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Dyeing Shapeways Puzzle Pieces
George Bell ; June 10th
, 2011 ;[email protected]
http://home.comcast.net/~gibell/
This document refers to dyeing puzzle pieces made from the Shapeways materialknown as White, Strong and Flexible (WSF)or PA 2200, produced by the SLS
(selective laser sintering) method. Other Shapeways materials can also be dyed, but
not all can tolerate boiling water.
I use RIT brand fabric dye, but other fabric dyes are probably similar. RIT dye comes in
both powder and liquid forms. In my experience, there is no difference between the
same color in powder or liquid. However, the liquid form is a bit easier to work with. If
you spill a single grain of the powder, it can lurk undetected in your kitchen until it gets
wet. Most likely it will be your wife who discovers this and then you will have to look for
another place to dye puzzle pieces. You have been warned!
Step 1: Wash the puzzle pieces. This removes surface powder and hand oils whichmay have been absorbed into the pieces (if you have been playing with them). I use
dish soap and warm water, scrubbing each piece vigorously with a toothbrush. Rinse
the pieces and keep them soaking in a bowl of water.
The WSF material is relatively porous and readily absorbs water. If you dye dry puzzle
pieces the color may be uneven. I have had much better luck soaking the pieces in
water for 10 minutes before dyeing. Since it takes almost 10 minutes to heat the water
for dyeing, I let the pieces soak during this time.
Step 2: Heat up the dye bath. I use an old camping pot on the kitchen stove. I use 3to 4 tsp (15 to 20 ml) of liquid dye to 1 liter or quart of water. For the powder dye, use
this amount by volume. It does not seem to matter if you add the dye when the water is
cold or hot. If using powder, be sure to stir thoroughly to dissolve, and do not spill
any. When the dye bath starts to simmer, turn the heat off. You do not want to boil the
Colors (L to R): Lemon Yellow, Fuchsia, Tangerine, Scarlet, Purple, Kelly Green, Royal Blue.
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puzzle pieces (although I have done so with no ill effects). I live at 1650m where the
boiling temperature is 94C. Shapeways suggests a dye bath at a constant 90C.
Step 3: Take the puzzle pieces from the water and put them in the dye bath. They willprobably float, so keep stirring and dunking them down to ensure a uniform color. The
amount of dyeing time varies quite a bit depending on the color. Royal Blue is one ofthe easiest colors to work with, and the pieces should be a nice light blue after only 30
seconds, and will be quite dark blue in 3 to 5 minutes. Lemon Yellow is the slowest. I
use double the amount of dye, and soak them for 15 to 30 minutes.
Step 4: When you like the shade of color, remove the pieces from the dye bath andrinse them in warm water. I let them soak in a pot for 3-5 minutes, refreshing the water
every minute or so. Dump the dye water down the sink.
Step 5: Toss the puzzle pieces back in the soapy water. I have a second toothbrush
and I give the pieces another scrub. The purpose of this step is so that your guests donot have dye coming off in their hands when they are handling your puzzle.
Step 6: Rinse thoroughly and let the pieces soak again for a few minutes. If you see
any dye coming off them (primarily for hollow pieces), keep them soaking. Set on paper
towels to dry. You are done! Hollow pieces may take over 24 hours to dry, you can
speed this up by using a hair dryer.
Colors: The recipe here results invibrant and well saturated colors. Allcolors seem to come out much darker
than indicated on the package. If you
want lighter colors use less dye or work
at a lower temperature (Shapeways
uses a 90C dye bath for at least 20
minutes). Some colors are also easier
to work with than others. The easiest
color to work with is black, which always
comes out perfectly. Green and yelloware tricky, taking longer and/or hard to
keep from becoming too dark. I still
have not found a satisfactory green.
Easy RIT colors: Black, Royal Blue,Royal Blue, Kelly Green, Scarlet,
Lemon Yellow, Tan(!), Purple
http://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/dyeing_slshttp://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/dyeing_slshttp://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/dyeing_slshttp://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/dyeing_slshttp://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/dyeing_slshttp://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/dyeing_slshttp://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/dyeing_slshttp://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/dyeing_slshttp://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/dyeing_slshttp://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/dyeing_slshttp://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/dyeing_sls8/6/2019 Dyeing Shape Ways Puzzle Pieces
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Scarlet, Fuchsia, Tangerine, Purple.
Hard RIT colors: Kelly Green, Lemon
Yellow, Pearl Grey, Tan (last two can
easily become too dark).
Not recommended RIT colors: Teal,
Wine, Dark Green, Navy Blue, Denim
Blue (these come out too dark).
Note: Dyeing a six piece puzzle in 6different colors is a time-consuming
process. This can easily take three
hours! I usually dye several puzzles in parallel.
Note: The WSF material starts out as a fine nylon powder which is fused by a laser,layer by layer. Since Shapeways charges by volume of the fused material, one can
save money by making pieces hollow. One can add holes to let the interior powder
escape, OR add very tiny holes which will fuse over, trapping the powder. If the puzzle
pieces appear solid, they may contain trapped powder. These pieces can be more
difficult to dye, and Shapeways refuses to do it. What can happen is that the dye soaks
into the pieces and then into the powder unevenly, producing a mottled appearance
(yellow in particular seems prone to this problem). If this should happen to you, dont
panic. I have found that once the inside powder dries up, the mottling goes away. The
problem is that this drying out may take many weeks or months. I live in a very dry
place, and it took over a month for the mottling to go away.
Reference: Shapeways describes their dyeing process athttp://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/dyeing_sls
Peanut puzzle pieces dyed at a lower
temperature by Ginda Fischer
http://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/dyeing_slshttp://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/dyeing_slshttp://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/dyeing_sls