Rit dye and keys

[AndrewZorn]

especially the F1, it is not really an appealing yellow at all, it is old crap keyboard yellow

[arfink]

So, don't know if this was mentioned or not, but doing dye on the stove=baaaad idea. The water is one temp near the top and hotter on the bottom. And the pot itself gets very hot. One idea would be to have a grid in the bottom to hold the keys off the bottom of the hot pot to avoid melting them in the dye.

Something else, which I don't think was mentioned. Yo-yo dyers don't heat their RIT at all, they just put in a little acetone to help push the dye in. Worth a thought, anyways.

[rdjack21]

Something else, which I don't think was mentioned. Yo-yo dyers don't heat their RIT at all, they just put in a little acetone to help push the dye in. Worth a thought, anyways.

Now that would be cool if it will work because then you would not have to worry about warping the keys or a case for that matter. Do you have any links to the process they use for this. For instance how much acetone are they adding to the water. Warm or cold water? ect...

[M13]

So, don't know if this was mentioned or not, but doing dye on the stove=baaaad idea. The water is one temp near the top and hotter on the bottom. And the pot itself gets very hot. One idea would be to have a grid in the bottom to hold the keys off the bottom of the hot pot to avoid melting them in the dye.

Something else, which I don't think was mentioned. Yo-yo dyers don't heat their RIT at all, they just put in a little acetone to help push the dye in. Worth a thought, anyways.

Also, we could try to use a double boiler to prevent having the keys so directly close to the heat source. I don't know if this has been mentioned or tried yet. I will be trying this with my white m13 when I can decide on my colors.

[arfink]

Use some youtube and look up something like "RIT dye yoyo" or something. It's really simple, and they're not terribly precise about it usually.

[microsoft windows]

So, don't know if this was mentioned or not, but doing dye on the stove=baaaad idea. The water is one temp near the top and hotter on the bottom. And the pot itself gets very hot. One idea would be to have a grid in the bottom to hold the keys off the bottom of the hot pot to avoid melting them in the dye.

Something else, which I don't think was mentioned. Yo-yo dyers don't heat their RIT at all, they just put in a little acetone to help push the dye in. Worth a thought, anyways.

I've heard that the Model M keycaps don't melt at all in boiling water.

[didjamatic]

Now that would be cool if it will work because then you would not have to worry about warping the keys or a case for that matter. Do you have any links to the process they use for this. For instance how much acetone are they adding to the water. Warm or cold water? ect...

Yes, this yo-yo dying video was originally created by Houdini who passed away a few years ago.  I don't know how ABS or PBT dying compares to Polycarbonate or Delrin/Celcon.

FYI, if you think Keyboards get expensive, try collecting high-end yo-yos.  

[rdjack21]

I've never looked into High-end yo-yos but when I was a kid I always loved my duncan yo-yo

[didjamatic]

If you loved your duncan, you'd really love what they have out now.  Machined Alloy, ceramic bearings, silicone response, adjustable gaps, 10 minute spin times can be done by anyone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gIHP1Dczno

[chimera15]

You could try retrobrite if you just wanted to remove the yellowing.

http://www.psfk.com/2009/03/retrobrite-open-source-problem-solving.html

I ended up finally dying those caps. Since they're double shots I didn't want to turn them into steampunk keys.  I only have two sets of double shot alps caps.

It worked great on the yellowed double shots.  Tests I tried with single shots warped them badly, and the color didn't take.  Only 1 or 2 caps warped slightly of the double shots.  I did them black, and used a double boiler method.  It took about 2-3 minutes a dunk for them.  They look pretty nice now.  It's like black on black printing since you can still sort of make out the letters.  I'm hesitant to do the larger return key an shift/cntrl key, so they're still not too pretty.  Anyway, my blue alps hhk2 lite/japanese almost looks like the real hhk pro now.  I just need to find a top cover for it now so it doesn't look so raggedy.

[Xuan]

I kind of want to see if I can dye them for future projects as well.  Those red and black keyboards looked awesome.  Kind of worried about the spacebar now though...

