Question on proper care for Roland CM-series synths?

[Galahad]

Since the Roland CM-series external synths have beige covers, I know that under certain circumstances, they can become discolored/yellowed.  Just wondering if anyone could please mention what are the most common causes for this -- for example, is the yellowing caused by extended exposure to natural sunlight or artificial light?  The reason I ask is because I have 1 CM series synth in excellent condition that I would like to prevent discoloration from occurring on, if at all possible.

[Great Hierophant]

Keep away from sunlight, smoke and extreme climate conditions and you should be fine.  Once plastic yellows, there is no no turning back. 

[Cloudschatze]

Keep away from sunlight, smoke and extreme climate conditions and you should be fine.

Not necessarily. Here is a relevant article I read a few months back...

http://www.vintagecomputing.com/index.php/archives/189

[Laust]

Cheap plastics...  Some Commodore enthusiasts have supposedly had luck with products like Oxiclean on old computer cases. I have not tried this myself, though.

At least the CM modules should yellow reasonably evenly, as they're only made from one kind of plastic, unlike this Thoshiba laptop:



Which was once the colour of the hinge in the middle.

[Kaminari]

Cigarette smoke is probably the worst offender. We have an old stain remover product in France called Eau Écarlate ("scarlet water") which does wonders at revigorating the original colours of plastic cases.

[kreatorb]

this is a common problem with older compact macs (and amigas)

I think the consensus is a dilute bleach is the only way back.  The main problem with this is it never manages to look exactly as original (you can tell it has been bleached) - so unless it's really fugly best to leave it alone.

[Galahad]

Thanks very much for the helpful tips and info from everyone -- also thanks to Cloud for mentioning the link to the interesting article. 

One last follow-up question to my original post:  to avoid yellowing/discoloration, would it generally not recommended to keep a Roland CM unit on the tops of 2 side-by-side tower PCs?  The reason I ask is because this is how I currently have things set up to have enough desk space for everything -- but could the heat coming up from the backs of the PCs possibly be a risk factor for premature aging of the CM device?

[Cloudschatze]

One last follow-up question to my original post:  to avoid yellowing/discoloration, would it generally not recommended to keep a Roland CM unit on the tops of 2 side-by-side tower PCs?  The reason I ask is because this is how I currently have things set up to have enough desk space for everything -- but could the heat coming up from the backs of the PCs possibly be a risk factor for premature aging of the CM device?

I'm not sure that it's going to make much difference. There's probably more heat generated inside the CM units themselves than what they might be exposed to from the PCs.

Just enjoy your stuff...

[Great Hierophant]

The only noticeable heat generated by the CM units, I have noticed, comes from the spot where the voltage regulator(s) is/are located.  (A CM-64 uses two, one for each board, so it gets extra warm.)