dyeing slikstik translucent balltops

[juggle50]

Boy I felt like a moron for trying this and there was no way it was going to work but it did and was sort of a delightful surprise.

Anyway, I love the slikstik translucent led balltop joystick,but everything on my cp is blue and the slikstik looks great when lit but when the lights are off the opaque color looks out of place in the context of everything else. So I started thinking of ways to change the color without losing it's translucent quality.

I stumbled upon this link:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3825/is_199907/ai_n8867845

about dyeing plastic by boiling "Ritz" clothing dye (found in any supermarket) and sticking the plastic in the boiling dye until the desired color is acheived.  This technique seems to be used frequently by the RC car community and for frizbees.

I gave it a try feeling a bit like a tool and followed the directions in the link pretty closly.  I tried it with navy blue first (using the powder dye) and was impressed with how even the dye was and how effectivly it changed the color but didn't like the actual color much.  It turned the balltop into more of a greyish purplish blue and wasn't exactly what I was looking for.

I ordered some more balltops from Christian and tried it again using "Royal Blue" (this time in liquid form) This turned out perfectly.  I used two tablespoons of dye and boiled it for 5 minutes.  It's not the exact same blue as my buttons, trackball and trigger stick but close enough to keep with the theme.  I also didn't feel that I lost out on much if any illumination.

Here are some pics.

 

[pointdablame]

VERY COOL!

I'm considering some Slikstik lighted handles for one of my projects, but didn't like the idea of a white stick when the LEDs were off.  I never even considered dying them.  Nice work.

[juggle50]

Thanks man,

I forgot to mention that SlikStik puts a thin layer of foam material inside the ball top to disperse the light evenly as bubbles develop during the casting process.  If you try this, make sure to remove the foam with needle nose plyers before boiling.  Also, I've got an extra royal blue one if anyone wants it.

[pointdablame]

So the Royal blue one is the one in your second pic?  I'm guessing you could have gotten it even darker if you left it in longer, correct?


I am definitely going to try this if I wind up going with these sticks.  How much did the extra ball tops cost you?

[juggle50]

Yeah, it's the one on the right in the picture of the three lined up.  The more dye you use and the longer you leave it in the darker it will turn.  The balltops are $3.50 and you can ask Christian to send you some extra of the foam that he uses for filtering.  I would buy a few so you can experiment.  If you go too dark you may lose some translucency, I don't know.  There is also a "denim blue" that may get you a darker tone.  I didn't experiment with that one though.

Also, since they are hollow they will float and not dye evenly, so you need to use a chopstick to hold the balltop under the water or use something like a fishing weight and put both the weight and balltop in a sheer nylon bag of somekind so it doesn't float up.

[pointdablame]

Thanks for the info, I think it looks really nice with some color on it even when the LEDs are off.  Obviously won't do much for people who have the color changing models, but I wanted to go with a blue and a red anyway

[MovingTarget]

This is awesome!  I too have a blue theme and really don't care for the white ball top when the lights are off.  I going to try this either this weekend or next.

Thanks so much for being a pioneer!

[juggle50]

Thanks,

Let me know how it turns out.  Make sure to put the ball imeadiately under the faucet after you take it out of the boiling water to get the color even.

[horseboy]

I am sure that doing it this way will dye metal as well, right? I am looking into doing this to a joystick without the detatchable ball top. I don't want it to dye the metal shaft as well and have the whole thing look funky. Any suggestions on how to go about this?

[juggle50]

Hmm, that is a really good question.  I doubt it would fully "dye" the metal but it may very well stain it.  I would buy a few shafts to experiment with.  I would probably start by wrapping the shaft in plastic (not cling wrap because that will shrink when it get's hot, maybe something like the plastic from zip lock bags) try to tape it off with duct tape making it air tight.  Then submerge the balltop into the boiling dye while holding on the the shaft.

It would be wise to wear an ovenmit as it get's hot over the boiling water and try to hold the balltop very still so you get an even dye.  What color is the balltop now and what color do you want it to be?  Remember you can't dye a darker color lighter, just the other way round.

[horseboy]

It is light green, and I would like to make it dark green. Thanks for the tips.

[ahofle]

I'm just curious...has the dye stood up to a good amount of joystick use?  Just wondering if it eventually ends up wearing off or if it's pretty much permanently embedded in the plastic?

[Wienerdog]

This won't change the color of metal at all.  It also doesn't work on regular plastic.  The dye works with nylon parts (if I remember correctly from my RC car days).  I tried this on white T-Molding last year and it doesn't do anything to it.  The material has to absorb the dye. 

[juggle50]

huh, well it works great on the slikstik balltops.  I don't know what kind of plastic they are made out of.  I did it over a month ago and the dye has not worn off at all.  Only time will tell, but it feels like it's going to be pretty permanant.

[waldo]

wow, great tip, was not looking forward to white ball tops on my green CP

[KillerArcades]

Holy Crap! You're a stud, and you got bawls, too!

Way to go!

[Havok]

I'm considering doing this also. How is the dye holding up over time?

[juggle50]

So far so good.  I don't use this particular joystick too much so it doesn't get a ton of wear, but if it has faded it is pretty minimal and I don't notice it.