Best way to dye keycaps

[cactux]

I would like to know what is the best way to dye my keycaps.

1) What are the magic ingredients?
2) Where to find them?
3) How to prepare the surface?
4) How to mix them?
5) How to dry them?
6) etc

In a couple words a sort of HowTo

Please guys be nice. I do not know anything about this topic.

[Findecanor]

Check out the Rit Dye thread in the Modifications forum.

Rit Dye is well known for being able to dye plastic well. Other dyes may work, but are not as well known.

[Lester]

I wonder how are methods like this proof against wearing-off?

[cactux]

I wonder how are methods like this proof against wearing-off?

That is a good point. I do not want to redye my keycaps over and over again

[wcass]

i suppose we should have a Wiki article.
 
i did my IBM keys about a month ago and have not seen anything come off on my hands - and have not noticed any fading yet. i need to do keys for my wife soon and plan to do a video.
 
do understand that you can only dye to a darker color. start with white keys if possible. if you start with black keys, the text color should change (if text was white), but the key color will not change. yellow keys with blue dye will get green keys. temperature and formula is different for each plastic, so will need imput from the community on what does and does not work.

[noodles256]

yes

[cactux]

good idea :-)

[binarypie]

This is how I will be doing it based on my research:

Acquire water and RIT dye of your fancy.
Clean all pieces with some rubbing alcohol or other such plastic-safe cleaner
add color dye to water according to instructions or taste
heat water and use a candy thermometer you don't care about dyeing.
Rit says their dye sets best around 140º F.
Adjust your heat source so the temperature stays constant.
Let the dye setup for about 15min
Add your first piece and stir.
Check every few minutes for color saturation
When you achieve the color you desire just remove your piece
Place piece in room temperature water
remove from water and use canned air to dry the piece
let sit for a few minutes while the plastic returns to its normal temperature
place on keyboard
enjoy!

** Please run the above using some test pieces as some plastics have very low melting points!! **
** another alternative is to use powder dye, water, and acetone but i've never tried this **

[mmmty]

My beautiful dye job. 2nd attempt should come out better - I hope.

[binarypie]

My RC friend just got back to me.
He has a different point of view on this.

That [RIT] is the stuff I use. Get it in the powder form. I get 3 packs to a gallon of water. Put it on the stove on very low heat over night.

[wcass]

mmmty, did you use anything to keep the keys off the bottom? i used a cheap pasta steamer pot. the built-in strainer worked great to check the color every few minutes. i cooked them for an hour @ 180F to get the deep red color. i knew from earlier posts that IBM keys can take high heat (thanks ripster) so did them all at once for an even hue. cable took about 5-10 minutes at a lower temp.

[mmmty]

I didn't use a strainer. I'll have to get one for my next batch. But I did stir constantly though. My problem was the water was too hot. It was boiling water before I turned it down to mid.-high. It was still too hot for AT101W keys. I'll have to keep the temperature low and play it safe next time. A thermometer would help too.

[mmmty]

AT101W are probably ABS.  I'd give you the link for the test but Oqsy hates that.

I didn't want my first dye job to be with Topre keys. It would be difficult+expensive to replace the keys. So I used an old AT101W w/ ABS for the experiment. I'll do the next one w/ Dell Quietkey.

[Lester]

My beautiful dye job. 2nd attempt should come out better - I hope.

Show Image

lol.

[False_Dmitry_II]

So for model m keys that are two piece, do you toss both in, or just the part that you see?

[Arcanius]

Why would you toss in the keystem? Only throw in the top. The stem is really thin at points, and with any heat you risk bending it.

[ricercar]

This is my recipe

• cover all counter surfaces with wax paper or similar waterproof covering, especially if you're using the spouse's kitchen.
• use liquid Rit dye.
• one part dye to two parts water; use the bottle for measuring water. This gets the dregs out, as well as acts as a poor man's measuring tool.
• Salt is optional: doesn't seem to matter with plastic like it does with cloth.
• keep the water steaming but not bubbling.
• stir CONSTANTLY for 6-20 minutes. Wooden spoons become permanently dyed; steel spoons or spatulas not so.
• watch the color of the keys with an eagle eye, especially for dark dyes, such as navy blue and black, which get dark SUDDENLY between 3-6 minutes.
• rinse with cool water in a strainer until the runoff is totally colorless.
• (optional) sell colored keycaps at profit.
• Clean off spills with bleach water. You're certain to have missed the wax paper covering somewhere.