Cleaning and fixing stuff you got from eBay or elsewhere

supergoose

Die Gans,
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Who else does it?

Since I uploaded those pictures, I thought I could just as well start a dedicated thread. Feel free to share your stories and pictures.

About a year or two ago, I bought a few famicom games in a lot and was quite shocked when I pulled this Donkey Kong Jr. cart out of the shipping box. At first, I didn't know what to do with it but I quickly realized that I didn't want it to end up in a landfill, so I decided to try and clean it up as best as I could.

Before:

famicom_dk_junior_01.jpg

During:

famicom_dk_junior_02.jpg

famicom_dk_junior_04.jpg

After:

famicom_dk_junior_03.jpg

famicom_dk_junior_05.jpg

The last one may be a bit hard to believe but it really is the exact same cart. Unfortunately, I damaged the label on the back while cleaning the case with a magic eraser. :annoyed:
 
Last edited:

sparksterz

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Yeah, I've done it on occasion. I would often fix up a lot of Sega CD model 1 systems back in the day. I owned around 10 at one point just keeping them for various parts and fixing. People give them a bad rap for being hard to repair, but for some reason fixing those ones just came easy to me.

I have done some cart cleaning before as well. I try to stay away from magic erasers at all costs though as it sands down the texture. One thing I did find out the hard way is that the N64 labels were not created very well. Other Nintendo carts seem to be more glossy and robust to rubbing alcohol in moderation. I did kinda hose the label of a Blitz 2000 cart for the N64 that way...not a rare game by any means...but I wish I would've spot checked it first.
 

xsq

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sure thing, I clean everything I get second hand. Most of the time I just use warm water, a toothbrush and some dish soap. Rubbing alcohol for felt tip marks... It's best to keep it away from the labels though, especially if water/soap gets under them it can cause damage. I usually just whipe those down with a damp cloth.

Do any of you disinfect stuff? I know I read it somewhere....
 

PunkicCyborg

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I was trying to clean up a Famicom Layla cart I got in similar condition with a magic eraser but it was wearing down the plastic finish of the cart and left a shiney polished mark in the back :(
 

smokehouse

I was Born This Ugly.,
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Not necessarily from ebay...but I've cleaned up many an item I've bought used.

I've had this dingy, dirty, scraped up NES game storage cabinet sitting around for some time now. Had some time on sat morning to I took it apart and cleaned it up. Took a magic eraser and some comet to it in various places. The face of the thing was a scratched up mess so I too some Flitz and a drill mounted polish ball to it...came out pretty good.

Cab%201_zps9idmnn8i.jpg

cab%202_zpsvyarfhr2.jpg


I love cleaning stuff like that (accessories, controllers, consoles, games)...
 

Westcb

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Every neo cart I have ever bought off eBay needed thorough cleaning just to play. Luckily they all worked perfect afterwards except a bootleg I got that had jacked sound. I had to file a claim on that one but PayPal took care of me.
 

FilthyRear

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I love cleaning stuff like that (accessories, controllers, consoles, games)...

When I worked at GameStop, I took a bottle of their concentrated cleaning solution. This stuff is so strong - all you need is a half capful in a spray bottle of water. Use a very soft toothbrush to in the small spaces and grooves, and the system/controller is good as new.

I use it on controllers, too, to get rid of that gross dirt in the "seams" of the plastic.
 

smokehouse

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When I worked at GameStop, I took a bottle of their concentrated cleaning solution. This stuff is so strong - all you need is a half capful in a spray bottle of water. Use a very soft toothbrush to in the small spaces and grooves, and the system/controller is good as new.

I use it on controllers, too, to get rid of that gross dirt in the "seams" of the plastic.


I've always used a dry toothpick for the controller cracks. The...um...hand filth will crack apart and pop out. If it's my own, I don't mind it much. If it is a used controller...man, that is some nasty crap.
 

FilthyRear

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I've always used a dry toothpick for the controller cracks. The...um...hand filth will crack apart and pop out. If it's my own, I don't mind it much. If it is a used controller...man, that is some nasty crap.

That was a great way to kill a ton of time at work. Cleaning controllers and consoles was just the distraction I needed from the soul-crushing despair of that job.
 

@M

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I don't buy off of eBay much anymore, but I pick up a lot of stuff from thrift stores (mostly toys) which often need a cleaning. It's never happened yet (knock on wood), but I'm always a bit paranoid about bringing home bed bugs in secondhand junk, so I always go over things pretty thoroughly.

