Dyeing Plastic

[captbly99]

Dyeing Plastic(pictures)

OK, well, I read about it, but nobody posted pictures. So, here's the story, somebody GAVE me Enduro Engineering handguards. BUT they were orange :| Had to change that, but it was cheaper to change the color than change
bikes :nener:
I read about people using RIT dye, so I decided to try it. Paint would scratch off too easy. I bought purple & black. I really wanted purple to work, but pretty much had a feeling it wouldn't.So, then to black.

Pumpkin color:

20 minutes in pot of water with purple powder dye @ 140 degrees. Too eggplantish:

 

[captbly99]

So, back in to a pot of black for 30 minutes:

Much better, I was going for the "distressed" look :laugh:
To match the rest of the bike!

WARNING: this is extremely messy. It will stain anything & everything. You might have a chance of the wifey letting you use her kitchen for this, or you might just have her do it.
I am the wifey :nener:

 

[captbly99]

Also, I might have gotten better results if I prepped the plastic with some fine sanding. You can see the scratches due to handguards being used.

 

[lepper]

Turned out nicer than I thought they would have. Let us know how the color stays over time, I have heard that it will start to purple after a while.........

 

[saveaux]

Wow that looks fantastic! Thanks for posting pictures, that dye seems to work great. Have you ridden with them any? Do they scratch and show orange badly? Has anyone tried this on a gas tank?

 

[lepper]

Nothing will work on a gas tank... for any length of time anyway. The plastic that is used for gas tanks will let go of anything that is applied eventually... even dye.

 

[captbly99]

I have not had a chance to ride with them yet, but I have tried to scratch it alittle with a nail and no orange came thru.
I do believe it absorbed into the plastic some, just not sure how far. I am supposed to go riding today, but some track time, no tree banging today. But I will let you know how they hold up.
I did a search on dyeing plastic on this site and how I got the idea was from a guy who did try to dye his gas tank. But he did not have pic's nor did he say how it held up after running the gas in it. You would need an awefully big pot to simmer that baby.
It would be pretty hard to dye anything bigger than these handguards, I would think.

 

[Green Hornet]

Not too Shabby, looks like it worked well