Over the years, I've bought a number of NES games with permanent marker written over them. Some of the games I've managed to get the marker off with rubbing alcohol, but a few games are really really stubborn.
One game in particular has a name written over the back in large letters. I've taken the cart apart and went to town doing everything I could think of, even calling my mother for her advice.
I've used rubbing alcohol, hairspray, lens cleaner, even orange peels. I've got some of the ink off, but it's still visible. Do you guys have any suggestions?
I would use Goof Off or Goo Gone only as a last resort.
Alcohol does the job pretty much perfect and leaves the texture, unlike magic erasers.
Is it just me or does alcohol dissolve everything that is bad in life?
acetone should work though I do not know what effect it would have on the cartridge or label. I think it would be ok as long as your careful, if you soaked it it would defiantly cause the label to peel off.
You can buy it at the hardware store or the drug store as nail polish remover usually for cheaper but your gonna want to check the label and get the 100% Acetone kind.
My friend says that baking soda tooth paste removes maker well too but idk about that.
I've been using these melamine foam sponges for cleaning a few things lately, and I've wondered if they would do much for NES carts. It works great on scratch-resistant surfaces, like the polycarbonate overlays on my arcade cabinets, the fridge, etc. The stuff is basically like extremely fine sandpaper, it would take the marker off easily (and absorb the ink) but I don't know if would damage the texture/surface of the plastic.
I have removed really reluctant price stickers with acetone before. It will slightly melt the gray plastic case.
I've used goo-be-gone before for stickers too. Works great. Unfortunately, I've never been able to remove permanent marker (like a sharpie). I just wanted to warn you that acetone might not be ideal...
However, you must consider that the ink from the marker has diffused into the plastic, a few micrometers at least. Your options, as I understand them are:
1) Find a chemical that won't damage the plastic that will break-down the ink (like bleach, but normal bleach won't work).
2) Provide some really absorbent medium outside of the plastic, force it next to the plastic tightly and apply gentle heat. Maybe some of the ink will diffuse out.
3) Accept chemical / physical damage to the plastic and use something 'aggressive' to remove the outermost layer containing the ink.
4) Find some chemical that will diffuse into the plastic and force the ink to "unbond" (is that a valid word?) and then try option #2.
Yeah, deep marker, I usually put TONS of alcohol on it, let it soak in,then rub it hard. I don't think it will ever come 100% off, but it's as good as it gets I think.
SatoshiMatrix wrote:
Over the years, I've bought a number of NES games with permanent marker written over them. Some of the games I've managed to get the marker off with rubbing alcohol, but a few games are really really stubborn.
One game in particular has a name written over the back in large letters. I've taken the cart apart and went to town doing everything I could think of, even calling my mother for her advice.
I've used rubbing alcohol, hairspray, lens cleaner, even orange peels. I've got some of the ink off, but it's still visible. Do you guys have any suggestions?
Use goo gone. It will not hurt the plastic at all, but it will remove the marker no problem. It even can work on labels if you're really careful (test first though). If some gets on the edge of the label it might soak in a bit- let it dry a while and it should evaporate without permanently affecting the label. Again, test first on something you don't care about.
I've used goo gone many times to remove marker and grease pencil that the dolts at the thrift store use to mark the carts with.