Cherry doubleshots and RIT dye

[Retox]

I am plannig on sourcing a full set of white/whitish keycaps for a G80-1865 and then dying them with RIT dye. Hopefully they will all be doubleshot. Does anyone know how well these take dye?

[fossala]

Be careful with abs keycaps they melt/warp easily.

[Retox]

I don't think there is a set of white pbt keycaps that match the bizzzarre right shift on the g80-1865... correct me if i'm wrong.

[fossala]

What about the compaq 11800 that's pbt with a smaller right shift.
Typing on one right now.

[IvanIvanovich]

Pretty sure shift is 2 unit, same as standard numpad 0. Well it is on my 11900, which is very similar.
More on topic, I am trying out some vegetable based dye that doesn't require heat right now. I'll let you know if it turns out.

[fossala]

Yeah, sorry I didn't notice the small difference.

[IvanIvanovich]

Well I can say the dye / ink did successfully stain the plastic, but it needs quite a soaking to achieve a deep color. Worked very well on the white, with no visible tinting on the black.
After rinsing the excess off, it does not appear to be transferring color at all after rubbing with white cloth. Now the only question is how long it will last.

[Retox]

don't be shy about sharing the long term results, Lysol.

Also, quick unrelated question. Are the outer shells of model m keycaps pure PBT? you said in your "let's boil some keycaps" post that the old IBM keycaps are pure PBT. source

[hashbaz]

The general wisdom from past dye threads is DO NOT DYE cases.  Their size and uneven thickness leads invariably to warping.  Many have had success painting them with vinyl spray however.

[hashbaz]

Well I can say the dye / ink did successfully stain the plastic, but it needs quite a soaking to achieve a deep color. Worked very well on the white, with no visible tinting on the black.
After rinsing the excess off, it does not appear to be transferring color at all after rubbing with white cloth. Now the only question is how long it will last.

Details please!  Dying keycaps is what led me to geekhack in the first place.

[fossala]

Use vinyl dye for your casing. I used VHT and it worked well.

[IvanIvanovich]

I got it at the craft store. I'm not really sure what it's intended purpose is, but am assuming some printing application since it only comes in 4 colors CMYK. All the package says is organic vegetable dye and the color, made in India and the warning about not spilling it as it will stain. It comes in liquid form and has the consistency of artist ink. A 500ml bottle was like $3something. I got the magenta and it is really bright.
Since keycaps came out so nice I decided to attempt dying the body of my white Goldtouch keypad. That did not work very well at all. It came out very splotchy and uneven, so I guess I will just use my VHT on it to un-ugly it.
I'll get some photos posted at some point.

[hashbaz]

Excellent, thanks!

[Retox]

Hahaha.... when I said outer shell I meant the part of the two piece keycap that has legends on it. The outer part of the two part system

I'm planning on using duplicolor vinyl/fabric for the case. Relax everyone, I has it under control.

[IvanIvanovich]

These are my first 4 test keys. It seems they have had some reaction to the dye and leaves me to believe there must be something not quite 'organic' in it like acetone... the plastic seems to have gone smooth and lost all texture where dye came in contact.
[ Attachment Invalid Or Does Not Exist ] 30426[/ATTACH]

[hashbaz]

Interesting.  The legends took the color fantastically.