Vinyl Dye help

I've read a few articles on vinyl dye and the one thing I can never find is how many layers to use. I am planning on dismantling one of my 360 controllers and giving it a dye job. Nothing fancy, just black.. ok maybe a a different color for the bottom or something.. nothing technical that requires masking or anything. Any suggestions, helpful hints, articles not in the sticky's of this thread, would be appreciated.

You will want to scuff the surface with some fine paper, 600 grit or so, however the texture will show through so dont go crazy. the whole idea with the paint itself is to add enough coats of dye to achieve the color you want. im sure you know to do several light coats. after a few of these, youll see that the color is being impregnated into the plastic, and be able to determine the additional coats that you need.

I am a machinist, and aircraft builder, vinyl dye can really make an aircraft interior shine, oddly enough ive yet to use it on my computer...

Funny everything I've read said no sanding required

You don't need to sand with vinyl dye. Just put as many coats on as you want until it is covered. You can do a coat every 10 minutes or so. I've found that 6-8 usually suffices nicely.

That's exactly what I was looking for thank you. I'll post pictures when I'm done. I'm thinking of changing the led colors on the controller while I'm in there. So woohoo I guess.

Where the hell can you actually still get vinyl dye instead of that vinyl "coating" crap? I used to buy mine at Pep Boys or Autozone, but now it's a flexible coating that simply peels off. I want that old-style plastic-penetrating dye.

Levine Auto Parts has a good selection. While it is referred to as "color coat", I've never had it peel off on any mod I've done.

Kil4Thril said:

Where the hell can you actually still get vinyl dye instead of that vinyl "coating" crap?

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Try this.
They even sell a refillable sprayer.
Dye seems really expensive. Are these prices typical?

btw, anyone seen/used this product?
http://www.plastikote.com/plastikote/auto/template.jsp?searchcode=n/a&product=Anodizit

DO NOT sand your parts.

I would suggest wiping your parts with alcohol before painting. Most plastic has a release agent applied to release it from the mold when it is made.

You could also use Windex to clean the parts, but it wouldn't as good of a job as alcohol.

Just use as many THIN coats as needed. THIN coats is the key.