Is there an easy way to remove yellowing from old Brother sewing machine?
 

My old Brother sewing machine has been in storage for decades, finally got it out and the plastic is not white anymore but has turned a garish yellow. Is there an easy way to remove this?

I hope someone chimes in with a good answer for you on this. I suspect there is not much you can do to recolor aged plastic, but in the meantime perhaps consider painting it? There are some paints that can be used on plastic, so you will have to be careful to pick one of those. You could get quite fancy (I have seen pictures of some painted machines that are almost too pretty to use), or you could go simple. You would have to be sure to not get any paint inside the machine, of course. I bet there are YouTube videos that show you how....

I'm not sure there's much of anything you can use to whiten plastic that has yellowed from age and exposure. Painting is a good idea.

Here you go -

http://www.inspektorgadjet.com/diy-retrobright/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgCQmxxURPM



Cari

It would be easier just to sew yourself a beautiful cover for the machine. All white plastic turns yellow with age. As long a it sews well and you love it's performance, use it as is.

The various DIY "retro bright" recipes works very well on old 70s and 80s plastic. It's a bit messy to work with, if you use arrowroot or wall paper glue as thickener in stead of corn starch you don't have to stick it in the microwave. I've done it a few times and I think the yellowing largley is a film of dirt and grime. In cases where you can take the plastic cover completely off and run it in the dishwasher once or twice it turns out just as white and clean again. Be careful with the dishwasher, not all plastics can take the heat, but a lot of hard plastic do.

My older machines have done the same thing and I suspect if I compared my current machine to a new one it would be yellowed also. I would be very careful about using chemicals and maybe getting it into the working parts. Decals and a cover would be my options. BTW I bought decals for mine from Urban Elementz.

I agree, it has to be done carefully, but the gel like consistecy of these brighteners have been used successfully on computers, phones, sewing machines. It hasn't seeped into the inners of the items, and pvc stand up very well to peroxide and laundry detergents like oxiclean. There's always a risk involved, but the worst brownish yellowing that can happen I just can't live with. It's a bit messy, but not much worse than polishing copper and silver.