How to dye?

[Hellfromabove]

Man does anyone know of a website that gives like a 101 tutorial on this. I want to dye some whit pushbuttons like a dark blue. Any help would be great. Thanx.

-See Ya!!!

[anthony691]

Man does anyone know of a website that gives like a 101 tutorial on this. I want to dye some whit pushbuttons like a dark blue. Any help would be great. Thanx.

-See Ya!!!

Yeah, what is the preferred method? (bump too)

[crsdawg]

the two ways i know to get it done are as follows:

using a dye like rit brand. you fill a bucket with warm water and put in the dye. mix it up real good then submerse what your dying into the mixture. the longer you leave it in, the darker and closer to the dye color it will be. i personally haven't tried this, but there was a guy who did this to a flight stick and posted his results on the board here. fyi- i could have some steps wrong. also the color the object is will effect the the final color(yellow object, blue dye=green object...), although white shouldn't do this. you should be able to find this at wal-mart in the fabric/craft area and it's cheap.

you can also use vinyl dye which comes in a spray can. i used this method to make my cd rom and floppy drive match my cab, it came out pretty nice. i don't think you could tell they were not originally black if i didn't tell ya. this is a tough tecnique to master but follow closely and you'll have a chance...... 1. point spray can at object. 2. push button on the can. 3. wait for it to dry. heh heh. use thin layers and with 3 or 4 coats and it will look good. i found the product i used at pep boys, i think it was 5 bucks a can. they had lots of different colors.

i'm not sure how well the color will hold on a button. the dye is very thin does actually soak into the plastic(whereas paint coats it) which really helps with color fastness, but with the amount of use a button recieves. it still might fade/rub off. i have no idea which method would prove more rugged either.  maybe someone else has some other ideas.

good luck.

[aj6500]

With the RIT dye, you might want to try boiling the dye while the button soaks.  It MAY absorb better that way.  Just a thought, use cheap buttons tor try it out.

[Wade]

I have used RIT dye before on nylon and it worked great.  I just followed the instructions on the box (which are basically, boil the dye, add the parts).  Don't underestimate how quickly parts will take the dye - it is very easy to dye them TOO dark!

Wade

[ErikRuud]

I have been looking into this lately, and most of the advice I have seen says that you should not put plastic parts into the water whilte it is boiling.  Keep the water between 180 and 200 to keep the heat from distorting your parts.

Also make sure the parts are clean and free of any oil. In other words, wash the buttons in dish detergent and avoid getting finger prints on them.

I have also been told that using a dye intended for nylon gives better results than usin Rit dye.  I have no idea where to find this nylon dye.

[Hellfromabove]

Thanks for the help guys. Guess I will go get some Nylon dye this weekend. Just a question for a pushbutton how long do I wait for it to dry. Yeah I don't want to like smear it or anything. Oh and thanks a lot Erik otherwise I would have like melted all my parts and had like one big pot of plastic . Thanx.

-See Ya!!!

[ErikRuud]

You probably wouldn't have melted them down, but they might not have been the same shape as when they went in.

[radiator]

the standard Happ button is made from Nylon, depending on which type of nylon the melting point could be as high as 420

[Howard_Casto]

I'm sure you all have your reasons, but why would you dye a button dark blue when you can buy dark blue buttons?  Now if it was a more exotic color then I would understand, but there are about 3 or 4 shades of blue buttons available.  

[1UP]

I'm sure you all have your reasons, but why would you dye a button dark blue when you can buy dark blue buttons?  Now if it was a more exotic color then I would understand, but there are about 3 or 4 shades of blue buttons available.  

And the blue plastic won't rub off, as your dye inevitably will!

[IIOIOOIOO]

I think he's trying to get Blue P1 P2 start buttons, and can't find Black Enamel on Blue Nylon.

[Hellfromabove]

Wow hold on a second, they sell dark blue buttons?! All I have seen is regular blue color. I am still gonna have to dye the start buttons though but if someone has a link to these dark blue buttons please post, I need them badly. I am entering my arcade stick in a competition this August and the time is nearing. Almost done lol. Thanx.

-See Ya!!!

[anthony691]

I wonder if you could dye something black white? I doubt it though.

[ErikRuud]

I have a slot car chassis that is mades from dark grey nylon.

The guy that race prepped this chassis, used a nylon dye to dye some of the parts black and some of the parts were dye yellow.  The yellow parts came out a dingy looking yellow/green color.

So black to white would probably come out as some sort of grey.

[1UP]

Wow hold on a second, they sell dark blue buttons?! All I have seen is regular blue color. I am still gonna have to dye the start buttons though but if someone has a link to these dark blue buttons please post, I need them badly. I am entering my arcade stick in a competition this August and the time is nearing. Almost done lol. Thanx.

-See Ya!!!

Happ makes dark blue bouttons, this is nothing new.  i would think it would be easier to print symbols on dark blue buttons than to dye the white ones blue.  They also have green start buttons.  For an ultra cool look, you might even buy illuminated blue buttons and have Happ print player start symbols on them.

[shmokes]

If you have to dye any of them, though, I'd guess you want to dye them all so they are the same shade of dark blue.  The Happ or anyone else's will inevitably be slightly or way different than the ones you dye.