I start out with water/spit, and then move on to harsher cleaners as needed (obviously don't use solvents on a cartridge's metal connectors). Diluted nail polish remover works pretty good, especially on vinyl (undiluted acetone eats plastic, so you have to be careful if you don't want some unsightly chemical burns on the surface--I really wrecked the back of my Final Fantasy Legend II Gameboy cart using undiluted nail polish remover on it to take off sticker residue back in the day). I don't know what's in it, but there's this "orange goop" stuff, that comes in a plastic canister, that works wonders for removing just about anything too (it's great for getting soot off my hands when I mess with the oil stove in the winter too).

For CDs/DVDs I use a cleaning kit, which consists of a spray bottle of special cleaning solution and a soft disc for scrubbing the surface of the discs. I've never tried it, but I've read that you can repair minor scratches on a CD with toothpaste and a toothbrush (apparently the tiny grinding particles in toothpaste work good on scratches).
 

DNSDies

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I do this on occasion.
About 3 months ago I managed to get a lot of 6 "broken" xbox 360s in various states of disassembly for $50 and managed to cobble together enough for 2 complete 360s. Cleaned them up, did the xclamp replacement fix, put a new set of thick heat pads on, and popped a RGH2 into both of them.

One was a black elite that I saved for myself so I could finally put my Deathsmiles faceplate on something.

I'll probably sell the white Jasper I also cobbled together and RGH'd.
I re-married the DVD and gave it a 120GB Western Digital HDD too.

I also picked up a game gear recently that had screen and sound issues and did a full recap on it.
I'll probably sell that too, as I have a Nomad.
 

ki_atsushi

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When I worked at GameStop, I took a bottle of their concentrated cleaning solution. This stuff is so strong - all you need is a half capful in a spray bottle of water. Use a very soft toothbrush to in the small spaces and grooves, and the system/controller is good as new.

I use it on controllers, too, to get rid of that gross dirt in the "seams" of the plastic.

Sounds like Kodak Photo-flo.
 

Syn

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I have repaired a few Saturns. I had 3 non working and got them all working. One had a dead modchip that once removed worked. The other 2 needed a good cleaning and the ribbons reinserted.
 

Takumaji

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I bought an Akai S2000 sampler from ebay a few months ago that was totally filthy when it arrived. It stank of tobacco smoke and fat from the kitchen to high heaven, cleaned it three times on the inside and outside over the course of several hours using a whole roll of kitchen paper and ammonia-based window cleaner but it still smelt quite bad. I had to let it air out for a few days before I dared to screw it into the rack in my studio.

I really hate the couldn't-care-less attitude of some people, I would drop dead of shame if I'd send someone an item he has won in an auction in a condition like that. Of course the seller had the good old "item is in good condition" line in his auction text so I sent him a mail with a picture of the large heap of dirty kitchen papers and told him that an item in good condition shouldn't need a thorough cleaning like that. He replied that he knew that old samplers don't fetch a lot of money anymore so he couldn't be arsed to waste anymore time with it by cleaning it before sending it out... what a lazy fuck.

Other than that, I usually clean all used items that I buy. I'm not a germaphobe or however it's called but I consider it a necessity because most people don't seem to care for their stuff.
 

smokehouse

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Any of you guys attempt the retrobrite yet?

It seems the results aren't as cut and dried as some make it sound. I have a seriously yellowed Famicom I'd like to restore...
 

SmokeMonster

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I clean, recap, and sometimes polish pretty much everything that I buy. I feel like it not only improves how things function and how long they last, but it makes them mine.

Any of you guys attempt the retrobrite yet?

It seems the results aren't as cut and dried as some make it sound. I have a seriously yellowed Famicom I'd like to restore...
I've tried retrobrite with mixed success. Sometimes it can really make plastics look like new in one application, and other times multiple applications make only a minor improvement. It comes down to the plastic and how much UV you can apply.
 

ki_atsushi

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A few years ago I used the retrobrite method on a SNES I had. Looked great for a few months, then the bromide in that shitty plastic Nintendo used leeched right back out and it's just as yellow as before now. There is no permanent solution other then painting the console.
 

StevenK

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I bought an Akai S2000 sampler from ebay a few months ago that was totally filthy when it arrived. It stank of tobacco smoke and fat from the kitchen to high heaven, cleaned it three times on the inside and outside over the course of several hours using a whole roll of kitchen paper and ammonia-based window cleaner but it still smelt quite bad. I had to let it air out for a few days before I dared to screw it into the rack in my studio.

