How much retr0brite needed?

[sean4star]

I'm looking to retr0brite an old Apple Mac keyboard, the small M0110 model. Any advice on how much of the gel I need to do the job? Keyboard case and keycaps? I guess based on "Merlin's Original Recipe"...or whatever else you recommend.

Also, should I use the gel recipe for the keycaps or a plain liquid version? I saw a pic of someone retr0briting their keycaps by putting all of them in a mason jar with a liquid solution.

[matt3o]

I retr0brighted two m0110.

First of all the keycaps are PBT you don't have (actually can't) retr0bright them. The best thing you can do is to dental tab them.

Regarding quantity of retr0bright, you can't really tell in advance. As much as needed Search this very same forum for retr0bright, we discussed about it few months ago.

[sean4star]

Thanks! I found the retr0bright thread. Good info.

On the PBT keycaps...what about the spacebar? It looks like it has some definite yellowing/discoloring. In pictures I've seen the spacebar and all other keys are the same color. Should I retr0bright the spacebar key? Anything special I need to do to match the colors?

On the dental tab...do you mean the effervescent denture cleaning tablets? Is this just for cleaning or does it cause a chemical reaction like rwtr0brite?

[Halvar]

If the space bar is more yellowed than the other keys, then it's made of ABS and should be retr0brighted. This is the case on many old keyboards, because a straight spacebar is harder to manufacture from PBT than other keys.

You can't do a lot to match the colors, you can only trust that retr0brighting will return the color to what it was before. It probably won't be a perfect fit, but much better than now.

Dental tabs are just for cleaning.