I think the key might be to double dip them so they don't get so hot.

>

[chimera15]

>

[Xuan]

lol They proved on mythbusters that there's more bacteria and junk in the dip already, that double dipping is basically meaningless. lol

That's what I say when we order Chinese at work, yet they keep *****ing.

[Santa]

OK I'm interested in how this might work on my model m...

(O and btw I did take the time to read all 23 pages of this article O:)

[ricercar]

My wife bought me red RIT for Valentine's day. It is a good day to dye.

[itlnstln]

My wife bought me red RIT for Valentine's day. It is a good day to dye.

Ha! I love it.  Scarlet #5, huh?  Sounds like a James Bond movie.

[ricercar]

Good day to dye part 2 of 3

• Clean key caps
• Boil water
• Add salt to water
• Add laundry detergent to water
• Add key caps to water. Wait 15 Minutes. Stir Constantly.
• Remove key caps and rinse.
• Check key caps for color. Observe puke-salmon color mentioned by previous post. Dry heave.
• Add key caps to water. Wait 15 Minutes. Stir Constantly.
• Remove key caps and rinse.
• Check keycaps for color. Observe deeper red. Be relieved.
• Consider stopping. Decide Dusty rose is not goal.
• Continue for third bath, like previous poster suggested.

• Compare color to Filco key caps.
• Don't worry, be happy.
• Arrange key caps on original broken keyboard for aesthetic evaluation. Grin at mass effect.

• Tell {spouse|offspring|roommates} they can use the RIT for tye-dye clothing while you evaluate key caps in various settings.
• Put key caps on various working boards for aesthetic evaluation.
• Nod in satisfaction.

• Put key caps on favorite keyboard for aesthetic evaluation.
• Nod in satisfaction.

• Speculate on whether the small amount of remaining dye is worth using on more key caps.
• Decide there's more to come for another, subsequent, post.

[ricercar]

Good day to dye part 3 of 3

I decided to attempt dying the white portion of black double shot key caps.

Summary
White ink on the non-double shot Windows key caps took the dye, while the white plastic on double shots didn't take the dye. However, all ink is not the same.

In the following image,

• black legends on red caps - had 45 (3 × 15) minutes of dye bath, as described in immediately previous post.  
• Windows and Menu caps - had 15 (1 × 15) minutes of dye bath.  
• numpad, Control, and Alt caps - had 60 (4 × 15) minutes of dye bath.

EDIT
In the following image, the ink on the key caps of the SPOS G86-16141 took the dye less well than the ink on the previous image key caps of the POS G80-6955. These keys were in the dye bath for 15 minutes, the final bath of the double shots, FWIW.




The red tint to the black plastic is DRAMATICALLY more visible to the camera than to the eye. I hadn't noticed the black plastic had retained dye on any key until I saw this photograph. Now, of course, I can easily detect dye even on the most subtle of the night: double shot black plastic.

post EDIT EDIT

I want to test the hypothesis that RIT dye loses effectiveness over time or when heated. There may be a sweet spot in the working lifetime of the dye bath, roughly the first hour over the heat.

Features of the final image here raise the question. The first 45 minutes of stove time appear to have darker results than 45 minutes starting 4 hours after the heat was applied.

• The alphabet-number block of reds on the left and the numeric pad operators on the right all had the first 45 minutes of dye bath. They appear slightly deeper red than the arrows, Enter, INS-DEL, HOM-END, page, lock, Pause and PRNT SCRN key caps on the right.
  
• The right hand cap groups received 60 minutes of bath, 15 minutes more than their predecessors, yet they are slightly lighter than their predecessors.
  
• The right groups were dyed, starting perhaps three hours after the first batch
• The right groups were dyed after two t shirts, the cloth of which absorbed about 3/4ths of the dye bath, and may have leeched much of the effective color from the remaining liquid.

[itlnstln]

Strong, ricercar.  I like the red caps.  Personally, I like the color of the dyed caps over the Filco fire engine red.  Well done.

