Tried dying NES Zappers (now a project thread)

[thatpurplestuff]

"Trying" being the key word here... it doesn't appear that any of the dye is actually penetrating the plastic.  I'm trying to turn the light gray part of the NES Zapper a blue color.

I'd say that my original solution was about 70/30 hot water and Rit royal blue dye (bottle not powder).  After 30 minutes it was clear that the dye was not doing anything, so I added acetone to the solution (so now about 20-30% of the solution is acetone and the rest is now cold water and Rit dye).  I'm checking this every 20 mins or so and still don't think it's doing anything... my question is would it be a good idea to put this solution into a stainless steel pot and heat it on the stove?  I have read in a few places that heat will make the plastic absorb the dye better, but to be completely honest I really have no idea what I am doing.

Please help me so that my fingers aren't blue for naught.

[Slippyblade]

Just be careful.  Acetone is a solvent that will, with enough time or concentration, turn that plastic NES zapper into a puddle of slime.  Also, be very careful when you re-heat your solution as acetone is also EXTREMELY flammable.

[Fursphere]

RIT dye normally works on nylon based plastics.

The NES Zapper is not this kind of plastic.   And the boiling process will probably warp the shells.

Use plastic based spray paint instead.  And lots of sanding.    And primer.

[WindDrake]

The Zapper is ABS, you can't boil dye it. Use something like Krylon Fusion paint.

[thatpurplestuff]

Thanks for the info guys!  I just admitted defeat and took the shell out of the dye and rinsed it off.  Will give spraypaint a try tomorrow!

[Fursphere]

Thanks for the info guys!  I just admitted defeat and took the shell out of the dye and rinsed it off.  Will give spraypaint a try tomorrow!

To get the paint to "bite" you should "rough up" the surface with some sand paper. 

[WindDrake]

Shouldn't have to roughen the surface with Krylon Fusion, it's a heavy-solvent spraypaint designed to self-etch plastic.

[404]

try vinyl dye. comes in spray form.

[Well Fed Games]

Yeah, i just bought some of this: (http://www.amazon.com/VHT-SP942-Vinyl-Black-Satin/dp/B000CPIN9S) only in red and blue to dye some guncons, hopefully this week. I hope to experiment on some old joystick balltops with the overspray.

[Sarver Systems]

try vinyl dye. comes in spray form.

This.

I've done so many auto parts with vinyl dye, and they end up looking better than new!

And the stuff is durable!

Just remember...light coats....light coats.

One big coat, and it'll clump right off.

You need to let the thin coats sink in to the plastic.

[jdbailey1206]

Definitley go with the vinyl dye.  Rit Dye is meant to adhere to a clean white surface.  When you go to dye a color on top of another color it just comes out poor.  Since the Zapper will not have any moving parts you should see no cracking on the surface. 

[ChanceKJ]

Seriously, **** Rit dye.  It left me with two very nice warped reminders of when i should stop over modifying something that works. (just view my build thread).

...I think i'll turn them into Christmas tree ornaments.

[thatpurplestuff]

Just used Krylon Fusion paint (Patriotic Blue and Pepper Red) to do the outer shells and they look great!  The paint went on really nicely and I think they're going to look fantastic when dry.  One thing I'm slightly concerned about is I think the acetone messed up at least one of the threads of the shell I tried to dye.  If it's a big problem I can grab another zapper for ~$10, but I'll see once these are fully dry.

Thanks for the advice everyone... will post pics when I get a chance!

[RussLyman]

any photos of the finished project???

I ended up making a lamp out of a NES Zapper

[jdbailey1206]

any photos of the finished project???

I ended up making a lamp out of a NES Zapper

*knocks lamp over*  IS THAT A POWER GLOVE?!?