I really hate the couldn't-care-less attitude of some people, I would drop dead of shame if I'd send someone an item he has won in an auction in a condition like that. Of course the seller had the good old "item is in good condition" line in his auction text so I sent him a mail with a picture of the large heap of dirty kitchen papers and told him that an item in good condition shouldn't need a thorough cleaning like that. He replied that he knew that old samplers don't fetch a lot of money anymore so he couldn't be arsed to waste anymore time with it by cleaning it before sending it out... what a lazy fuck.

Other than that, I usually clean all used items that I buy. I'm not a germaphobe or however it's called but I consider it a necessity because most people don't seem to care for their stuff.

It's not gaming related but I inherited a second hand child seat for the car off a friend I've known for years. They told me they'd cleaned it before they gave it to me but when I saw it I seriously took it from them in a two fingered grip at arms length, with the biggest shit eating smile I've ever managed to muster. I could see bits of rotten old food hanging off the chair as soon as he opened his car to pass it to me, it was rancid like I've never seen before, and the mum we got it off was a nurse so presumably had some knowledge of germs and filth.

I threw it in the back of my car and screeched away and had to wind the windows down because of the smell. It went promptly in the bin. It makes you look at people differently when you find something like that out about them, I know it was free but seriously, they wanted me to put my 9 month old child in that fucking thing?

Any of you guys attempt the retrobrite yet?

It seems the results aren't as cut and dried as some make it sound. I have a seriously yellowed Famicom I'd like to restore...

Have done a couple of bits, both very successfully, and there's next to no sun for 95% of the year over here. Certainly does no harm trying.
 

DNSDies

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the trick with peroxide bleaching is that you need UV light and HEAT.

When you put your thing out in the sun, try to do it on a muggy summer day, and put it in a ghetto solar oven made from a pizza box and aluminum foil.

Do a test piece first though, this method is a little faster than normal, and you need to feel out the right timing.
 

Takumaji

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It's not gaming related but I inherited a second hand child seat for the car off a friend I've known for years. They told me they'd cleaned it before they gave it to me but when I saw it I seriously took it from them in a two fingered grip at arms length, with the biggest shit eating smile I've ever managed to muster. I could see bits of rotten old food hanging off the chair as soon as he opened his car to pass it to me, it was rancid like I've never seen before, and the mum we got it off was a nurse so presumably had some knowledge of germs and filth.

I threw it in the back of my car and screeched away and had to wind the windows down because of the smell. It went promptly in the bin. It makes you look at people differently when you find something like that out about them, I know it was free but seriously, they wanted me to put my 9 month old child in that fucking thing?

That's nasty. I mean, what does it take to clean a friggin' child seat? A bit of water, soap and a brush, but nooo... I really don't get these people.

Good decision throwing it away, I probably wouldn't have taken it off of him in the first place.
 

ki_atsushi

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Yeah I would have looked at him all crazy and asked if his wife cleans everything that poorly.
 

Tw3ek

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Any of you guys attempt the retrobrite yet?

It seems the results aren't as cut and dried as some make it sound. I have a seriously yellowed Famicom I'd like to restore...

I tried using some hair creme developer. Here are the results on a smoke-stained machine :)

Before:
JcQuYi8.jpg

After:
MNoU1fG.jpg
 

NeoSneth

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yeah. there are some items where I go all in for a full restore. I've learned the hard way with a couple if items. Buffing the shit out of something isn't always a good thing.....

My most recent "R&D" has been with restoring cardboard. SNES boxes, gameboy boxes....mostly nintendo stuff. Creases are pretty touch to completely remove, but you can make boxes crisp and sharp with a little work and patience. Diluted wood glue + silicon nonstick pads + lots of pressure. Cardstock boxes come out super crisp. You can even do this with frayed corrugated cardboard. I use a mix of sharpies and paints to fill in worn artwork. Inks work better as they go on completely flat.
 

goombakid

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I usually disassemble everything I get second hand. I use a dry, unused paintbrush and a can of compressed air to clean PCBs, cart slots, etc. unless it's beyond filthy, then I give it a bath.

For console and controller cases, I just take all of it (pads, thumbsticks, buttons, and button membranes) and wash it with just soap and water. I either use an old toothbrush or a regular dish brush to scrub out all the crap in the crevices. If there's any stains on lighter colored plastics, I take that Magic Eraser to it.

I haven't done any whitening stuff yet, but I have an SNES that is dire need of that treatment.

I do repairs as needed. Most major one I've done for a console was replacing a 7805 in a Master System.
 
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