2 teaspoons salt and 1 cup of white, distilled vinegar with enough all-purpose flour to make a paste. Cover the keys with the paste and leave them sit for 10 minutes before rinsing the keys. Wipe dry with a soft cloth.

If your keys are rusty, you can soak them in a mixture of half water, half white vinegar for half an hour. Use your cleaning toothbrush to scrub off the rust. Repeat 30-minute soaks followed by scrubs until the rust is gone. Dry with a clean rag.

Gently buff white piano keys with a thin layer of mild, white toothpaste, and follow the general key-cleaning tips. Wipe away toothpaste residue with a cloth slightly dampened with whole milk, and dry immediately. Indirect sunlight after a cleaning can help prevent white piano keys from yellowing.

It's important not to use too much alcohol on the keys as it can damage them. If you're afraid to use rubbing alcohol or you don't have any then you can use white vinegar as a replacement. Again, make sure that you don't use too much and that you just dampen the cloth or towel that you are using.

Look for an ultraviolet torch. Hold it above the piano keys. If you notice the keys reflect either bright white or violet-blue colours, the keys are made of ivory. Artificial material like resins or plastics will show a completely different reaction.

At home, use a good powdered detergent (without bleach) in a bucket of hot water, and make sure the detergent is dissolved prior to adding the clothes. Let the yellowed garments sit for a while (overnight recommended) and clean the next day as the label instructs.

How do you clean plastic switches? ›

"The best way to do this is to start with a soft cloth and dampen it with either water, or better yet, a liquid cleaner, such as Mr. Clean or 409," says Sigmund. "Do not soak the cloth." Once you have dampened the cloth in cleaning solution, you can begin wiping the light switch cover to remove germs and grime.

Most plastic electric switch covers are treated with bromine, a flame retardant. When exposed to ultraviolet rays, bromine turns yellow, making your switches look old and worn out. It cannot be cleaned with regular light cleaner or household sprays, but you can clean it using baking soda and bleach.

You can either use white, grey, or light green to make your yellow shade lighter. Adding a touch of white is the most common and probably the easiest way to lighten yellow. White is one of the most popular shades used to lighten any color, but it does have a downside.

It might be a quick fix solution for stain removal, but in the long run, bleach may cause your whites to turn yellowish and will weaken the fabric, causing it to tear easily. Bleach also tends to weaken the shirt fibers and returns the synthetic polymers back to their original colour, yellow.

If you add a touch of red-shade blue and black, and then at least as much white as yellow, you will likely end up with a rich cream colour that will functionally appear as a shade of white when surrounded or accented by a dark colour with a violet or mauve tint.

The warm water and white vinegar solution are best for cleaning plastic keys since anything else over plastic (including soaps) can be too harmful. Make sure you only use a little bit, a good rule here is one part vinegar to four parts water because the acid in the vinegar can cause damage if you use too much.

Use baking soda

Don't add it to the detergent dispenser as this can create a clog. The second way to use baking soda to whiten clothes is to create a solution of baking soda and water to soak your white clothes in for about an hour before they are washed using a “whites” wash cycle.

If you're looking to disinfect the piano keys, it's better to use white vinegar and clean water. Try to mix this first with ¼ vinegar and ¾ warm water due to the acidity of the vinegar. Use a flannel and maintain the cleaning process of going down the keys towards the bottom.

Soak your keycaps in warm soapy water to remove any dust or grime. Ideally, swish them around for the first 5-10 minutes, and then let them soak for an additional 45 minutes. Shoot some canned air into the board to further remove any straggling lint or dirt.