The Dye A Day Thread!

[hippiediscdude]

Heres a few discs I cranked out for the shop today. Nothing to fancy just our logo still tried to make em kinda funky though.
DGA Aftershock

Latitude Optp Core

Innova Star Katana

Latitude Gold Line Core

 

[RocRing]

all these discs look so sick, do you guys all use plotters/cutters ?

 

[Fishy]

all these discs look so sick, do you guys all use plotters/cutters ?

I'd say mostly all are plotter work, there is still some hand cutting.

 

[gkeberhart]

are you waxing some of those to keep them that shiny?

 

[NoThingness]

I'd say mostly all are plotter work, there is still some hand cutting.

If you find the thread on Hand cutting vs plotters you will see that the ratio is far greater towards hand cut on this forum. Personally everything I've done has been hand cut

 

[ATXtech]

Two more dyes I did last night.

Not sure why the black didn't turn out well on the ion. I started w/ 1 pack of black dye in 32oz water at 120 deg F and let it soak for ~25 min before pulling it. At that point the dye hadn't even really taken so I added another pack of black dye to the water and reheated it. Still came out pretty light after soaking it for another 40 minutes.

Also thinking about going back over that red one with the same technique using black dye. What do you guys think? Black & red or should I just leave it red?

 

[Fishy]

If you find the thread on Hand cutting vs plotters you will see that the ratio is far greater towards hand cut on this forum. Personally everything I've done has been hand cut

I guess that would be true.. my bad.. plotters are expensive..

 

[Fishy]

Two more dyes I did last night.

Not sure why the black didn't turn out well on the ion. I started w/ 1 pack of black dye in 32oz water at 120 deg F and let it soak for ~25 min before pulling it. At that point the dye hadn't even really taken so I added another pack of black dye to the water and reheated it. Still came out pretty light after soaking it for another 40 minutes.

Also thinking about going back over that red one with the same technique using black dye. What do you guys think? Black & red or should I just leave it red?

what technique is that? certainly looks very cool.. I'd say add black or a blue.

 

[BarkBuster]

what technique is that? certainly looks very cool.. I'd say add black or a blue.

Ditto.. I like that Red/White .. reminds me of crab meat. haha.. Also, confusing bummer on your ion??? Those things normally take dye like a thief!

 

[ATXtech]

what technique is that? certainly looks very cool.. I'd say add black or a blue.

A technique I came up with after a sublime screwup. On the very first disc my roommate and I dyed some dye got underneath the wrinkled contact paper where it had wrapped around the edge of the disc and made a crazy design.

Basically all I do is cut the contact paper into about 4" squares and ball them up so they get wrinkled. Then I peel the backing off and just wrinkle the crap out of it as I'm sticking it to the disc. I go back and pierce the tops of the creases with an xacto blade to let the dye in. After that just dye as usual.

It's really simple and produces some neat patterns. I did a 3 color dye this way for a friend that came out really good but forgot to get pics. I'll take pics of the process next time.

 

[Fishy]

Very Cool.. would love to see it

 

[hippiediscdude]

are you waxing some of those to keep them that shiny?

yeah I use a little turtle wax after I let the dye set. It serves a couple of purposes for me. It gives the disc a nice shine, and really makes the colors pop. It also seems to loosen any residue left over from the vinyl. I used a dab of wax and a microfiber towel + a lil elbow grease and all the funk comes off pretty easily.

And yeah I do use a plotter. Started out hand cutting but got a plotter as soon as I had enough scratch. You cant beat them for speed and consistency.

 

[zenbot]

Two more dyes I did last night.

Not sure why the black didn't turn out well on the ion. I started w/ 1 pack of black dye in 32oz water at 120 deg F and let it soak for ~25 min before pulling it. At that point the dye hadn't even really taken so I added another pack of black dye to the water and reheated it. Still came out pretty light after soaking it for another 40 minutes.

Also thinking about going back over that red one with the same technique using black dye. What do you guys think? Black & red or should I just leave it red?

120 is way too low. I can't give you an exact temp but I'm guessing I dye around 180 or so.

 

[agent_peebody]

180?! really?!

 

[ATXtech]

120 is way too low. I can't give you an exact temp but I'm guessing I dye around 180 or so.

180?! really?!

Hey peebody, what temp do you suggest?

I just spent awhile searching the forums and I couldn't find a straight answer on temperature. Seems like most people use the "heat it til you can barely touch the pan" method.

I'm running low on dyeable discs but I might have to do some experimenting with temps this weekend, see how hot I can get it before I start to have problems.

All my past dyes were done at ~120 degrees (according to instant-read thermometer) and they came out great not sure what was wrong with this batch.

 

[agent_peebody]

135-140 is what i use. search the forums for "dye tutorial 101". it's a thread that i made.

 

[RocRing]

And yeah I do use a plotter. Started out hand cutting but got a plotter as soon as I had enough scratch. You cant beat them for speed and consistency.

What model plotter do you use? I have been looking at some and they range in price quite a bit, and there are a few style of 'cartridges' and 'tips' that I don't quite understand the differences & features of...

@Temps: The few dyes I have done, I like keeping the temp very low, and just use longer times, esp for single color/vivid discs. I "wrecked" a champ eagle-x, the top isn't domey per se, but its not flat - it's dimpled! I want to do a dye tonight, so I'll see what temp mines actually at, it might actually be about 120 come to think about it lol.

 

[CarpeDiem]

Wow, after looking at all of these nice shiny discs, mine look so scuffed...
These are my most recent 2

Does the wax effect your grip at all? like does it make it really slick?

 

[Fishy]

both very cool discs CarpeDiem.. I worry about getting my dye to hot and reshaping the dome.. also it seems the hotter the dye it tends to loosen the adhesive on the vinyl.

 

[phishbrained]

CarpeDiem, Nice dyes. Love the Fry one