[RussLyman]

Ha yeah Indeed it is. I tried using it once. It Sucked so now its a cool display item for the game room

[thatpurplestuff]

Just snapped a few quick pics on my way out today... you can't really tell in these crappy photos but the red is a very deep vibrant color, not the almost magenta-ish color that it appears to be in the second photo.  Overall I am incredibly happy with how the paint turned out... my cab is going to have red controls for p1 and blue controls for p2, so these will work well and are very very close to my CP button colors.  Out of an abundance of caution I sanded the shells down after washing them in order to make sure that the paint adhered correctly.  I considered doing the rest of the gun black, but I actually like the gray and it makes them more recognizable as NES Zappers.  These guns were both found at different times at thrift stores so they've got some battle scars, but they aren't in too bad of condition and I may try to give them some love with polish/scratch remover.



I've got 2 of each of these buttons in the mail... will be installing a button on the bottom of the handle once I decide which one looks nicer installed.



Going to be buying a few Aimtrak modules for myself for Xmas, so this project will be on hold until the end of December.

Thanks again for all of the helpful input on this thread... the Rit Dye was a disaster but I feel like I pulled this one out of the fire!

[Slippyblade]

Oh.  Those look nice.   

Tell ya what though, the one thing I hated about the NES zappers was the insanely loud click/ping the trigger made. 

[yotsuya]

Your paint job looks beautiful!

[thatpurplestuff]

Oh.  Those look nice.   

Tell ya what though, the one thing I hated about the NES zappers was the insanely loud click/ping the trigger made.

Haha yeah that was the main reason why I wasn't going to use Zappers, but after opening one up I realized that the microswitch is actually activated before the trigger snaps all the way down and makes the "KA-PING!" noise.  I'm going to be modifying the trigger by just adding a bit of material inside of the mechanism so that it can't be pulled back far enough to "KA-PING!"... after that the only real noise is the microswitch being activated but it still feels like you're pulling the trigger.



I won't know how much material I will have to remove from the barrel until I get the Aimtraks, but I know they will fit since others have had success.  Other than that I just need the extra buttons installed on the bottom and to hack up a couple of USB cords so that the cord protector doohickies from the original Zappers fit over them.

[thatpurplestuff]

Your paint job looks beautiful!

Thanks man!  I am far from a great painter, but that Krylon Fusion made them very easy to paint.  It goes on pretty thin and dries VERY fast, so I was able to do around 4 coats in 5-10 minutes.  Honestly I was amazed at how nice they turned out.

[Sarver Systems]

Krylon Fusion is VERY easy to work with. It is a little thicker than automotive vinyl dye, but it does come in a lot more colors. Pros and Cons.

[thatpurplestuff]

Another quick update... added buttons to the bottom but haven't permanently attached them yet.  I was thinking that tightening the lockwasher/nut that it came with and then hot gluing the button to one half of the shell would probably be the easiest way, but if anyone has any better ideas I'm all ears!







The buttons themselves have a little more resistance to push down than I would have liked, but it's definitely not a dealbreaker and it's still pretty easy to trigger them with the palm of your hand... they also match the color of the triggers very closely so I'm stoked about that.  Not getting the 2 Aimtrak modules until the end of December, so this project will likely be on hold until then but I'll make sure to update when they are completed!

[Sarver Systems]

Paint the triggers to match. And the button on the bottom should pop off using a small screwdriver to pry out the cap. Then you can paint it too.

[thatpurplestuff]

Paint the triggers to match. And the button on the bottom should pop off using a small screwdriver to pry out the cap. Then you can paint it too.

To be honest I actually like the reddish orange color of the triggers and bottom buttons... I was considering buying a couple of the orange zappers because they have black triggers that I could swap in, but after seeing these put together I think I'm going to use them as-is.

[Slippyblade]

Not to mention that if you paint the triggers you would eventually get wear spots on the edges from use.  Sticking with the orange means that won't happen as the plastic is that color all the way through.

[jdbailey1206]

Paint the triggers to match. And the button on the bottom should pop off using a small screwdriver to pry out the cap. Then you can paint it too.

