How to dye your hoppers

[Junkie]

Has anybody tried this?

FAQ: Can i dye my black shells? or can i dye my red/purple/insert color here shell?

Answer: the principle of it is, you can only darken and not lighten, thus black hoppers will happily stay black, and as for the other colored hoppers, you're most likely not going get the color you want on there and it will probably turn out so dark that it's gonna look black


If you want to color your own plastic pieces try this one.

I AM NOT SAYING THIS WILL WORK FOR EVERYONE, TRY AT YOUR OWN RISK.

I suggest using a clear plastisc to test before using actual plastics.

Pieces can be dyed multiple times


What You Need
•Rit® dye. One package is sufficient, really. That should cost you less than two dollars. Some supermarkets and *marts carry the dye, if you don't have a craft store that's close enough to you. Craft stores tend to have a better selection of colors, though.

•A 2-quart saucepan. The dye may color the pan, so I don't suggest using a pan you need for cooking. Go to the Goodwill or something and get a ratty old pan, or buy somebody a nice new pan in exchange for their old one.

•A strainer that fits the pan. Now, this one isn't super necessary, but it does keep the pieces off the bottom of the pan, and makes it easier to pull the pieces out all at once. Again, don't use one you need for food, though.

•Something to stir with. I used a piece of dowel, but anything's fine. Don't use your best wooden spoon.

•Plastic intended to dye.



How to Dye
Get all your materials together in one place.

Pour the dye packet into the saucepan, and add one cup of hot water. Stir this until all the crystals dissolve.

Add another two cups of hot water. This will fill your 2-quart saucepan nearly to the top, with maybe 3/4 of an inch left. This is good. Turn on the fire very low, and heat the water to just below boiling. You want it steaming hot, but not boiling.

Put the pieces into the strainer. Make sure none of them are nested. Lower the strainer into the dyebath, making sure that all the pieces sink.

Set a timer for 15 or 20 minutes. Every few minutes, stir the pieces around with the stirring implement.

You might also want to lift the strainer out to make sure that none of the pieces have gotten nested. Note that they'll look very dark when you do this, but this is only because of the dye on the surface of the pieces.

When the timer expires, pull the strainer out and rinse the pieces under warm water. You can start with the pieces in the strainer, but after they cool, you can pull each one out and rinse it separately to remove all the extra dye from the surface.

Let the pieces dry on a paper towel, or other absorbent surface that you wouldn't mind accidentally staining.

Viola! You have sucessfully dyed some pieces, though maybe not the color you were aiming for.

You can dye several pieces in a row using this potful of dye, though you may need to add more water as time passes. You can also use this pot of dye to dye any cloth (or whatever) you may want, it really hasn't been affected by the plastic. Be aware that the cloth and plastic probably will not wind up the same color.


To increase color (darken)
1.Increase the heat of the dye bath.
2.Increase the duration of the dye bath.
3.Increase the concentration of the dye bath.
Those first two are dangerous. If the pieces get too hot, they will begin to melt. I have a stash of semi-melted pieces that are a wonderfully dark shade of teal to prove it. (Interestingly, the pieces begin to melt from the sprue point.) Even if they don't melt much, the plastic will begin to fog with a myriad of tiny cracks. This effect is referred to as "crazing".

this guide was copied with the permission of the original writer on AOG, freeloader12345, thanks and nice guide,

here is how i went about dyeing my revy:

i used a dye brand called Dylon i found at a drugstore since i couldnt find RIT, i also didnt keep my water heated, i just boiled allot of water, then dumped it in a thick bucket, dropped in my dye, dropped in my hopper, and in about 10 minutes was done, this way you dont really have to worry about the plastic melting since it will only cool down, if you need to keep it hot just keep adding more hot water

hope this guide was as helpfull to all of you as it was for me, and if anyone can contribute some pictures of the process would be great(although not completely necesary), i dont have a digital camera but i'm gonna see what i can do

[Junkie]

I found some great info here: http://www.e-lacrosse.com/stech9.html

[SCBrian]

Not all plastics are created equal, and not all colors will come out the color you expect http://www.stockclasspaintball.com/a...bedyeing.shtml

-B

[Junkie]

Well, I'm cooking as we speak... I'll post pics of my first experiment when its done...

[Junkie]

Ok.. After reading all about "Dye" today and researching the exact color I wanted, it appears that it never ends up that color and I have confirmed it this evening..

The color I was trying to achieve:



At first I thought this was going to be a real mess but after a little preparation it wasn't too awful bad.

Here we go....

Pot compliments of the wife....


The intended victims


and the outcome:








Obviously, this is not what I'm looking for:


These SOB's came out BLUE? (I'm sure Brian is laughing)... Never fear.. I stopped the operation and now I'm going for strictly a "LIGHT" green color. :grinyes:

Part II is tomorrow night!

[protocol]

Hahaha, :lol2: :doh10 that's funny Rich. Hey I know a little girl that lives down the street that has a marker that color, maybe she will take those off your hands for you. LOL

Seriously though I will be dying some 10 rnd tubes soon so it is nice to have someone do some examples. Thanks and I hope your next batch comes out nice a green. :biggrin:

[Junkie]

I've got to admit, I've got blue down pat... That was an hour's worth of cooking that little sucker just below boiling..

[Grendel]

Since the 10 rd tubes sort of matched the hopper I'd try just the straight green on a tube and see how it turned out. If that did not work try adding some yellow since blue and yellow make green. Since I've got some Rit dye at the house and I plan on working on a Sniper this weekend anyway maybe I'll experiment on some 10 rd tubes too.

[SCBrian]

Take my word for it RIT Green + 10 round = Blue 10 round.... If you do find the magick formula for green PLEASE POST... maybe a blue rit & yellow rit = greem, or like GMan said, try it in straight yellow now,,,,


FWIW if I remember correctly Blk = Gray-Smoke-Blk depending on length of boil...
I *Think* red = pink
Blue = Blue
Green = Blue...


-luck

[DeepFreeze]

I'll look around to see if I can find the different color formulas. I ran into the green = blue issue about years ago when I dyed my grips. There was someone on one of the tinkerer's guilde forums I frequent who had posted the different color dyes that make which colors.