Can Vinyl Dye be brushed on? Delicate work, cannot disassemble to spray

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Spare-Flair

Supreme [H]ardness
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I want to use some Vinyl Dye on my notebook because there is a strip of white plastic that goes around the outside of the display and it is also part of the latch. This strip of plastic is waffered between the two layers of the display, the outside is Aluminum/Magnesium and the inside of the display is plastic. But in between these is a strange design choice of a plastic insert that goes around the border of the notebook display and is integrated with the latch.

Now this is rather ugly and also, the hinges and latch are also white while the rest of the notebook s dark grey plastic and a metal/magnesium shell. I can't for the life of me figure out how to disassemble the monitor aside from chipping/drilling out the plugs that the manufacturer installed overtop of the the screws that hold the display together and I don't want to do this. I want to use some Vinyl dye to permantely color the white strip and the latch black or dark grey.

I want to know if it's possible to brush Vinyl dye on somehow (spray into a container, then use delicate brush or q-tip?) around the strip while I try my best to mask off the plastic and metal parts of the housing. I think I can handle the rest but the latch may give me some issues because it slides and there is also a hook on the underside.

latch.jpg

side.jpg

hinge.jpg
 
why dont you get a hella lot of 3m delicate painters tape, mask the whole thing up, and start spraying?

a while back i found that you can spray vinal dye onto a cotten ball and wipe it on plastic (i used it for moddling dirrty mud smears) but you have a very limited window before it drys out
 
tape it up with blue panters tape and spray it, if you dont whant to do that, then id say buy a sharpi, got at it, and touch it up every now and then, its not a big peace so its not that big a deal.

good luck and happy modding
 
STRESSTEST said:
honestly, vinyl dye chips pretty easy. I don't think I'd ever use it on a notebook.
Click to expand...

I thought Vinyl Dye seeps into the plastic, dyes it, and therefore, cannot chip off?
 
err... aparently stress test your not using real vinyl dye. real vinyl dye (make sure it sais "vinyl dye" on the can) chemicly colors the plastic. it only chips off stuff that it cant chemicly dye, and in that case its the excess chemical thats chipping not the dyed plastic itself.

no, it wont work on metal, or even glass; note the name, "vinyl dye"
 
Hey, maybe that company make two completely different types of products and put them in the exact same can? :rolleyes:

As I said, Vinyl Dye chips easy, dont use it on the notebook, or in a few weeks it will look like ass.

dye1.jpg
dye2.jpg
dye3.jpg


When I re-do the mouse as some you are aware of as I said in the MX700 painting thread, I will be using paint for the black areas this time. Incidently, I've also tried the VHT brand vinyl dye, and it's way better this Dupli-color crap. But it to chips easier than paint does also.
theshadow27 said:
err... aparently stress test your not using real vinyl dye. real vinyl dye (make sure it sais "vinyl dye" on the can) chemicly colors the plastic. it only chips off stuff that it cant chemicly dye, and in that case its the excess chemical thats chipping not the dyed plastic itself.
Click to expand...

hehe, I guess Im a rookie and have no idea what I am doing.

BTW, you show me where on this can (Anywhere) it says "Vinyl Dye". The word Dye is not used. The word "Color" is.

-Stress

Insert "PWNED" pic here -> <-
 
thats bizarre, i also painted my mouse. this was about 2 years ago, back in the day. i painted it with primer and real black paint, and of course clearcoat, and it got to cure for a week in my homemade dehumidifier dryer). this finish looked great, and lasted all of 6 months. for a while i switched to a different mouse because it was chipping off so bad.

when i first saw krylon fusion... i thought it be great to try it out. i sanded off all the old crap, and repainted it with fusion. 7 days to dry? fine. it lasted 3 hours before it started dulling, then 3 days before it started chipping. i striped all the fusion off, thinking that i had done something wrong, and re-painted it. exact same thing happened.

i had been avoiding vinyl dye because it doesn’t hold a gloss finish, but i just got fed up. 2 coats of vinyl dye, 4 coats of acrylic clearcoat, and its lasted the year and some months with no problems at all. im on the computer a lot, and i beat the shit out of my mouse. and its been fine. its even outlasted the stock paint on the mouse that i bought when the original paint started chipping.

in the pic, you can see on the nose piece, i was too lazy to sand it down (its hard to hold w/o breaking) it has the original chipping paint. the rest of the mouse has vinyl dye (the acrylic has since rubbed off, killing the gloss completely).

dsc00590.jpg


maybe were talking bout 2 different types of plastic, all my mice are made by Microsoft, not Logitech. and i let all my stuff cure in a heated, dehumidified box for a couple of days. but even the cable that i used the dye on is still looking great.
 
