Rit dye and keys

[bettablue]

I'd like color suggestions too. I'm bad at designing, though I can recognize a great design when I see one

What colors are you guys thinking of dying (those of you who are thinking of dying (dye-ing?)).  So far I know I'll do one as charcoal black with either a red or yellow escape key, but I have at least 3 boards could dye, lol.

(Omg, I just realized that I could color-code my entire autohotkey profile and shortcuts onto my keyboard! Lol, thats awesome)

I would love to see a model M in an all black case with a combination of colored keys.  I think having the number pad done in red while the rest of the "white: keys in yellow would be striking.

[crowstar]

I would love to see a model M in an all black case with a combination of colored keys.  I think having the number pad done in red while the rest of the "white: keys in yellow would be striking.

Might do that when my one arrives, but here in the uk I can't get rit dye that quick, does any powder dye work? Or any liquid dye? thanks!

[sixty]

Might do that when my one arrives, but here in the uk I can't get rit dye that quick, does any powder dye work? Or any liquid dye? thanks!

I dare you to try.

[theferenc]

I would love to see a model M in an all black case with a combination of colored keys.  I think having the number pad done in red while the rest of the "white: keys in yellow would be striking.

Mine is a black customizer with red "white" keys and purple "grey" keys. I'ts not for everyone, but I rather like it.

I have full sets of keys in yellow, blue, red, and purple, so I can mix and match to my heart's content.

[Lethal Squirrel]

I dare you to try.

did you forget to add salt?

[bpiphany]

I bought some rit dye online from http://www.spinblessing.com/ Shipping was of course a lot but it still wasn't very expensive. They were ultrafast too. Haven't gotten around to try it out yet though =P

[guilleguillaume]

Do you think the Wheel from a mouse can be dyed like those keycaps?

It must be funny to dye my Steelseries Kinzu Wheel but don't know if it will be destroyed or something because of the high temperatures.

[SmallFry]

Does the rit work on grey keys well? i was looking to dye my model m keys...i would prefer to dye the keys red and not have a darker red... or how would you guys go about this?

[theferenc]

If you dye them all in the same lot, the grey ones will be a darker, one could almost say richer, tone. It's not quite as much darker as the grey is relative to the white, but it's pretty close. I'll dig some up and post pictures, if you want. I've got quite a few colored keys for my Model Ms.

[JustCallMeCrash]

Alright, ladies and gents... I pulled the trigger.  I took my Compaq 11800 and did a paint and dye job.  I'm not completely done (local store didn't have one of the colors I was hoping to have), but it's very close.
Originally, this was a standard beige keyboard... fairly light, actually.
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The keys took the dye REALLY well.  My method: First, I cleaned the keys (which are all PBT) in a pot, covering them in 91% isopropyl alcohol, stirring with the chopsticks.  I rinsed them with tap water and shook the excess water off before I started the rest.  I wanted to make sure I got all the oils off before dying them.  After that, start a pot (about 2 cups) of water on the stove, throw 1.5 cups water into the microwave for 3.5 min (bubbling), drop the dye into the microwaved water, mix with chopsticks to disolve, pour into hot (not boiling, but steaming) water in the pot, immediately dump keys in.  I set the timer on the microwave for 15 minutes, checking the color ever 15 seconds or so.  The green took the color in 2.25 minutes!  It got to the exact color I wanted... any more time and it would have been too dark.  The brown took about 2.5 minutes to reach the desired chocolatey color.  I used the chopsticks to check the color and to stir CONSTANTLY.  Since I already knew they were where I wanted them (I was taking one out and dropping it in cold water every 15 seconds, after all), I just dumped the dye and all into a collander and rinsed them with cold tap water, stirring with the chopsticks, then with my hands to make sure to get all the dye off and stop the staining process.  I like they way they turned out.
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So I painted the space bar (it's ABS) and the case (also ABS) with DupliColor Fabric and Vinyl paint, which I got from an earlier post (thanks!).  It soaks right into the plastic, so the overspray isn't a problem at all.  I used Desert Sand for the case and Flat Black for the space, tenkey 0, tenkey enter and tenkey plus as well as the mouse buttons.
EDIT: I added these pictures and removed the others.  I was finally able to get a decently close color match.  The frame proved difficult, but that white sheet of paper helped me nail it down.  The browns are very chocolatey, which may or may not come across here. /Edit.
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The only thing I want to do now is the Esc, Insert (I type Dvorak, so CTRL-Insert/ Shift-Insert are my preferred copy-paste combo) and Pause/Break (I wanted a third key and it's spaced out enough to fit my need) keys in some vibrant shade... I was thinking either red (kinda standard, right?) or orange.  I may even forgo the bright orange and go for a more burnt umber-type color.  I'll mock it up in Gimp and see.  So what do you think?  I like the way it turned out.  (for the record, no, I'm not a redneck and no, I wasn't going for a camo theme... the khaki and chocolate (and obviously black) bits will go well with yellow or orange keys in the body... I might even get by with some blues in there... I mostly wanted a sort of khaki-pants-this-goes-with-everything look.)
I'm happy with it, for sure.

