Many of us with working Super Famicoms and Super Nintendos have one of these machines that have, over the last decade or so, turned "smoker's teeth" yellow and are unable to be cleaned off by typical cleaning conventions. The reason they often turn this color is due to the flame-retardant chemicals in the plastic aging in combination of being exposed to other irritants like sunlight, cigarette smoke, etc. It doesn't affect the system performance in any way (that I know of anyway) but it is ugly as sin and should be restored to its former glory!
For years, there was no way to really fix this, but then sometime, I think back in 2013, someone finally cracked the code on fixing it. It's not an easy fix, but it does indeed work. The following instructions on how to do so come from http://www.geekwithenvy.com/2013/07/how-to-make-a-yellow-snes-look-new/:
The solution to this problem is to make a Hydrogen Peroxide gel that has a higher percentage of Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) in it. This will allow you to easily put the gel on the section of plastic that you’re trying to fix.
So how do you make the gel? Here’s the best part, you don’t need to. You can actually use hair developer cream, which you can get from SallyBeauty.
Here’s what you will need:
A clean workspace with adequate ventilation.
Plastic Gloves / Eye Protection
Plastic Wrap
Salon Care 40 Volume Cream Developer (Read the safety precautions on the developer to protect yourself)
A UV Light Source
Lot’s of Time
Depending on what your trying to clean up you may need a lot of developer, so make sure you get a larger bottle.
If you can, carefully take off the plastic parts that you are trying to clean to avoid damaging the electronics inside. If you can’t take things apart or don’t want to, then just be careful and be smart about where you place the developer.
Once the parts have a good coating of developer on them, place a piece of plastic wrap over them to avoid any evaporation and to keep things in place.
Turn on your UV light source and make sure that the affected area is getting plenty of light. For best results, wait for 24 to 36 hours before cleaning off the developer.
*Tip:
Once you have finished the process you should find that much of the yellowing has gone away. This doesn’t mean it’s gone for good though, the plastics are still composed of the same chemicals as before and will eventually begin to yellow again. Your best bet, if you want to avoid cleaning them again, is to slow down the process by applying a spray-on UV protectant coating.
**This project is something you can do at home, but you do so at your own risk!"
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