Dying Plastic

[FOOKz™]

This Guy posts up in R&D that you CAN Dye Plastic parts with Rit Dye? WTF

Is this True or not? Will it work? I'm not sure. He Also Said Hot Water Helps.(not boiling)

His Original Post Goes Like this:

ok after a few failed attempts of painting systems, mostly 360s, with spraypaints...no matter what the quality of the paint and the job, it still doesnt look that grate..and its horrible when you paint controllers.
  so back in the day i used to race gas r/c cars and we used to dye our plastics for a custom look..and i said..why not use it on a 360?
  and if you look on a site like ebay they all say their dyed...this is how you do it.

go to a local store like wal-mart and get so Rit brand dye. the only one ive tried is the powderd..at the moment i have no extra parts to use the liquid on.
 in my oppinion its easyier than painting, you get the packet of dye, metal pot of boiling water and dump in the dye..
 then say your doing a 360 controller..after you take it apart..take a pice of fishing line and tie it to a wire hanger
and leave it in the pot for about 5 minutes..the longer you leave it in the darker and more the color will penetrate the plastic.
 its that easy...the only hard part is finding a big enough pot to dye the bigger console pieces..
  it hardly shows up on black plastic it kind of has a tint of the color but not really
so anything white is grate.
 and it also tints clear plastics so if you get a ghost case and dye it red its translucent.
 if anyone would like a more in depth tut let me know...im puting up a youtube tut soon as well

[jrfhoutx]

well considering that plastic is porous I Imagine it will absorb the dye, and hot water just short of boiling (ie. boil it then let it cool for a few minutes) would open up the pores and allow more absorption of the dye (though could also warp it a little). the theory is sound, just not sure of how well it would actually work as far as how the color would actually look... ever seen a tie-dye? way brighter with the dye on the fabric til you rinse it out, then it just gets a little less dull... can't hurt to try it with something like a battery cover (you know the 360 AA holders) especially if you plan on painting it anyway...

[light-of-jesus]

Yes it can be done. A lot of people that are into RC Cars use this method to dye plastic parts on their cars. You can find videos on youtube of people that have done as well.

[SN!P3R]

 Dyeing is legit. Only thing is that you have to do it RIGHT. I've seen his controller, he soaked it for 5 minutes, but you let it sit for  ~4 hours, so the dye adheres better

[eNeRGy]

Yea I let one of my controller sticks sit in the pot too long and the thumbstick melted down a bit lol.

[Frodoro]

Yes it can be done. A lot of people that are into RC Cars use this method to dye plastic parts on their cars. You can find videos on youtube of people that have done as well.

I absolutely agree with you. There are many video tutorials that I've watched using this method. However, you should be very careful as this could be harmful if not done properly.