[Input Nirvana]

That's pretty impressive. You make it sound so easy, and it looks so great! I'm curious how the case and spacebar will hold up. You say the paint "absorbs" into the plastic?

[hashbaz]

Looks awesome.  I'll be trying this out soon on a cheapie keyboard scavenged from the free rack at work.

[JustCallMeCrash]

That's pretty impressive. You make it sound so easy, and it looks so great! I'm curious how the case and spacebar will hold up. You say the paint "absorbs" into the plastic?

Thanks for the compliments!  As for soaking in, well it sure seems to.  I did an overspray test on the bottom plate, to see what would happen if i tried to get it to run.... it wouldn't run.  Oh, I'm sure I could have made it run, if I'd been stupid about it, but in a normal use case (like all those runs I get on every friggin piece of material I try to spray), it seems to just soak right in.  The parts I sprayed with it also seem to have kept their original texture (much like the dyed keys).  I'm not sure what property of the spray causes that, but it sure gives even results.  Someone else on this thread suggested it, so I have to give them all the credit.  You can find the stuff at Advanced Auto Parts and places like it.  It's pretty expensive at almost $8/can, but the results are worth it IMO.
I forgot to mention in my op that I took a cotton ball and rubbed the entire frame down with 91% isopropyl before I sprayed it.  I'm not sure if that opens up the plastic or what, but it sure didn't take any time for the keys to stain.
One more thing; I mentioned it earlier, and it's been covered exhaustively in this thread, but be sure that any keys you're going to drop into the dye are PBT and not ABS plastic (you should see them labeled on the non-visible sides) as the ABS has a very low melting point and WILL warp and break (see poor lam47's destroyed keys for examples).  You may as well skip even trying with the larger pieces (spacebar and frame) as these seem to be made almost exclusively of ABS (and who has a pot big enough for a keyboard frame??  also, that may dilute the dye too much).
YMMV, but I got VERY even results with the alcohol pre-bath (maybe 45 seconds of agitation and then rinse them off).  Best of luck to anybody else that wants to try.

[Oqsy]

I used alcohol presoak as well on IBM key caps and it worked very well.

[JustCallMeCrash]

BUMP: Edited my post on page 46... the pictures I had on it were terrible... these new ones are much better.

[hashbaz]

@JustCallMeCrash, I actually really like the white Escape key.  Kind of like a reverse-contrast red ESC.  Are you going to color it?

[JustCallMeCrash]

@ripster:  where's the fun in that??  I think you get more out of the whole than you would get out of my post.  Surely everyone needs to see the bit where lam47 melted his keys... that's crucial.  Your parts about ABS melting points vs PBT melting points was invaluable, too... kept me from warping my frame and spacebar.

@hashbaz: I haven't colored it yet... I actually have some blanks coming of various colors... I'm going to try those out in it and see how I feel... it may stay white, it's grown on me.

I just got an 11900 today from Gwb by way of his Closet Cleanout thread and I'll be modding it as well.  One difference I noticed immediately, this spacebar is PBT... I'll try dying it for a few minutes, but if it doesn't take it rather quickly, it will get the DupliColor treatment.  I'm THINKING of a Navyblue/Red theme on this... inspiration goes to TheCaptain.  Wait... WTF... why are all my boards turning military?  Damn.  Open for suggestions on the theme for the new board.

[Retox]

I'm not sure if anybody has posted this yet, but lacrosse players have been dying the plastic heads of their stick with RIT dye for as long as the plastic-head technology has existed. When I played lacrosse I used it.

The fact that four seasons after I had dyed my head a navy and white pattern, there was no white showing through the blue should speak to its durability.

Here are some examples.

[Findecanor]

I have been trying to dye some Cherry PBT keys black, using liquid RIT dye, but without any success. I boiled the dye and keys for 15 minutes, and then let simmer for 45. All I got was a "terracotta" (reddish brown) colour.
What could I have done wrong? Too little dye? Too high temperature?

[fossala]

Did you clean them first?

[Findecanor]

I wiped the key caps with IPA before dropping them in ... Do they really have to be soaked in IPA?
BTW. The colour is not splotchy -- it is a very even "mud brick" colour.

The dye was bought on eBay because Rit is not available locally. Naturally, I wonder if have been scammed ...

[mcsnails]

All I got was a "terracotta" (reddish brown) colour.
What could I have done wrong? Too little dye? Too high temperature?

