| Author | Message | ||
     Dapope |
I have a yellow XB9s that I have bought a new flyscreen just to cut up and do some testing of different colors with RIT dye. I have done about 10 tests so far. I know there was some question of how well black turns out over the yellow since that seems to be the most popular color change, and it turns out the black looks perfect (No blue or purple hue as some have feared). You would never know the plastic was ever yellow. Red and Orange (Scarlet and Tangerine are the RIT color names) also cover very nicely with a nice uniform color. Royal Blue looks very good but it is very dark and uses a lot of dye compared to the other colors. Any lighter blue (Same color less dye and/or shorter time) or the green colors I've tried look OK but I was not getting a consistent color on the entire piece. I also stuck a piece in bleach just to see. I don't expect anything to happen though. I will eventually try to re-dye one of the colors with black and see if it covers just as well. I would like to try an original color but have black as a backup in case It does not turn out to my liking or get tired of it. | ||
| Captainxb |
Dapope, thanks for your efforts! How long are you 'soaking' the piece to get a full colour change? Is it easy to see the expected colour as you go along? (or do you have to start the process all over again). This now means I can go shopping for any plastics, and dye it to my choice! | ||
| Dapope |
I soaked most of them for about an hour or less, that's using near boiling water. Some of the darker blue hues were 2-3 hours, and one I actually left overnight by mistake. You can take the piece out to look at any time so you can see the change. Remember yellow is a nice light color so there are probably more options for color than trying to cover blue or red. That underlying color affects the process. Hence the trial and error. Most of the blue colors I tried came out teal-ish. Only the very dark blue look true blue. So....I expected the yellow to make the red dye look orange but that was not the case. I've used the dye on RC airplane canopies before and It's been my experience that as the water cools the dye has less effect. Those canopies were very thin plastic and would melt fairly easily so the temps of the water I used was much lower and I had to soak them longer to get any color in them. The buell plastic is quite thick so I was using near boiling water with no signs of warping.....although I am using small pieces (2 x 2in or so) so I hope the large pieces will not show any effect. | ||
| Southern Marine |
Once thing that I noticed after dying mine, after you give the pieces time to dry(more than a few hours), the color might appear a bit lighter than it looked when you initially pulled it out of the dye. | ||
| Dapope |
Most of the colors look somewhat lighter in the sun as well, compared to indoors. | ||
| Fzrider |
I took the plunge (pun intended) and I am dyeing my yellow plastics as we speak. It has been an hour and a half so far and there is a purple tint to the plastic. The main problem I have is the amount of dye to put in a big plastic bin to cover most of the parts. I will have to do it two separate batches as my air box did not fit with the rest of the parts. Also, I have not taken apart the chin fairing, so am dyeing the gray front part as well. Don't know if it will dye too, as it is not the same plastics. I will give an update later. | ||
| Southern Marine |
Don't worry, it will dye. Look at my profile. This is my bike after dying it a darker red and the bottom part dyed. | ||
| Fzrider |
David, how long did you leave your plastics in the dye for? Now it has been 2.5 hours and I still see purple tint!! I am getting nervous | ||
| Southern Marine |
I left mine in for about 45 min or so. You might have to add some more dye. Are you trying to dye it black? I had attempted to dye my light blue mesh jacket black. Well, my jacket is now a darker blue. It wouldn't dye black. | ||
| Fzrider |
DONE!!!The yellow is now black!! I love it. Tomorrow I will do the airbox | ||
| Dapope |
Fzrider...Are you using the powder or liquid dye? | ||
| Dapope |
Also how hot was the water you are using? I was worried that larger pieces may warp with the boiling water I was using. I assume you did not see any change in shape or fit. | ||
| Fzrider |
Dapope, The only available dye in town is Rit in powder. I filled a tub with boiling water, and no problem with warping except that my front fender was under a load to keep it under water and with the high temperature, the two legs came together a bit but once on the bike, it was ok. I am soaking the airbox now. Hope it turns out as good as the rest of the parts. Gotta go mixing. | ||
| Dapope |
I am mainly finished with my color testing. The only thing to add from my post above is that-I tried to dye two of the new colors (Green and orange) to black and it worked just fine. I will dye my actual plastics on the bike green, if I don't like it it's going black. And just to clarify I was using the liquid RIT dye. The black is the easiest to dye. It used the least amount of dye and the shortest time. (I was using 45cc per Gal of water for about 45 Min for the black). I am pretty sure it would work just fine with 30cc/gal or less. | ||
| Bartimus |
has anyone attempted to dye any parts white? Does RIT even make white dye? | ||
| T9r |
If you can get white... the absense of color, then you'd be very talented. It would have to be painted if you went from a color to white. I did learn something in my 10th grade art class, my teacher would be proud. |
