#sysadminA1048 - Bleaching the keys

Earlier this week I ordered a few key components for my Apple A1048 keyboard restoration / hack. I needed some Hydrogen Peroxide (9% strength) and a UV light source. So off to Amazon I went and picked up the Hydrogen Peroxide and for the UV source I found a cheap UV gel nail curing lamp, used in the beauty trade to dry gel nails in salons.

So I chose a selection of key caps, placed them in a plastic container and carefully poured in a measure of Hydrogen Peroxide. I slide the container under the lights and turned them on. At first I checked every 30 minutes to see what change had taken place, then I moved to every hour. After around 4 hours I took the keys out and gave them a good wash. Initially I thought "These don't look any whiter" but when I compared them to their original yellow colour, the difference was visible.

Well this is my progress for now, I'm going to be bleaching the rest of the keys in batches. Then I need to deep clean the keyboard and then work out how to attach an Arduino to the internal USB port.

Please be careful with chemicals, at best they may damage your clothes, at worst they could cause you real harm. So wear eye protection and gloves when handling them

By the way I am following this great guide to restore the keyboard.