RIT (fabric) Dye - DC Controller

1. SACRIFICIAL (it will get stained) metal pan just large enough for a controller, filled high enough to cover the entire thing when submerged (and then a bit more)
2. RIT Dye (US grocery stores have it... elsewhere? No idea)
3. Bring water to just under a boil, use stove setting to keep it there (but not boiling!)
4. Pour in dye powder (I used half a pack for my ammount of water)
5. Dip in plastic. It took maybe 5 minutes or less to get it at full color, although I also let mine sit in there for at least 10 to get them as bold as possible.

So you fill the pan with the appropriate ammount of water, slap it on the stove and heat it.

Notes: Too hot of water, or else thin plastic parts (I've seen the 360 battery packs on many websites) can and probably will warp if you're not really careful.

Check your part after 5 seconds of dunking. If no change at all, then in 10 seconds, and keep increasing the interval until something starts happening. I was looking at mine every minute or two, rinsing off the excess dye to see the true color of the plastic (some will wash off under cold water, so don't make final decisions with a part while it's still in the dye)
Scratches, warn spots, bumps and scrapes will be magnified A LOT. If you do a really worn controller for instance, the edges and corners will be darker than the rest. Variations in the composition of the plastic within each part will probably cause some swirling (you can see some under teh VMU window in the green in mine). This is most apparent in dark colors such as my green.

I used "Dark Green" and... whatever yellow WalMart carried.


I decided to do a DC controller, inspired by the LE "Zeon" (Gundam) Wonderswan which looks like this:



And here's how it turned out:





I'm very satisfied. A little box of dye, which will probably make a good half gallon to one gallon of good strong mixture, is less than a couple dollars. I had an extra beater controller sitting around (check the previously mentioned scrapes and such in the pictures above) and it should last quite a while. I cut into the plastic inside the controller and it's obvious that the dye doesn't sink deep (of course not) so a nice hard bump against a hard floor will probably cut through the dye and show the grey plastic below.... but then again the same would happen with even a good paint coat.

The real advantage here, is that screen printed (or whatever you call it) graphics and logos (such as the sega logo on the front of the DC, or the GAME BOY logo on a handheld, stuff like that) won't get covered up by the dye. Maybe changed in hue very slightly, but not dissapear like painting would.

Yes, the yellow isn't that bright, but I wanted those parts yellow and they happened to be the greyer parts of the controller. -_-
Also note that the bottom of the controller is darker than the top (when not-dyed) and I got the color matched pretty damn well despite the difference in original color.
I hear black dye doesn't work perfectly.

I'm going to color one of my consoles to match it (and figure out a way to do the controller plug... which might be tricky...) once I find a large enough metal container I don't mind making ugly.

Be careful, have fun?

 

Very nice idea!! I always wanted to make a textured controller. There's this stuff you can buy that sits on top of the water like a very thin film. You then dip whatever into the water throught the film. The film clings to the dipped item covering it in the same design as the film. The results are amazing and is how such special paterned controllers are made. The problem is that I have no idea where this film can be bought or what it's real name is.

Yakumo

 

I was thinking the same thing, Yakumo. I remember briefly seeing something on TV where they were applying a camouflaged effect on a petrol tank (I think) using that technique.

Edit: looking it up, it looks like it's called "hydro graphics." Here is a link to a site that specializes in it and has some great example pictures: link.

And, very cool, Alecjahn :nod:. Let us know how it holds up after a heated gaming session and if your hands are more colorful afterwards .

 

Sadly I may be out of heated gaming sessions as I generally play with my ASCIII stick especially with fighters, like Guilty Gear (thanks Yakumo ) so I don't know how much wear and tear it will get.
Before I realized the DC controlller dismantled so well, I thought I'd have to mask off some of the piece, which can be done with elmers'wood glue or hot glue, the dye won't hit any covered part of the plastic.

 

Another idea: You can get some kind of rubberized paint, I think it goes under the brand name "Plasti-Kote" in some areas of the world. It is mainly used for giving tools a better gripping handle, but can also be applied to controllers to give them a rubber texture. Comes in several colors, as spray paint (thinner cote, so better fitting parts, but easier to wear off) and in cans for dipping (thicker stuff, but you need to be careful that parts will fit together afterwards).

The hardcore user might want to look into "truck bed liner" paint, that's some tough stuff.

 

Very nice work!!!!!

 

Very nice idea! I like the colour scheme a lot. Maybe do a console next to match?

 

I've done this to other things, this is how ghostbuster costumers dye their hose on the costume yellow. RIT can be bought at grocery stores and craft stores. There's also a liquid form avaible, you might want to try that. It could have a different effect than the powder.

 

Just ripped this off a forum I found through Google about Hydro printing:

"A description of the process:

The hydro graphic process consists of transferring a pattern to an object using water displacement. Any material that is hard surfaced and non porous such as glass, wood, metals, fiberglass, ceramics and all types of plastics and can be submerged in water without harm can be printed.

The most important step in the hydrographic process is the preparation of the article to be printed. Cleaning, sanding and the appropriate bonder/primer are then applied and sanded smooth.

A base coat is applied to correspond with the pattern to be printed. The color of the base coat controls the hue of the pattern. Such as a brown for a woodgrain print. The contrast can also be controlled through the application of both a base coat and a finish coat.

The pattern chosen is printed on a water soluble polyvinyl film. This film is carefully laid on top of water that is contained in a special made tank for hydrographic printing.

An activating solvent is then applied by spray to the films pattern. As the film dissolves, it leaves the printed pattern floating evenly on top of the water.

The object being printed is then dipped through the pattern. The water being displaced by the object causes the pattern to wrap around and adheres the print to the object no matter how complex the shape, creating a continuous finish.

The item is then rinsed to remove any residue and then air dried.

Several coats of a catalized automotive urethane is applied. Finishes can range from flat to a glass like high gloss finish. Automotive urethane finishes meet the most demanding standards for hardness, UV resistance, chemical resistance and adhesion and are also easily maintained.

Finally the item is wet sanded, buffed and polished."


Edit: The last part about the urethane and wet sanding is only for automotive stuff. When they dip things like rifle barrels in camo, they don't polish or add anything to them.