No, the difference is that you used a paint based clear laquer. That's the only reason yours has not chipped.
 
i think it depends on the plastic, I have a Antec case with a vinyl dye front cover and it has never chipped, even during lan abuse. The places it chipped on your keyboard i think are made of a shiny plastic, so it dosnet sink in nearly as far, so easier to chip
 
Rombus said:
i think it depends on the plastic, I have a Antec case with a vinyl dye front cover and it has never chipped, even during lan abuse. The places it chipped on your keyboard i think are made of a shiny plastic, so it dosnet sink in nearly as far, so easier to chip
Click to expand...

I agree I had a surge protector thing I vinyl dyed. the front worked fine but on the shiny buttons it chipped off. And I didn't have to worry about the leds it chipped off those too.
 
ive Vinyl Dyed keyboards mice, bay blanks bezles, drive faces, cables (ide, usb, mouce, keyboard) and i never had a chip, parts where the plastic got scraped away or where the die rubed away slowly like on the part of the space bar where my fingernail hits.

this is not to say you havent had it crack or chip, but i just have never seen it myself, and im a bit confused... though i didnt use that stuff, i used something that actualy said vinyl dye on the can (cant find the lable i used to keep by my pc)


try painting the dye on if that doesnt work, whipe it down, and try painting it, if that doesnt work, then either use the crylon paint for plastic, or just get a sharpi and go nuts on it, i doubt you get your fingers on there much to ware away at it so it should do ok for a while. (if it doesnt take try sanding that part a little, that may help)



good luck and happy modding
 
yeah like i said if its on shiny plastic that is sealed its just like spraying it on metal, the dye will just dry on the surface. if you do any sanding at all (if its shiny plastic) then it will set in. if its rubberized, it will work no matter what. so im sorry, let me rephrase my initial statement:

vinyl dye does not chip when properly applied
 
Yeah, I'm not too sure if the plastic the latch is made of is too porous. It is shiny and smooth. I wouldn't want to Sharpie it, Sharpie on white plastic = purple.

It's really too bad I can't disassemble the display and properly paint the white plastic frame, hinge, and latch mechanism.
 
I noticed the scratching/chipping of vinyl dye on my mouse too before i painted it. Same stuff (Duplicolor) but red.
 
Spare-Flair said:
Yeah, I'm not too sure if the plastic the latch is made of is too porous. It is shiny and smooth. I wouldn't want to Sharpie it, Sharpie on white plastic = purple.
Click to expand...

i would get some 800 grit sand paper, mask the plastic strip off and cover the rest of the laptop in news paper, sand it lightly, and then spray on the vinyl dye. worst case senerio you can scrape it all off, but theres a 95% chance it will look awsome forever.

Vulcanus said:
I noticed the scratching/chipping of vinyl dye on my mouse too before i painted it. Same stuff (Duplicolor) but red.
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did you sand the mouse surface before you sprayed on the dye? or did you spray it on finished plastic(original surface)?
 
I painted my mouse a couple of years ago, like the guy earlier. It has worn a bit slick in the normal wear areas, but it shows no signs of chipping. In fact, it has held up as well as a factory finish. I believe your results depend on how well you prepare the surface before you paint it. That laptop will be tricky to prepare, so I probably would learn to live with it.




painted%20mouse.jpg
 
there is also the plastic as a variable
most would be ABS but possibly not the exact same formula
 
Ice Czar said:
there is also the plastic as a variable
most would be ABS but possibly not the exact same formula
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True. My prep may have been a little different from some, too. Rather than sanding, I acid washed the parts before I painted them.
 
Just to clarify since I've been gone all day and this thread has grown.

I did sand all parts as I always do prior to painting/vinyl coloring. I thought this was quite well documented in that thread for those of you that read it. Still the chips.

I'll also mention that the can of VHT I have actually says "Vinyl Dye" right on the can as opposed to the Dupli Color.

So here's the bottom line. You may end up with chipping since by nature laptops get banged around often. And after that starts, if at all, you have to deal with the want to get the rest of it off when you are disatisfied with the results. Then you have another problem at hand.
 
Ice Czar said:
there is also the plastic as a variable
most would be ABS but possibly not the exact same formula
Click to expand...

Twice (thrice? I forget) now I've had very strange experiences with what I thought was "normal" plastic, but the vinyl dye wound up all sorts of bubbly and crackly, to the point where I had to resort to a hammered finish spray paint to cover the mistakes and complete the job.

The stuff I always use, by the way, is made by Plasti-kote. It does a fantastic job on drive faces, blank plates, etc, but I'm going to avoid using it for anything translucent in the future.
 
Vinyl Dye I've seen doesn't chip. .Vinyl dye doesn't work on all plastics, and is sensitive to dirt/oil on the surface. The trick is to use very thin coats so the color doesn't build up on the surface and dry before soaking in.
 
STRESSTEST said:
dye1.jpg
Click to expand...