I had a similar issue using navy blue liquid dye on PBT keys, which resulted in a pink-ish color.  I then purchased a box of powdered green dye to use on another set of keys, and that worked great.  I would recommend trying powdered dye rather than buying another bottle of liquid.  And as long as the temperature is ~200 then you shouldn't have any issues.

update: just used a box of navy blue dye and the keys came out great....must be liquid dye having issues with keycaps

[False_Dmitry_II]

It is.

If you have liquid dye, go ahead and just toss it. Besides the really light colors like sunshine orange or yellow those things are worthless from what I've done.

Also, all of my keys were washed in the dishwasher and then dumped straight in. Don't know if the alcohol does any extra prep stuff or not.

For black I'd use one navy and one black box, were I to do that again.

[rich0d]

Just ordered 2 packs of black, and 1 purple. Also found somewhere in the UK which does vinyl based spray paint. Going to go with a dark gray (or black, depends on what the gray looks like) case, black keys, and purple modifiers. Then all I need to do is get a decepticon keycap from either feng or qtan, and I'm set for my decepticon-tastic keyboard.

[byFd]

Just ordered 2 packs of black, and 1 purple. Also found somewhere in the UK which does vinyl based spray paint. Going to go with a dark gray (or black, depends on what the gray looks like) case, black keys, and purple modifiers. Then all I need to do is get a decepticon keycap from either feng or qtan, and I'm set for my decepticon-tastic keyboard.

please provide pictures once you are done. <3 purple

[rich0d]

Will do, still trying to decide what I want purple.

[transcend3nt]

are u guys using the powder version?

[WhiteFireDragon]

wow i just freakin spent a few hours to read through all 48 pages before trying this. i'll post pics once i'm done

[GeorgeStorm]

Finally got to the end of this thread, may try this out on my ducky keys once i get my replacements since I think they will be PBT?

[elogical]

ok, wow. I spent hours reading almost all of this and a little bit elsewhere online.

Then I wasted the last 2 hours of my life trying to dye model M keys with liquid "sunshine orange" rit dye. I kept going to progressively hotter temps and kept getting no effect. At the end I went 10 min at a rolling boil and they only have a slight tint. Maybe it wasn't long enough or maybe I need the powder like a few people mentioned. Or maybe I should just give up and buy colored keys

[bootstrap]

ok, wow. I spent hours reading almost all of this and a little bit elsewhere online.

Then I wasted the last 2 hours of my life trying to dye model M keys with liquid "sunshine orange" rit dye. I kept going to progressively hotter temps and kept getting no effect. At the end I went 10 min at a rolling boil and they only have a slight tint. Maybe it wasn't long enough or maybe I need the powder like a few people mentioned. Or maybe I should just give up and buy colored keys

I haven't tried Rit (yet) but Dylon is easily available where I live. For my red Esc, I added vinegar and salt to the solution - the result was certainly better than expected. Although I can reproduce the result, some people haven't been able to do the same. I have yet to work out exactly what I'm doing differently.

Here are some pics of my red Esc key on an IBM Model M keyboard.

If the color you want is available from Unicomp, it will be a lot easier for you to buy the keys from them. But if they don't have your color, you'll need a lot of patience (more than 2 hours). On my first attempt, it took me something like half a day of "cooking" the keycap to get the color right.

[JustCallMeCrash]

I haven't tried Rit (yet) but Dylon is easily available where I live. For my red Esc, I added vinegar and salt to the solution - the result was certainly better than expected. Although I can reproduce the result, some people haven't been able to do the same. I have yet to work out exactly what I'm doing differently.

Here are some pics of my red Esc key on an IBM Model M keyboard.

If the color you want is available from Unicomp, it will be a lot easier for you to buy the keys from them. But if they don't have your color, you'll need a lot of patience (more than 2 hours). On my first attempt, it took me something like half a day of "cooking" the keycap to get the color right.

Sweet Jesus, dude.  Try my method... 15 minutes if you take your time getting the water to boil.  http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:21017

[WhiteFireDragon]

how do i get a dark grey from white pbt caps? get black dye, submerge the keys and take them out quickly before it turns full black?

[hashbaz]

how do i get a dark grey from white pbt caps? get black dye, submerge the keys and take them out quickly before it turns full black?

I would imagine so, yeah.  Early on in this thread iMav says to get light colors it works best to use the corresponding dark colors and shorten the bath time.  Give it a shot.

[hashbaz]

ok, wow. I spent hours reading almost all of this and a little bit elsewhere online.

Then I wasted the last 2 hours of my life trying to dye model M keys with liquid "sunshine orange" rit dye. I kept going to progressively hotter temps and kept getting no effect. At the end I went 10 min at a rolling boil and they only have a slight tint. Maybe it wasn't long enough or maybe I need the powder like a few people mentioned. Or maybe I should just give up and buy colored keys

Reports on the effectiveness of liquid dye vary, but lots of people have had issues with weak results like you're describing.  Have you tried powder RIT?