[Frawg]

Can anyone hazard a guess as to how well the Chicony 5181 keys would take to boiling?

[Mental Hobbit]

Can anyone hazard a guess as to how well the Chicony 5181 keys would take to boiling?

They should be well done and just right for the dumpster in less than three minutes. I wouldn't expose that kind of cheap plastic to more than 50°C.
Just a guess though, haven't tried it.

[ricercar]

D'oh! I forgot to describe my boiling process. I was denied the household meat thermometers and can't afford to buy one, so it's pretty much fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants. Before adding key caps for a 15-minute soak, I brought the dye bath up to turbulent (but not violent splashy) boiling. Then I dropped the dial from 9-in-10 to 6-3 range until only steam was rising gently: like gentle mist over a moore, with no liquid motion from the heat. Only then did I add the key caps.

Previous experience melting cheapo caps from a Goldtouch leads me to eschew dying anything other than a Cherry or IBM/Lexmark key cap. Which reminds me. I dyed one Model M 2-part ESC key cap last night with the first batch of Cherry caps.

To summarize: a bad experience.

• There was no sign of cracking before the dye treatment.
• In addition to cracking, there was deformation. The sides bowed in.
• Fortunately the two off these combine such that the cap is held in place on the IBM slider at least as well as--and likely better than--the normal non-deformed key. There's no chance of the cap popping off when the key is released.
• The grey was significantly inferior in color holding. The color is less vibrant that the peers it soaked with, and the IBM key has some scratch-like areas that dy simply did not stick to. You be the judge, but I think this IBM key needs another six 15-minute baths to become vibrant.

[ricercar]

D'oh! I forgot to describe my boiling process. I was denied the household meat thermometers and can't afford to buy one, so it's pretty much fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants. Before adding key caps for a 15-minute soak, I brought the dye bath up to turbulent (but not violent splashy) boiling. Then I dropped the dial from 9-in-10 to 6-3 range until only steam was rising gently: like gentle mist over a moore, with no liquid motion from the heat. Only then did I add the key caps.

Previous experience melting cheapo caps from a Goldtouch leads me to eschew dying anything other than a Cherry or IBM/Lexmark key cap. Which reminds me. I dyed one Model M 2-part ESC key cap last night with the first batch of Cherry caps.

To summarize: a bad experience.

• There was no sign of cracking before the dye treatment. The cap is cracked from top to bottom, the entire length of the skirt, as if the key was heated unevenly.
• In addition to cracking, there was deformation. The sides bowed in.
• Fortunately the two off these combine such that the cap is held in place on the IBM slider at least as well as--and likely better than--the normal non-deformed key. There's no chance of the cap popping off when the key is released.
• The grey was significantly inferior in color holding. The color is less vibrant that the peers it soaked with, and all five outer surfaces have significant scratch-like areas that dye simply did not stick to. You be the judge, but I think this IBM key needs another six 15-minute baths to become vibrant.

The bowed-in sides are more dramatic to the eye than the camera.

[ricercar]

"i am contrite" - Chiun to Remo, Destroyer series.

[pfink]

I've had good luck with Model M keycaps using the following method:

1) mix the Rit Dye using twice as much dye to water as the instructions call for, and that's it. No salt or other additives.

2) bring to a boil in a decent sized pot.

3) remove pot from heat, wait about a minute, add keys and stir constantly for between 1 and 1 1/2 minutes, depending on how deep you want the color.

4) remove the keys and dunk them in cold water.

5) if the color isn't dark enough go back to step 2.

I'm expecting some double-shot Cherry keys to arrive this week. I'll experiment with those and post the results.

[ricercar]

There appears to be a difference in strength between liquid RIT and powder RIT. The following picture displays a dark purple, dyed from the dregs (maybe 1/4 inch) of a bottle of purple liquid dye. It's so dark the keys are (easy to read in photos but) illegible to the eye at most angles.