Thats not vinyl dye...

This is vinyl dye....

PJ1 Satin Black Vinyl Dye
Restores old seats to original appearance. Will not rub-off, fade or peel. A must for restorations. Actually penetrates vinyl
satin-black-vinyl-dye.jpg
 
Let me follow this up with ... I just spoke to a vinyl repair shop and they told me yes vinyl dye can come off but its much less likely if you us an "adhesion promoter" first.
 
Maddcovv said:
Thats not vinyl dye...

This is vinyl dye....

PJ1 Satin Black Vinyl Dye
Restores old seats to original appearance. Will not rub-off, fade or peel. A must for restorations. Actually penetrates vinyl
satin-black-vinyl-dye.jpg
Click to expand...

Umm.... Yes, That IS Vinyl Dye
i used the bright blue of the same stuff and it is dye, no matter what the label says. I just bought a can of the "Blue" High performance version (Brighter color) and its acting exactly like everyone said vinyl dye acts.
 
vinyl dye from pepboys hasnt failed me yet.

mouse and case painted.
 
First let me say that I agree with the dude that said "Don't argue with STRESSTEST...he knows his stuff". I agree wholeheartedly as I have seen his posts and you can tell the dude's got skilz....

Maybe it's just me.....but....Vinyl is a totally different material than what is on his laptop. Vinyl is porous...hence the dye's penetration. I think it would be [H]ard to get the dye to penetrate any type of plastic...no matter how your (or anyone's) previous projects turned out. I personally (and I'm a n00b so go easy on me) think you got lucky if it held up at all.

Me...I'm a paint guy...and I say mask that thing up, prep, prime and spray. You will have to deal with your slide problem...I don't think anything can stand up to that friction.

Just my $.02. As always...It's your stuff. Do what ya want with it.
 
Plastic is porous though. Now im not saying that as soon as the dye dries that its going to be bullet proof, it took about a week on my case to be very strong. Right now I have a test piece I can chip if I take a finger nail and really dig in, but I just painted it last night, but my case where I used the same paint on the same type of plastic it takes a carve with a knife to get it to show the original beige.

The major point: Vinyl dye works different for every person. It really depends on some key things:
1. Quality and who made the dye
2. How you apply it
3. And what you apply it too.

ABS seems best. If you’re plastic is very shiny, or painted in any way before hand, your results will not be best.
 
The Shadow and Stresstest: The stuff you are using is not Vinyl Dye. It is a Vinyl based paint that is extremely flexible. I painted an Antec SX103 with this stuff before and it holds up REALLY well on a sanded metal surface (just doesn't like heat from a window mod I attempted on the side panel). I forgot what brand I used (might still have a can out in the garage) but I bought it from an automotive paint store that was owned by my dad's boss. The guy at the counter has been in the automotive finish business for like a hundred years. Seriously, this dude was like Methuzelah (sp?) He knew all the ins and outs of refinishing damn near any surface. What's nice about that vinyl paint is that you CAN paint vinyl with it and it flexes so well you won't know the difference. Vinyl Dye is not a paint, it's just like a fabric dye, it penetrates the pourous surface and recolors all the way through without adding an extra layer of material to the object being refinished. If you're having trouble with using vinyl dye on particular plastics there is a product you can get (I got it for my Antec SX103 job) called Plastic Prep. It softens plastics just enough to promote proper adhesion of paints and dyes, works really well and does not discolor your paintjob.

Myself, I've had luck using Rustoleum Satin black for painting drive faces such as the face of my Pioneer Slot loader DVD ROM (Damn you Pioneer for not making a black face version that was readily available!)

[Threadjack]Mosin, who makes that keyboard that's in the pic with your painted mouse?[/threadjack]
 
Just to add in my $.02 since I have already gone through the whole paint my laptop .... well that worked fine on my VAIO (I know, I know, I hate the damn thing too (which is part of the reason I painted the whole thing)) except that like many have said notebooks and laptops get banged around ALOT more than any LAN box I know (other than my friend's who throws his around the room) and the paint wore off not chiped but wore off from were my hands were .... the prob that i see w/ the vinal dye is that it only works on some plastics and since u don't really know what kinda plastic it is i wouldn't screw w/ it

Plus if u paint/dye ur latch .... kiss it good bye it will never slide again ..... atleast not without ur manual help and alot of sliding to wear the shit down the only way to really paint those it to take them apart and since u have already stated that u can't do that I would just leave it well enough alone .... but like they said its ur swag
 
Actually, i got to eat my words here! I realized after checking my test piece that the dupicolor high performance is labled high performance COATING and was chipping like STRESSTEST was experincing. I frogot that the stuff i used was Plasti-Kote UltraVinyl Color
I got great results with this last time, and i currently got my xbox sitting with 2 coats of white drying, hopfully it will be as good as my case!
 
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