Tips n' Tricks for cleaning Hardware and Games

[MrFizzle]

In this Thread i would like you to post your methods of cleaning all those dirty old games, systems, controllers, etc.  you continue to buy at yard sales and flea markets
Let us Know how you make your Stuff shine after being covered for years with grime

Tell us how you clean off:
Permanent Marker
Years of Dirt build up
Old Stickers and tape
Anything That you have had trouble with in the past

(Im Especially having trouble getting old tape off of Boxes and Lables because i dont want to wear any of the lables off- that happened to me with an N64 game)

 

[MrFizzle]

Here are some of my Tricks:

1. I use rubbing alcohol on pretty much anything plastic to get mostly the dirt out
    (don't use Rubbing Alcohol on plastic with any kind of coating on it because it will most likely rub it off)
2. I like to use Q-Tips for those hard to reach places like grooves
3. I like to use Goo-Gone Gel for the sticky stuff on plastic but i noticed that it leaves a oil film so i just wipe it off with rubbing alcohol
4. Step 3 works really well with those annoying video store lables after you pull it off and it leaves that silver crap


*Try at your own risk

[NES_Rules]

Basically, I use rubbing alcohol and a rag for 99% of my stuff. It works perfect on surfaces like plastic but also on most most glossy game labels. But too much on a glossy label or any on a flat label could ruin it. The alcohol will take care of some permanent marker depending on what the surface is, things like the clear plastic on DVD cases will come off easily, but porous plastic like NES carts, it won't get it all off.

Getting stuff of cardboard boxes is tricky and usually impossible. If it's a new sticker, it should just peel off slowly. But residue will be nearly impossible to remove without damaging the box.

If I get a really dirty system that I can take apart easily (NES, 2600, etc) I'll take the electronics out and wash it in the sink with dish soap. Soap and water will make it shine like new.

[Sirgin]

This is what I do:

Permanent Marker: can't get it off, so I tend to not buy games who are marked
Years of Dirt build up: bit of water & soap on a cloth can work miracles and can make smelly games fresh again.
Old stickers and tape: when these are on plastic (cartridges, modern boxes, ...) they are no problem. If they don't come off in one go, white spirit. On the other
                                    hand when they are on labels or old boxes I usually avoid trying to get them off.

Something else I do is I clean the contacts of cartridges with cotton swabs (I know I'm cool )

[MrFizzle]

oh I forgot to say I use my goo gone trick to get permanent marker off
(it works really well, it gets about 99.9% of the marker off plastic)

[Feechy]

For NES games in general, after I clean them out with Q-tips and alchol (CLEVER!) I usually use a toothpick or needle to clean off any cotton that gets stuck on the contacts. After I do this, the games are like new.

[Tan]

Here's my trick for cleaning dirty game items:

Don't buy dirty games or hardware.

 

It's a lot easier when you skip over anything that's not complete in box because it doesn't have people's various crud and life cheese all over it.

[Sirgin]

Don't buy dirty games or hardware.

Hehe, we're not all that rich to buy only the best offers of every game

And for some of us (me included) the supply in our area just isn't big enough to be picky, otherwise we could end up buying nothing

[Mr. Ksoft]

Gotta agree with Sirgin here.  Not enough people around here get rid of video game stuff (or buy them in the first place) so I can't pick and choose.  If I see a game, I'm gonna pick it up.
Most things can be cleaned to tip-top condition, anyway.  I know my TurboGrafx-16 was a very dirty and unsightly mess when I first picked it up, but I've cleaned it so that it looks like new again (except for what appears to be spots on the logo that aren't coming off, but I'm ok with that)

Also, CIB stuff is relatively rare around here.  The only ones I see at all, really, are Genesis clamshells.  I've never seen any CIB NES, SNES, or N64 games, for instance.  If I passed over them, I'd have no NES or SNES games right now and only a few Genesis games.

[NES_Rules]

Here's my trick for cleaning dirty game items:

Don't buy dirty games or hardware.

 

It's a lot easier when you skip over anything that's not complete in box because it doesn't have people's various crud and life cheese all over it.

Ah, that takes all the fun out of it. I love getting dirty, nasty looking stuff and turning it in to something that looks new. At least as long as the crud comes off easily, rental stickers and good permanent marker are never fun though.

[Marriott_Guy]

All good stuff thus far (especially Tan's  ).

Some more info in the following article:

http://www.videogameconso...rary.com/art-cleaning.htm

[Tan]

Don't buy dirty games or hardware.

Hehe, we're not all that rich to buy only the best offers of every game

And for some of us (me included) the supply in our area just isn't big enough to be picky, otherwise we could end up buying nothing

I rarely spend more than $10 on a CIB game, $5 most of the time. You just have to have patience and persistence to be able to pass over games until you find a copy in the condition you want it in. That's from someone who hasn't seen games for many popular systems in the wild in his area since they were still sold in stores. 

Then again I set the same standard for buying games that I use for books, movies, music or anything else. If I have to clean some one else's grime and dirt off something, I sure as hell don't want to be paying good money for that privilege. 

[Sirgin]

I rarely spend more than $10 on a CIB game, $5 most of the time.

You're lucky. CIB games are not available here in my area. There are no garage sales, no thrift shops or any of those type of shops specialised in second hand games. I'm happy when I can get hold of a couple of cartridges at a flea market

From what I've seen here, I starting to get the feeling there really is a big difference in finding second hand games in North America and in Europe. You guys have it much easier

When I was in the UK a couple of years ago though, I took a look in a random game shop and was amazed at the offer of older games in there. I still remember seeing a boxed Final Fantasy III for the SNES. This was before I was into collecting though, otherwise I would've bought some games there Until this day, I've never seen a games store with that amount of used games here in Belgium.

Pretty much the only way to get CIB games for me is eBay. And that's not that cheap, unless you buy in bulk. €4-5 for a cartridge only game is pretty normal in Belgium, and added to that are the port costs.

[Silent Scythe]

I once tried using a Mr.Clean Magic Eraser on a SNES game I bought. It got a lot of the permanet marker off but also stipped some of the original color off the lable. Needless to say I only use it on the plastic parts now.

[Tan]

I rarely spend more than $10 on a CIB game, $5 most of the time.

You're lucky. CIB games are not available here in my area. There are no garage sales, no thrift shops or any of those type of shops specialised in second hand games. I'm happy when I can get hold of a couple of cartridges at a flea market

From what I've seen here, I starting to get the feeling there really is a big difference in finding second hand games in North America and in Europe. You guys have it much easier

When I was in the UK a couple of years ago though, I took a look in a random game shop and was amazed at the offer of older games in there. I still remember seeing a boxed Final Fantasy III for the SNES. This was before I was into collecting though, otherwise I would've bought some games there Until this day, I've never seen a games store with that amount of used games here in Belgium.

Pretty much the only way to get CIB games for me is eBay. And that's not that cheap, unless you buy in bulk. €4-5 for a cartridge only game is pretty normal in Belgium, and added to that are the port costs.

Well to be fair, I don't have expensive taste in games either. Nothing I play is really rare.

Half of my stuff came from online transactions. Even stuff like Saturn/SegaCD/Jag/Commodore/TG16/Atari etc are pretty much non-existent here, it was the same 5 years ago too. Hell I'm lucky I even found a Dreamcast.

On topic, as far as hardware cleaning goes, make canned air your new best friend. Beng able to clean the internals of electronics with minimal physical contact could save you a lot of headaches.

Many people tend to forget that static electricity can build up and you could potentially damage delicate parts. Wouldn't hurt to pick up an anti-static bracelet or anti-static gloves for electronic repair, they only cost a few bucks.