Removing yellow stains from fabric with blue light

Re:Removing yellow stains from fabric with blue light by MattBearman on Thursday September 11, 2025 @04:36AM (#45209261)

I wonder if this is related to yellowing plastics? Retr0brighting with peroxide and sunbriting (putting yellowed plastics out in the sun) are already common treatments in the retro community. I’ll have to give it a try on some of my old hardware

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Removing yellow stains from fabric with blue light by dahrkael on Thursday September 11, 2025 @06:03AM (#45209745)

isnt the sun the one yellowing those plastics?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Removing yellow stains from fabric with blue light by jama211 on Thursday September 11, 2025 @06:54AM (#45210070)

UV can trigger the chemical reactions within the plastics that yellow the plastics, but UV + peroxide does a different chemical reaction to bleach them.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Removing yellow stains from fabric with blue light by emsign on Thursday September 11, 2025 @08:19AM (#45210688)

Both is true

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Removing yellow stains from fabric with blue light by iwontberude on Thursday September 11, 2025 @07:02AM (#45210118)

Exactly my first thought, thank you for trying it!

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Removing yellow stains from fabric with blue light by emsign on Thursday September 11, 2025 @08:26AM (#45210744)

This changes the best practice for retr0brighting from using UV or sunlight to 445nm blue LED. I already knew from anecdotes that sunlight seemed more effective than a UV lamp. People assumed it was the extra heat, which may or may not still be a contributing factor, but I guess it's the blue light prt of the sun's spectrum.

[ Parent | on HN ]