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We've all seen this before another perfectly nice worlds tub gone....brown firstly I know what you're thinking, Reggie might need help But there was a reason for me to get this one I spent about 15 hours talking to an anodizer about trying to do something for me for a site project , seems like what I wanted is impossible except if I ship to Japan --anyway this guy was a consultant for anodizing firms and explained to me in great detail the process of strip, clean, ionize, anodize, color and seal. We
didn't talk about what I'm trying but I have a hunch that these chassis were not chemically sealed
after the anodizing, causing a bleaching effect on the color. every place that it was not exposed to air is still absoultly perfect.

So I am currently re-dying this chassis (slowly as not to heat seal it) and will post some results in a while. I have checked it and it's definitely taking the dye


+30 minutes +60 minutes
+120 minutes, but it's 2 am--done for the day, the dye is getting weak and needs to be replaced anyway
Still has another 2 or so hours to go, but so far it looks 500% better than it did--I have a feeling that other than the 1 scratch in the rear it will look NIP by tomorrow!

You are right. I was thinking something, but you needing help wasnt it, haha.

Ironically, that worlds car I showed you that I picked up a few years back hasnt turned brown, although it was a team drivers car, so perhaps it was from a different batch. I picked up 2 from John Remington this past summer, Ill have to check those out too.

Wow, outstanding work - that chassis looks perfect!
What type of dye are you using and are you using any heat? Will it wash off or is it really sinking into the ano? Or is this all being done in the Skunk Werks Dept
I don't have any brown chassis' but I know I will run into one someday...........

looks great! I'd probably heat seal it in the dye, rather than another water bath, if you have a place to heat it safely(not the kitchen stove!), so it doesn't color bleed, and stay nice and jet black.

That came out good, but will it rub off when you touch it (in your case fondle)? What dye did you use and cold or warm water?

How do you heat seal it? Heat gun, boiling water, oven?

I have never seen this before. Very interesting. I second the questions- "What type of dye are you using? Is there any heat? Is the dye actually soaking into the surface, or just sitting on top?

Thanks

After it's completed I'll list the ingredients, but what I think has happened to the original anno is that it was not sealed, ie-the dye was set into the pores of the anodizing but never finished. The dye is, and will only permeate a porous surface (anodized) not raw aluminum or sealed anodizing.
and at this stage it will not rub off, and when properly sealed via chemical or heat (rapidly boiling liquid) it will be locked into the pores or crystal patina that is anodizing. If I remember correctly the heat sealing process "melts" the surface of the crystals and makes a solid surface, chemical sealing is best--but I don't need 5 gallons of sealant

were those tubs milled like that from the factory?

Yup

I can't tell if you're joking or not.

Lowgear wrote:I can't tell if you're joking or not.

So after multiple hours of dying this chassis, here's what I've come up with. The chassis came out great and is solid black-but not worlds chassis black-the worlds hard anno'ed color is black as night
and no matter how long, how hot or intense the dye was it would only get black. Now the black is the same as any NIP nose plate, C stamp tub or motor plate and is very deep and you can only tell the difference in direct sunlight, so I kind of consider this project a half success half failure. If I come across another like this one I may try a commercial dye specific to the aluminum industry and may see different results, don't know-

So if any one is inclined to try this here's how I did it

Clean chassis of any foreign materials, Simple Green is ok and Dawn is good as well
Prepare dye bath with distilled water at a ratio of 4 cups water to 1 pkg of black Rit dye
Pan( I used something similar to a broiler pan) that will cover the entire chassis
Heat dye solution to a temp around 180-190 F ( I went as low as 120 and as high as 200, 180 seemed to provide the best results) Do not go over 212 F until the chassis is properly colored!!
I heated it on the stove top, it's a slow process because of the low dye temp so make sure
you have permission to use the stove for 3-5 hrs.
Once the color you desired has been achieved, you can "heat seal" the chassis in a boiling water
bath, or boiling dye bath--I used the dye bath, but outside on a pair of propane kettle cookers and ran then at around 275 F

Reggie

Great information - thanks for sharing.
Should we expect to see a new avatar picture every day

RC10resto wrote:Great information - thanks for sharing.
Should we expect to see a new avatar picture every day

Not every day, that honor is reserved for underwear

you got magic hands
nice work

And for my next trick............................................... pink to white Believe it or not