www.TK560.com

[Indigogyre]

Well, since i was wondering about the properties of RIT dye on plastic I did some searches.

I found a dye that was formulated for synthetic materials. Yes, it refers to cloth but it was,"Designed to permanently dye synthetic fibers -- in particular polyester, nylon, acrylic, acetate rayon and ingeo."

Here is a link to the prices for the materials.
http://www.prochemical.com/catalog/disperse.htm

Wow, you might think those prices are a lot until you look at this next link to see how much dye you need to use.
http://www.prochemical.com/directions/ProsperseImmersionAcrylic.htm

If that recipe is correct you are only using 1 - 4 grams approx per 2.5 gallons of water. With a quick google look up I found that 1 ounce = 28.3495231 grams. It looks like the RIT uses 39.1 grams to whatever amount of water it goes into.

Just thought it was interesting and might be worth looking into.

Dean

[ahillworks]

WOW ok I feel better. And the steps make sense to what I am seeing with RIT. So I have come to the conclusion of only selling 5 colors for now till I can figure out what does what...... The bad part of dyeing is the the amount of heat needed to get the object to die and time to do it. If it did not have to be so hot I would be set. But hey learned something new and going to base my time and effort on cost and only 5 colors for now. Kinda keeps it simple and I may just be able to save the dyed water for later times. Maybe will have to see.

[CrazyFool]

Hey, 5 colors sounds great! That's actually quite a selection. Can't wait to see some photos.

CF

[jegner]

The more dye you use and the right amount of heat, you can dip, dip, and dip till you get the color you like. And you really should be able to save the dyes, and the upshot is the process does not use a lot of the dye solution. Not sure about having to boil the water first, but thats a good idea. Also, make sure your using filtered water. The chlorine, and other tap water minerals can have an effect.

Jim

[ahillworks]

Here is the picture of a black one and a blue one. Boiling is needed to make sure the chemical blends even and then adheres. See my plastic is only .020 thick. So your saying add more die and it may work better???



I am sticking to 5 colors because it takes a long time to do this and would not be cost effective other wise. Will do more once I have a location to store more. Question what would you store the watered dyes in after they are made????? Been trying to figure the best container.

[fast_monte]

Using the RIT dye is a great idea. You can also use cheap craft paint from Wal-Mart and paint the inside of the covers for solid colors. If you spray the paint with an air brush it looks pretty good. It is also very durable. I used to paint PVC slot car bodies this way and the paint never chipped off even after the most severs crashes. If you dye the plastic you may want to try doing it before you form the part, this way you can do it at a much higher heat.

You may also want to consider leaving tab with a peg hole on one side for handling while painting/dying, and merchandising purposes. The customer can trim it off upon purchase.

[CrazyFool]

Those covers looks very nice. I'm sure you can sell them. No question. I guess the only questions are... how many can you sell and how fast!!