THIS PROCESS DOES NOT WORK ON METAL!!!
TO COLOR METALS SEE THE ANNO THREAD!!!
Over the past couple of years I've seen a lot of threads about dyeing equipment.After much experimenting I thought I'd assemble my personal experiences into one informative thread.
If there is soemthing you'd like to add please feel free but I'd really like to keep this an info thread and keep the "chatty" comments and other garbage out of it.
I'll try to include prices and alternate items whenever possible.
Items Needed:
Good ,well lit ,CLEAN work area with a sink and HOT and COLD water source readily available.
Good clean Plastic containers:
1. 2 gallon buckets. ($2.00 Wal~Mart)
2. 5 gallon buckets. ($2.50 Wal~Mart)
3. various small deep containers for dyeing small parts
4. small lidded container for various other parts such as
screws etc..
Sturdy device for stirring (.50 cent wooden dowel rod works great) or long handled plastic pasta spoon.(WARNING
O NOT grab one from your mothers kitchen without asking...can cause sudden excruciating pain and possible brusing)
Hot glue gun ($5.00-$15.00) with high temp sticks (for splashes)
Clear tape (I use either packaging tape or scotch tape) ($1.00-$5.00) for masking areas you don't want dyed or for doing interesting designs.
Roll of light wire (aluminium works great) or kite string (wire $1.50 string $0.75 at Wal~Mart) for hanging parts in dye bath.
1/4 inch dowell rod.($0.75 at Wal~Mart) for hanging parts.
heavy lead fishing weights (the ones with the loop wired into them work best) ($1.00-$2.00 at Wal~Mart) to keep light parts submerged.
Spray bottle ($1.00 or less at Wal~Mart) for cleaning up drips
1 gallon UNSCENTED bleach.For the spills and drips that WILL eventually happen and cleanup after you are done.
Paper towels (get 2 rolls) ($1.00 or less at Wal~Mart)
Clean OLD towel (see warning about pasta spoon)
OR
BEST BET:Bag of shop rags (you can get packages of 20 for about $5.00 at Wal~Mart automotive department)
Rit LIQUID dye (easiest to use and most readily available) in whatever color or colors you want ($2.50 each at Wal~Mart).Normally they are quite clear and vibrant colors when you are done.There are other dyes available that are specifically made for plastics but they are a lot harder to obtain and are much more expensive and harder to work with.
Parts to dye
PARTS PREPERATION
Disassemble ,thoroughly clean with soapy water, rinse and dry all parts to be dyed.Make sure that all stickers and sticker goo is removed. Set the clean parts aside in an area that they won't be disturbed or contaminated while you are preparing the dye bath.Make sure that any parts ,screws ,nuts ,straps or whatever else you aren't going to dye are set aside somewhere they won't be lost or broken(the plastic box mentioned before).
If you are going to get gutsy and try a splash of fade you'll have to do other prep to the parts before dyeing...
splashes will need to have the hot glue put onto the parts and the back masked off.
When doing multi colors or fades (example blue to red) you'll need to figure exactly how deep the part will need to hang into the dye and then hang it using wire or string from the dowell rod.
When doing designs you'll need to mask off the area(s) you want to keep the dye out of.
EMERGENCY CLEANUP PREPERATION
DO THIS BEFORE OPENING THE DYE!!!
Get your paper towels ,towel ,spray bottle ,bleach and bucket ready.Fill one bucket with about 1-1/2 gallons of water and add about 1/3 cup of bleach.Fill the spray bottle from the bleachwater mix and set it aside but where it's easy to get to.
ACCIDENTS AND SPILLS CAN AND DO HAPPEN AND IT'S BETTER TO BE PREPARED AHEAD OF TIME THAN TO HAVE TO RUN AROUND GETTING EVERYTHING YOU NEED TOGETHER AS DYE RUNS ALL OVER THE FLOOR.
DYE BATH PREPERATION (Medium size parts...rev,halo shells,masks,etc.) with larger parts use 2 bottles dye in 3 gallons water in 5 gallon bucket.
FIRST OF ALL the package instructions say you need to use boiling water and salt...ignore them.Those instructions are for dyeing fabrics and don't apply to what you are doing.
SHAKE THE BOTTLE OF DYE VIGOROUSLY before opening.
Put a 2 gallon bucket in a deep sink...I have an old two compartment wash sink in the basement that works great for this...
If the hot water from your tap is good and hot (uncomfortable to keep your hand in for more than a few seconds) put about 1 gallon of water in one of the 2 gallon buckets.open the bottle of dye OVER THE BUCKET and empty it into the water.Slowly refill the bottle about half way ,recap and shake it and empty that into the bucket as well.ADD THE DYE TO THE WATER...it reduces splashing and extra messes.
IF the water from your tap isn't hot enough boil about 1-1/2 gallons of water before putting it into bucket.then add the dye.
Stir the dye/water mix thoroughly.
DYEING YOUR PARTS
Drop the parts in it's that easy.stir the dye from time to time to prevent setteling or layering of the dye.If you hang your parts from a string or wire it makes extracting them to check the colors much easier.Check the progress every 5-20 minutes depending on what you are trying to dye and how dark you want it.Some materials such as urethane (o-rings ,etc.) take color quickly others like Polycarbonates (new revvy lids) either won't take dye or take a long time.
Once the desired shade/color is reached pull the parts out and thoroughly rinse them with clear COLD water.once they are rinsed,washed and dried you can reassemble everything and you are good to go.
CLEANUP
if you plan on doing more dyeing soon you can store the leftover dye in a strong sealed container (I use well cleaned laundry detergent bottles).make sure you clean up any spills,splashed and drips with the bleach water.wash the bucket and anything else that contained dye and throw away any paper towels or towels (DO NOT PUT THE TOWELS IN THE LAUNDRY WITH ANYTHING ELSE!!!).bleach the sink and work areas and put everything away.
AFTER EFFECTS OF DYEING YOUR GEAR
YOU WILL BE THE ENVY OF EVERY PLAYER AT THE FIELD AND SUDDENLY DESIRED BY SUPERMODELS THE WORLD OVER...
okay the truth is you'll probably get a lot of comments about how your gear looks...I get rec players going nuts over my blue/red proteus with the clear red/blue frame a lot.
ENJOY!
HARPO.....
THIS PROCESS DOES NOT WORK ON METAL!!!
TO COLOR METALS SEE THE ANNO THREAD!!!
THIS PROCESS DOES NOT WORK ON METAL!!!
TO COLOR METALS SEE THE ANNO THREAD!!!
), ESPECIALLY your recommendation for the LIQUID RIT dye, instead of the powdered. SO much better to work with.
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