# Making black plastic white?



## Lux Aeterna (Mar 12, 2009)

Hey all,
I was wondering if there was a good way to take a white puzzle, remove the stickers, disassemble it and color all the pieces black, then reassemble it. Some kind of dye? Paint like the kind used on plastic airplane models? A regular sharpie? It would have to be permanent, uniform, and not chip or scratch off with normal use. Has anyone done this before? I just want all my puzzles to be the same color.

If it depends on the specific kind of plastic, I was thinking of doing this to either a V-Cube 6 (it seems most people think the white ones turn better, but I don't like how they look) or to one of the off-white pyraminxes from tropicalestore (which are cheaper than the Meffert's ones and possibly nicer, but not black). 

Thanks!


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## GermanCube (Mar 12, 2009)

Hi,

I think its quiet difficult to paint all the white plastic black, better get the cubes with black plastic. The paint will scratch off after a certain time and the cubies will get thicker with paint on them. 

Here they got black V-Cubes : Klick!

Alex


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## tim (Mar 12, 2009)

Lux Aeterna said:


> It would have to be permanent, uniform, and not chip or *scratch off* with normal use.



That's not possible. Have you ever noticed how much plastic dust a cube produces?


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## Lux Aeterna (Mar 12, 2009)

tim said:


> Lux Aeterna said:
> 
> 
> > It would have to be permanent, uniform, and not chip or *scratch off* with normal use.
> ...



Yeah, good point. But I don't really care what the inside looks like, which should be the only place the pieces grind up against each other.

I was hoping there was something like a liquid dye that would actually seep into the plastic and become part of it, not just a coating, similar to how anodizing aluminum makes colored aluminum, not aluminum with a color top coat.


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## Chuberchuckee (Mar 12, 2009)

Lux Aeterna said:


> [..]But I don't really care what the inside looks like, which should be the only place the pieces grind up against each other.[...]



Ah, but don't underestimate the power of your fingers. Just solving the painted cube over and over again will also wear off the paint on the outside. Then you'll have to paint it again.


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## Unknown.soul (Mar 12, 2009)

The inverse (white plastic turned black) has been done to a V7: http://twistypuzzles.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=10974&p=123222


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## Kiel0 (Mar 13, 2009)

What about using vinyl dye? It is designed to stain the plastic and won't chip or flake off. I use to use in a long time ago on yellowing white plastic...(Somewhere I have a bright blue VIC-20 computer...)

Just google "vinyl dye" and you should find lots of places to get it.


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## Lux Aeterna (Mar 13, 2009)

Kiel0 said:


> What about using vinyl dye? It is designed to stain the plastic and won't chip or flake off. I use to use in a long time ago on yellowing white plastic...(Somewhere I have a bright blue VIC-20 computer...)
> 
> Just google "vinyl dye" and you should find lots of places to get it.



Thanks, this looks to be exactly what I'm looking for. I probably won't get around to trying this for another month or so, but I'll post pictures when I do in case anyone else is thinking about doing something like this.


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## amostay2004 (Mar 13, 2009)

I'm confused. Are you trying to colour the black plastic white (from your title) or to colour the white plastic black (which you seem to express in your sentences)?.

Oh well, not that it makes any difference I guess...


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## Lux Aeterna (Mar 13, 2009)

amostay2004 said:


> I'm confused. Are you trying to colour the black plastic white (from your title) or to colour the white plastic black (which you seem to express in your sentences)?.
> 
> Oh well, not that it makes any difference I guess...



Oops... not sure how I made such an egregious typo. I mean dyeing white plastic black. Mods, can you change the title of the thread? I don't see a button to edit that. Sigh.


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## Pietersmieters (Mar 13, 2009)

Lux Aeterna said:


> amostay2004 said:
> 
> 
> > I'm confused. Are you trying to colour the black plastic white (from your title) or to colour the white plastic black (which you seem to express in your sentences)?.
> ...



Off topic: I like Lux Aeterna (song) so much!!!


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