Atari 400 Retrobriting Disaster 😱 & Fix? + A/V Upgrade | Win A Desolderer! 

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You still need to retrobrite regardless if you are going to spray paint, or not because of the bromide in the plastics overtime can cause them to be become brittle, and break apart, I've had an old Dell bigfoot keyboard do it, along with an NES I did not retrobrite, but spray painted. So yes again retrobrite to get as much of the bromide out as you can.

@commodorefan64 Hmm, I've been advised that the peroxide itself can make the plastic brittle though (as bleach is prone to do)

@northern lights retro gaming I feel that would be very hard to get right 😨

@@RetroRecipes So far personally I've not had that issue with peroxide, but I also mix mine with generic Oxiclean(I feel it's a bit less harsh) with the ratio being around 20% liquid peroxide, 30% Oxiclean, and rest being 50% water in a clean clear tub that has a locking clear lid, and I usually wait till it's 75F or warmer out so I don't have to leave my parts out more than around 10 hours as my backyard gets a lot of sunlight all day, and so far I've had good retrobrighting results, and no brittle plastics afterwards unless it was already brittle to start with. I'm not saying it can't happen those have just been my personal results.

Thank you for your gracious words Katie, and for supporting this retrochannel. I literally could not do this without the support. Nice to see you at my Patreon! 🙏🕹️

Thanks and good luck

Thank you so much! That means a lot to me. 👍🕹️ Peri Christmas!

My wife says that you are like George cloony.

Thanks! Painting is the way to go I believe... Apart from keys 😉

Yay!

Thank you so much! That means a lot to me. 👍🕹️

You're welcome! Hmm no mention of cutting the pad at the instructions atariage.com/forums/blog/695/entry-14205-install-uav-ac-in-the-400/ 🤔

Welcome! Nice gear 👍🕹️

Haha I know, perhaps it was a premonition ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Just a happy little accident 🎨🕹️

Wow nice!

I totally understand that. But I also love bringing the past into the present and the future and meshing the two. You keep the past alive in a more relevant way. Kind of The Best of both worlds for me.

Thanks! You know, even retrobriting yellows again after a couple of years and the process has to be continually repeated. I believe this would last longer and require less regular dismantling and possible weakening of the case. 🤞🕹️

Yes I'd agree, as long as you can get a good paint match, a like new machine can result (as you have expertly demonstrated). The tricky bit is decals or painted on labels, I'm unsure what method can avoid removing / covering them? PS I didn't know of a composite mod for 400, so went for a 600xl 64k as it covers all of the Atari bases + tiny + K/B + composite + 5v 2a usb power. I do however miss the I'm so ugly I'm pretty 400 styling though :-(

Interesting, I didn't know that about the restaurant.

As long as they're happy

I can imagine... I have a USB disk drive emulator, and it can load software at triple speed (or more, though that's not always reliable) - really makes a huge difference. XD Then again, my historical experience with the 800XL back in the day was entirely based on tapes... Even the stock floppy drive is amazingly fast compared to that. XD I have a 1050 somewhere too, but not a single suitable floppy (blank or otherwise), nor a power supply for it.

Thank you for your kind words! Means a lot 👍🕹️ And well done!

Thank you King of extreme retrobriting! 🙏🕹️

Thank you for such gracious words Alex 🕹️♥️

my first computer is an Atari 800XL which i still have, with a RAM upgrade (256k RAM), as well as a old Atari 800 I acquired some time ago. They both work well. Except I don't have a decnet video cable 800XL. I had bought one some time ago and then realized it only works on the Atari 800, which fortunately I have. I wouldn't think the video ports would be that different between the 800 and 800XL.

Bryan does the same UAV mod for the 800s. Check Description for linky 👍🕹️

@@RetroRecipes i need one for my 800XL

Thank you! I hope so!

Oh I should've mentioned that new extended cable insulation was seriously thick!

@@RetroRecipes Whew! I was worried ;)

Noooooooooooo!

I think so. At retrohax.net Pete sprays a lot of A500s. Regarding keying, I had cleaned with alcohol then washed, but if it hadn't had such a rough texture to begin with I would recommend sanding as I did with the shiny Music Maker, although interestingly the plastic paint claims you don't need to. This is because Krylon bonds (melts) to plastic like acetone, becoming one with it. 👍🕹️

