Yeah, it will work fine. Just be sure to go slow and use lots of thin, even coats.
Just wanted to share that I painted mine in the cold night (well below the 50-75 deg. on the can) and I let it sit for a day, now it is lookin fine like wine. I never painted anything before, and it came out great. Definitely not professional or anything, but there’s no drips and no darker blotches or anything. Just like Lifeless said, I used thin, light coats and let them dry a bit (2-3 min) in between. Vinyl dye was the way to go.
Has anyone experimented with coloring an arcade stick cord? There may be problems with the dye/paint wearing off, especially with the TE.
Also I’m not sure how the products discussed in this thread react to that specific plastic.
Anyone try it?
Bump. Lots of useful info in here. Gonna try duplicolor on an agetec I have and maybe that turquoise one linked earlier.
Also I have a modded stick that used a decent amount of quikplastik. I’m hoping the vinyl color will stick to that as well (though I think it will).
I’m going to paint my TE Bezel soon with Duplicolor Vinyl Dye (Tuner Blue.) I know – thin, light coats. But, I have three questions:
- How many thin coats should I apply?
- Do I need to prime it or add clear coat?
- How long should I let it dry before I put it back on?
2 or 3 light coats to the Bezel. That should probably cover it fine. Again, take it easy, don’t rush, and don’t overspray!
Priming may not be absolutely necessary depending on the paint you use. I’ve never bothered to do that with painting plastic casing. For wood, it’d probably be better to prime it. Clear coat is NOT necessary unless you want an extra layer of protection (ie, more drying time) and actually want a glossy look to your paint job. I just don’t bother with it.
With the coats you apply, read the instructions on the can for application… It’s usually 5-15 minutes between coats for application. Painting should be done within hour 1. Wait at least a day on a hot, dry weather season before you put the bezel back on the TE. For maximum comfort and safety, I’d seriously wait at least 2 days to a full week of drying before putting the bezel back on. If the temperature is 100-120 degrees and the humidity is below 30% then obviously one day drying will be enough for the Bezel!
(With the Bezel, you can’t paint both sides on the same day… Of course, that depends on IF you want to paint the underside to begin with!)
Again, drying depends on weather. For most of us, painting isn’t an option now because of the snow and high humidity.
For me, it worked well to paint on days this past summer where the temperature was above 80 degrees and the humidity was at or below 65%. Temperature and humidity are the two factors besides spraying the wrong kind of paint and overspraying that will screw up a paint job.
Do not prime anything that has vinyl color/dye in it. It won’t penetrate the plastic correctly.
What makes these “dyes” different is the acetone in them that softens up the plastic, thus promoting adhesion between the plastic and the color layer. Krylon fusion works in much the same way but has less acetone I think. Duplicolor sells an adhesion promoter that works well with the krylon fusion.
I wanted to paint the bezel a glossy black, similar to that of my TE round 2 sides. I noticed Dupli-Color has a gloss black vinyl paint, but would that be all I need for the effect I want or should I also grab a clear coat?
Also, the weather where I’m currently residing is very cold/wet. Should I wait until I go to Florida in a month or so or could I just paint it outside in my garage and then place it in front of my portable tower heater to dry?
IIRC the min working temp is 48 or 55 F. I’d wait.
The vinyl coating won’t give an extremely glossy finish. You’d need clearcoat. Get the duplicolor acrylic laquer. It’s in a blue can. Anything else will make the vinyl coating crack.
where will i find krylon clear coat? any online sites? stores around here are useless
You’re better off doing clear coat with rustoleum glossy clear. I did my TE stick with Krylon colors and it turned out pretty ok, didnt come out as I expected. So I sprayed on that crystal clear triple thick by krylon, it didnt make much of a difference. Maybe because its the wrong clear coat, who knows? So I remembered I had a brand new can of Rustoleum glossy clear and sprayed some on. It was great! People thought it looked fantastic but I wasnt satisifed with the colors. This week I’ll be sanding the TE down again and spraying on some Rustoleum just to see if it turns out alot better. I do have pics if you are interested. Just let me know.
Thanks. I found the Dupli-color acrylic lacquer you mentioned, but there are several colors to choose from. Should I go with the ‘Clear Gloss’, ‘Black Semi-Gloss’, or ‘Black Gloss’ lacquer? I figured I should go with either the clear or black gloss, but I’m not sure which one will give me the results I want or if there would be any difference at all since I’d be painting it black in the first place.
This looks interesting: http://www.duplicolor.com/products/mirage.html
Has anybody had any experience using acrylic lacquer as the color coat? With a little sanding, it looks like it should bond to our TE sticks, as it has been used on bicycle and motorcycle helmets. The 3-step system also looks like it can be applied in one sitting. I might just do a few test runs on some PVC pipe to see how well this works.
Nice guide! Can’t wait to do this on mine 
bump for awesomeness
All right… I painted my bezel. Unfortunately, it’s not going to exceed 50 degrees over the course of the day, so, I don’t know how much drying will actually get done.
where to buy krylon clear coat for plastic
Okay, after the vinyl dye has dried onto the bezel, I can still smell the paint fumes. Should I be alarmed/take the bezel out of my room? Sorry for the dumb question, but this is my first paint job.
i’d like to see, i need a online source to buy this >_> paint stores around here are useless
well duh it needs time to air out, it is paint o-o