• The dark purple was 7 total immersion minutes, minutes 2-8. Only 7 minutes and the keys are too dark to read.
• The light purple was 5 total minutes, minutes 12-17 from the same bath.
• The medium purple was 7 total minutes, minutes 22-29, from the same bath. Note that the middle purple keys are from a different keyboard than the other dyed keys, so the characteristics of the plastic may be part of why it was dye resistant compared to the first bath.

[pfink]

There appears to be a difference in strength between liquid RIT and powder RIT. The following picture displays a dark purple, dyed from the dregs (maybe 1/4 inch) of a bottle of purple liquid dye. It's so dark the keys are (easy to read in photos but) illegible to the eye at most angles.

What was your water to liquid dye ratio?

[ricercar]

What was your water to liquid dye ratio?

I'd have to read the packages. For powder Rit, it was exactly the ratio recommended, possibly 2 cups per package. For liquid, it was the same amount of water (2 cups?) to an unmeasured amount of dye, around an inch in the bottle.

[Frawg]

KB: Compaq MX 11800 lasered white caps
Colors: Golden Yellow, Purple, Royal Blue
Concentration: Medium for Yellow, very high for Purple and Royal Blue.

Method:
Toss in powder/liquid.
Add water - no salt, detergent
Bring water to just before a boil
Let simmer for 10-15 mins at low heat
Take off heat
Dump in keys
After 2 minutes, already 60% done
5 mins, 90% done
after about 10 mins, 100% done and very dark
drain, rinse, dry

Note, I did not do the whole strain and rinse x3; just one go. I did not own a strainer. Also note, the colors are much brighter under the camera than in real life. The purple and especially the blue are a good deal darker in person.

For the grey coat, I used dupli-vinyl fabric charcoal grey. I sprayed it a bit too thickly - it works beautifully but just be a bit more careful than I was, and never ever scrape.

[armenws]

my first attempt. I should I read more instructions first but eventually it worked out. Warped under boiling, so I had to re-boil it and bend it back into shape while it was still soft.

[eunjea]

Always caution with temperature.



otherwise....

[armenws]

I think with PBT you have a margin of error.   So IBM, some Cherry, Topre you're good to go even with a rolling boil.

All other plastics BEWARE!

this was an ergonomic Microsoft Natural Keyboard Elite. Came from a dumpster. Definitely cheap plastic.

[ricercar]

After my first melted batch, I tend to keep the water under boiling. When the mist starts, I turn the heat down. Works for light colors and dark.

[megarat]

I think with PBT you have a margin of error.   So IBM, some Cherry, Topre you're good to go even with a rolling boil.

All other plastics BEWARE!

Also, the bigger keys (space bar, shift, enter, backspace/delete) have a greater tendency to warp because of their long edges.  This will bite you even with some of the "safe" keys (e.g., Topre).

[armenws]

just in case anyone is curious, that little red Esc was 1 packet powder, a little less than a cup (added more water as it boiled off) and kept just under a boil or slightly boiling. Dipped for like 5-7 minutes 3 times.

A scummy chunksplutter of undissolved powder was floating around and there was a paste of muck at the bottom too... There may have been some unevenness on the dying as a result.

[Input Nirvana]

Anyone have thoughts on a white Kinesis Contour case being able to withstand a Rit-Dye treatment?

[ricercar]

it's only a $40 gamble, right? $40 for a new enclosure from Kinesis?

My contour case is softer plastic, and soft plastics are more permeable than hard plastics.

[zild1221]

I just got my mx-11800 which is working awesome and I am loving the browns. I cleaned the keys and they are now pure white. I think they are whiter than what they started at. Anyway, I am debating on weather or not to dye the keys, and if so what color/colors to dye them.

I have seen in earlier posts that these keys dye very well. I have also just put the first two coats of a hammered black finish on the outside case.

The finish looks very good actually, and with a few coats I am not worried about wearing. I do not have the case on now and my hands only ever touch the keys.

Let me know what you guys think. My main color scheme is Black, grey tones, white, and a bright orange.

