I have first-hand, succesful experience with cleaning old compact Mac carrying cases.
One in particular that came with a Mac 512k I bought off EBAY smelled like a decaying corpse. My marriage was in jeopardy until I decided to clean the thing. Here in Japan our washers are too small to fit something like this so I used the bath tub. I fill the tub with the hottest water I could dump into it and as the water was filling the tub I put in multiple scoops of the Japanese equivalent of Tide (to wash clothing). I'm serious, I put it numerous scoops of the powdered detergent. I then took a firm-bristled brush and scrub the thing inside and out while it was half in the tub of sudsy water. I was worried about the leather/cowhide handle covers, but they actually came out ok, although some of the black die came off in the wash. I washed the bag twice, dumping out the dirty water from the first wash and then repeating. I then turned it upside down and let it drain in the tub for 24 hours, and after that I put it out in the sun. The bag didn't harden up hardly at all upon drying. And it now smells pretty much like clothing just out of the wash. If I had to do it over, I might have also thrown in some OxiClean with the detergent. Having lived in Japan so long, I didn't even know about OxiClean until a year later when I was researching how to deyellow vintage Mac plastics via RetroBright. The addition of OxiClean with the detergent likely would have given me a decent enough wash the first time around such that I may not have had to wash it a second time. Of course, if you use OxiClean AND wash it twice, you are sure to get a bag in ultra-clean condition! -- James Wages -- ----- You received this message because you are a member of the Vintage Macs group. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/vintagemacs.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To leave this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/vintage-macs Support for older Macs: http://lowendmac.com/services/