To be honest I actually like the reddish orange color of the triggers and bottom buttons... I was considering buying a couple of the orange zappers because they have black triggers that I could swap in, but after seeing these put together I think I'm going to use them as-is.

It's probably just my OCD but I agree with Sarver.  But are you really gonna notice when you are blowing everything away?  Nice clean work Purp.

[VoltaTom]

try vinyl dye. comes in spray form.

I need this stuff.

Can't seem to find it anywhere in Canada!

Not at Home Depot, Walmart, Amazon, Napa, Canadian Tire....

[jdbailey1206]

try vinyl dye. comes in spray form.

I need this stuff.

Can't seem to find it anywhere in Canada!

Not at Home Depot, Walmart, Amazon, Napa, Canadian Tire....

Have you tried online?

[Slippyblade]

Can you ship spray paint to Canada?  I'd assume that the US/Canada powers that be would somehow construe it as "bomb making supplies" and you'd get a friendly visit from the authorities...

[VoltaTom]

Have you tried online?

Yes, those were all the places I tried looking for it online. I might have to have it shipped from the states.

Can you ship spray paint to Canada?  I'd assume that the US/Canada powers that be would somehow construe it as "bomb making supplies" and you'd get a friendly visit from the authorities...

Haha I haven't tried yet. I can imagine they might be suspicious. I just hate paying duty fees and brokerage fees (effing UPS...  )

[thatpurplestuff]

I'd assume that the US/Canada powers that be would somehow construe it as "bomb making supplies" and you'd get a friendly visit from the authorities...

Nah... I mean they may think you are buying parts to set up a bootleg maple syrup still or something, but even worst case scenario I believe the punishment is only a week or two without hockey and bacon.   

Seriously though I'm curious to see how that vinyl dye works... one of you guys has to go for it and give us an update!

[Sarver Systems]

This was done invinyl dye.

The black part is done, but the  gray area is still original plastic.

[jdbailey1206]

I used to work in a Corvette Restoration shop that sold all Corvette parts.  (NOS, Repops, etc.)  That was in our catalog.  We used to have guys come in with before and after pictures and it was mind blowing.  At times the vinyl dye made it look better than if it had been a NOS part.  Good color saturation too.

[Well Fed Games]

Here's my blue stuff after three coats (10 minutes apart) of vinyl dye. So far so good. Also painted a couple plastic desk grommets for the project, and some wico balltop shafts as a test. That stuff, the fumes are brutal. Even with a mask it was tough on the throat.

[Sarver Systems]

I kinda like the way it smells. It makes me think of how well my other projects turned out.

[KonkeyKong]

Very interested to see how the Wicos turn out.  I've got a couple 4" with light purple tops, looks a little funky with the Robotron color scheme. But if I can just vinyl dye 'em red, I'll be a happy little monkey indeed.

[Well Fed Games]

Very interested to see how the Wicos turn out.  I've got a couple 4" with light purple tops, looks a little funky with the Robotron color scheme. But if I can just vinyl dye 'em red, I'll be a happy little monkey indeed.

Came out good. Color could have been a little more consistent but that was likely user error. Pic attached... powder blue was the original, the darker blue two were what got vinyl dye'd. Surface ended up being matte as opposed to the original glossy, but feel ok.

[DeLuSioNal29]

I used DHT's Vinyl Dye on my guncon a few years ago and they came out great!  I've also used red, burgundy, blue and black on other projects.  I've attached pics below.  Keep in mind these things used to be BRIGHT orange!

A word of warning though.  Use this in a well ventilated area!  This stuff works awesome, but stinks like crazy!

DeLuSioNaL29

[thatpurplestuff]

Very impressed with the results of vinyl dye on everyone's projects!  I'm very happy with the way my guns turned out but these posts are making me want to start a new project just to find something plastic to try vinyl dye out on haha.