Preventing Rotten Apples
By James Poore
Copyright (c) 1995 Apple Users' Group, Sydney
Republished from Applecations, a publication of the Apple Users' Group, Sydney, Australia.
James Poore (jpoore@pro-palmtree.cts.com) offers these comments on keeping your Apple clean.
One of the meanest enemies of plastic is nicotine from cigarette smoke. Nicotine is responsible for a lot of the discoloration. I work on jukeboxes and video games and I've seen machines go from off-white to a dark chocolate brown from cigarette smoke (especially in bars). Windex does a pretty good job if you let it sit for at least an hour after brushing it in. Another good cleaner we have had good luck with is a product called "Goo Gone". It is a citrus and petroleum distillate cleaner and seems safe to all the plastics in the vending business (acrylic, polycarbonate, and styrenes).
For best results follow these steps:
1) Pour on cleaner, brush in and let set for awhile (an hour is about right)
2) give a fresh spray while holding the case in a fashion that will let the liquid run down
3) start at the top and work your way down pushing the grime down with the spray until its off at the bottom.
4) rinse with fresh water and let dry
5) repeat if necessary
In my trials of cleaning machines wiping down a machine without giving a fresh spray first tends to push some of the grime back in the plastic.
Permission is hereby granted for non-profit user groups to republish this content. PLEASE CREDIT THE AUTHOR AND THE SOURCE: Applecations, publication of the Apple Users' Group, Sydney, Australia