BTW, after typing this post, I love the keyboard even more. (first mechanical keyboard)

[Input Nirvana]

Black and bright orange is a kicking color combo. I'm thinking of a black case/orange keys or orange case/black keys on my Contour project. You should show pics of what you are doing!

[ricercar]

Black and Red is a favorite among the goth. I prefer black and blue, but there are too many "Have you stopped beating your keyboard?" jokes there...

[zild1221]

Well, the case came out charcoal grey which looks pretty sweet and it matches the font on the keys. I think I may just stick with the white keys charcoal case.

[Pixel_Outlaw]

So, I feel compelled to ask, has anyone tried a leaving the keys in a relatively cool container for say an hour or two to avoid the danger of warping? I'll bet the color would take if the keys stayed in a container long enough with less heat. This may be the key to dying all boards.

[Morning Song]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone ever tested to see how deep the dye gets into a plastic key? I'm curious as to whether, say, a white key dyed grey could be laser-etched (e.g. by IKBS), and still look good.

[clickclack]

It would work fine =)
Since they are pro's you wouldn't have to worry about focus distance (especially if they burn deeper) but just in case I would send them an extra key so they can get the focus distance correct quickly. You never know when some random guy is using the laser bed without using a focusing stick.

as far as testing goes...
Does having done it for a commission count? =P

It depends on how you dye the key but normally the water dye soak method (mostly what this thread is about) is very, very thin.

The only minor concern I would have (if I were you) would be with getting a consitent grey color, which is a slightly difficult color with this method.

[Morning Song]

Thanks for the advice, clickclack. I'll have a whole set of keycaps to dye, only about 2/3 of which will be used in the final project, so i have some room to mess up. And i know how hard it can be to get an intermediate--i've dyed fabric before with rit. Just not plastic.

[Morning Song]

I saw that earlier in the posts I'm going to be working with unicomp whites.

I maintain logitech keys aren't worth the dye they absorb anyway.

[hoggy]

After trying out RIT on some keycaps from Devlin, I've finally got around to trying again.



Just a case of throwing in an 'amount' of powder into hot (ish) water, for a 'while'.  

Would have prefered a deeper shade, but I didn't want to risk warping the keys.

[ZeNmAc]

Just a note.  AT101W's do not like dye at all.  I dyed mine black and red.  Eventually the red almost entirely wore off the top of the keys, and the black faded out to dark red.  I just recently re dyed the keys, and they look really nice at first, but I think they're starting to wear out again (it's only been a few weeks, I'll post back later).

Something interesting happened though.  When I went to dye them again, I cleaned them first.  Naturally I used soapy water, but then I poured some isopropyl alcohol over them (the keys were in a plastic cup).  The dye started coming out.  I poured the alcohol out of the cup and it was completely black.

I think I even scratched one key taking it out.  It didn't look like the dye went very deep.

Such a shame because my linear modded at101w is awesome for gaming.  I don't like the idea of dying the keys every few months though.

[Oqsy]

To those of you that have dyed lasered cherry caps (mx 11800, 11900, etc) have you had ANY issues with warping keys at boiling temps?  I am ready to start dying two boards worth of cherry keys and I'd like to know that I'm not going to destroy them because this particular type of key is made of a cheaper plastic than the doubleshots, etc.

[Oqsy]

doublepost... oops.  Ripster, I'll volunteer to cross-section my over-dyed model M esc key and take high quality macro shots of the depth of dye impregnation in exchange for a replacement esc key, preferably undyed, but red is also acceptable.  

bye over-dyed, I just mean the color came out a bit darker than the rest of the board due to the esc being gray instead of white like the rest of the keys, so really I guess it's dyed exactly the same amount as the others... which would make it an ideal candidate for dissection.  

So, anyone with a spare model m esc interested in donating it to Oqsy in exchange for a definitive answer to the question of "how deep does Rit dye get?".  I normally wouldn't beg for a key but I have absolutely zero spare model m keys.