killed my spare keycaps trying to dye them...

[Aran.E99]

i was wondering if anyone could explain what i did wrong. (time for the most tragic keycap story of 2016)

to begin with, the keycaps are now deformed, curled, shrunk etc. this is purely because of too much heat. my problem is that i tried with: warm/hot water and let it set for 10 minutes. did not dye at all. left it for about 20 more minutes. no dyeing. tried with hot/boiling water after rinsing the caps, did not dye at all. also melted my keycaps...

i'm assuming its either the keycaps (dell AT101W),the dye (used 2 different types/brands) or the fact that the surface of the caps are not 'prepared', if you will. i have seen the dye i used for this also used for plastics and have also seen people dyeing dell AT101W caps. i believe i need to use acetone but i really don't want to get any fancy chemicals involved. (yes, i know its not hard to get but i really dont want to have to buy some and then not use it again.)

the whole point of this project is to dye the at101w case, but before i do, i'd like to know i'm not going to waste about 5 litres of water + dye solution just to get no results. I really didn't care much about the keycaps but i need to address my mistakes before more are made.

-Aran

[jdcarpe]

Unfortunately, you're not going to be dyeing ABS plastic. It needs to be PBT to take the heat and accept the dye.

If you want to paint the case, go for it. But dyeing -- ain't gonna happen.

[Aran.E99]

yeah, i know. think i'm going to stick to keycaps. i'l wait til i get some pbt caps and try again...

[suicidal_orange]

Some plastics will take dye, some won't.  Most stock keycaps are made of ABS which is one that won't while the successful ones you've seen will have been PBT.  ABS also melts cooler than PBT...

Chances are the case is alsi made of ABS so you might want to look into plasti dip or a wrap.

[FrostyToast]

If I recall, AT101w is ABS.
The old AT101 is PBT.

[Aran.E99]

yeah, i know, the one thing that puts me off with painting is that it adds thickness to it so its a no-go putting primer, paint and clear coat in places like the at101w's snap tabs. it would turn out like my drum kit i painted, it begins to wear off after time and looks pretty bad. i think my only option is to get some PBT caps and make do. its a shame i went for massdrop's ABS drop and not the PBT one.

[nugglets]

Vinyl wrap or hydro dip the case if you don't want to paint. Costs a bit more, but worth it.

I prefer vinyl because it's easily reversible, but it takes serious time and patience to do it right on something like this. Hydro dip is pretty permanent but also nearly fool proof and there are places that do it everywhere. With either option you can clear over it to protect the friction spots.

[Aran.E99]

i do like the hydro dipping idea but it is not really my type of thing. for now, i may just lightly sand the case, do one light coat of paint (maybe more if it is not even) and lightly clear coat it. if i get it right it shouldn't add much thickness. it reminds me of my old xbox controller i painted. the battery pack was a very tight fit and started ripping the paint off every time i swapped a battery. i guess i will make a topic about my results. i have tomorrow off so i could try then. i'm also not sure if i should paint in places like the screw holes as its 100% going to pull paint off in assembly.

[Aran.E99]

update:

the case has a '6' and 'ps' in it (recycling code) and 6 ps means polystyrene . this material is softer so i thought i'd have a go at dyeing. to begin with it has not warped the corner that im dyeing. i took it out after about 5 minutes and it is already starting to dye. if this corner works, i will dye the whole thing.