Thank you from California 🙏🕹️

Nice way to look at it, thanks! 🍽️

I would say the Atari 8 bit computers are amongst the most under-rated and under-appreciated machines of the era. When you watch them seemingly effortlessly approximate effects that Amigas were known for, you start to appreciate how weirdly capable these little 8 bit monsters are in the hands of a capable and dedicated programmer. Unfortunately, history being what it was, while I don't doubt there were capable programmers, there were very few ones dedicated enough to get much more than the absolute basics out of the system. It's one of those systems where the simple ways of doing things often produce underwhelming results (hence why it often looked so bad next to a c64 - especially in anything involving sprites), yet you can pull tricks with more complex code that seem totally out of place on an 8 bit system. For example: Someone replicated the Amiga bouncing ball demo on one. It's got A LOT of demos of 3d rendering that run at a respectable speed. There was a prototype for a Wolfenstein style FPS engine that ran at 50 fps in 256 colours (50 FPS because PAL hardware is almost always preferred for any kind of complex graphics routine.) There's a near perfect port of a retro style PC game (OK not that impressive given what the game is - The mighty Jill-off, since it quite explicitly is designed to look like an 8 bit game. Still the system pulls it off flawlessly.) There's a pretty impressive port of Space Harrier. (granted you need an 8 megabyte cartridge for that), There's a platformer (which unfortunately requires 128k of RAM - limiting it to 130XE systems unless you've modded your atari) that, while if you know what you're looking for shows up the system's limitations, otherwise looks like it'd be at home on 16 bit system. There's a jpeg decoder that can show images in 4096 colours There's so many quirky 'custom' display modes to break the official 16 colour limitations... Not to mention that the Display list is very reminiscent of a simplified and less flexible version of the Amiga's copper list. It's sometimes called the Baby Amiga - leaving aside the age contradiction (it's older after all), there's more than a little truth to this. Leaving aside the consequences of 8 vs 16 bit systems, and older components in general, there's a lot of similarities in how the two machines work. Plus they were designed by basically the same people. - Jay Miner and his team designed both these machines, and their way of thinking certainly shines through in both. Just because one has an Atari label, and one a Commodore one, doesn't really change the reality - these are clearly relatives of one another. The branding is an inconsequential side issue. (especially once you consider the history of the Amiga itself, and how close it came to being the Atari 1650)

Yup and I touch on that in part 1 intro. Thanks for the input! 👍🕹️

@@RetroRecipes mmh. It's a pity about the confusion caused by the branding really - I imagine many of the most experienced developers for the Atari machines would have felt at home with the Amiga, yet how many do you think got Atari ST's instead out of brand loyalty? XD

I have to confess I had both Amiga and ST at different times 😁🕹️

I think it's the way to go! Plus the yellowing won't return, unlike with retrobriting.

@@RetroRecipes I agree. Problem is that the keys are equally yellow now... It really looks like it was the C64 of a heavy smoker! Oh, and I also just acquired a Spectrum 128, which has a non-working keyboard. You do inspire, you know that? :)

Thanks! No clear coat unless it needs it. I prefer not to introduce additional variables once the result is good. It might flake or be too shiny etc. But always an option if needed. 👍🕹️ Thanks for your kind words. Feel free to stream the theme at perifractic.com/music

Merci!

Thank you for your kind words. Means a lot. 👍🕹 I was pleased with it!

@@RetroRecipes I love your content m8. When I see that notification I'm like a tramp on a kipper! if you pardon the expression ahem! ;)

An expression I've never heard lol! Thanks, that really helps keep the motivation levels up 👍🕹️

@@RetroRecipes It's a common term where I live, Wigan NW UK. It means show great enthusiasm! :)

No it's just a happy little accident 🎨🕹️

Thank you for such a gracious compliment 🙏🕹️

@@RetroRecipes I work at a retro video game store. And believe me. I see some of the dirtiest and rusted things. It's a breath of fresh air watching you do what you do.

Thanks. Good luck. I'm sure if you Google (if you haven't), someone has already figured out the correct officially paint code. 👍🕹️

I was pleasantly surprised. Thanks!

Thanks mate. I can't see why it wouldn't be just the same. The key is keeping it light, one coat. Good luck! Let us see how you get on if you try. 👍🕹️

MindFlareRetro I was just about to say the same thing. It came out beautifully.

@@andymerrett Yes, often people just cake on the layers and that looks bad IMO. A couple of light coats in the right circumstances, as you say, is the key.

Thank you! I'm mindfully looking into it... 👍🕹️

Or a sexy chat line?

No smell after 2 days. Paint is actually a protector, whereas peroxide makes plastic brittle. Good luck whatever option you choose. 👍🕹️

Thanks, good to know. I only envy you the wide range of spray colors you can choose from. It's much harder to find a good match, let alone a spray that will not melt the plastic in the process, where I'm from. Or I'm just blind from all that peroxide, which is also a possibility :D

Thank you for your kind words. Means a lot. 👍🕹

@@jacobtohahn I have had these white streaks on several (plastic) joysticks after cleaning them with iso alcohol. After cleaning I used some silicone oil (WD40) on the plastic and luckily the white streaks were gone. Don't know if you are talking about the similar symptom.

@@jacobtohahn Don't think the joysticks were painted. It was on pure plastic after alcohol cleaning.

😅

True and you installed the constitution ! Only to allow it and your freedoms to be eaten away by corporations and let them destroy your natural world. What happened to you America ?

To be fair. We didn't reject the laws and taxes explicitly. We rejected the taxes if we didn't have a say in the laws which lead to us rejecting the laws by proxy. :P

1. When people do their everyday work, a foot is way more useful to measure most things than a meter. A meter is way too large for most measurements people need to do. Decimeter is rarely used and is imprecise for daily use. Centimeter itself is too small for most measurements, and the numbers get out of control when using it for everyday things. 2. Base-10 conversions are great when doing math on paper, but in everyday tasks, doing things visually, it's way more natural to take half of something, or double something, than it is to divide or multiply by 10. 3. Do you live in the UK? Do you measure your weight in "stone"? If so, you can kindly take your complaints about stupid measurements and direct them right back at yourself. I'm an American, I like metric, but I'm tired of people whining about how imperial measurements are so bad. (And seriously, stone is the dumbest measurement there is.)

The metric system is used almost exclusively in engineering and it's easy to learn. There's no reason to move to the SI units for everyday use. A yard is about a meter, 2 lbs is about a kg, an inch is about 2.5 cm, a liter is about a quart. These are exact figures, but good enough for back of the napkin calculations which are generally good enough period for almost anything being done outside of an engineering context.