Tinting a visor question

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Eopie Herder

Sr Member

• Jun 6, 2012

• #1

I'm trying to tint a visor for an airsoft helmet, and it's concave. Any tips on how to accomplish this? It's this visor...

Any help would be appreciated!

 

Ozymandius

Sr Member

RPF PREMIUM MEMBER

• Jun 6, 2012

• #2

I've read that Rit dye is often used to tint plastics. I'm planning on using the same thing to tint some visors soon myself.

 

epilepticsquirl

Sr Member

• Jun 6, 2012

• #3

I've used NiteShades to some degree of success.

 

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Wes R

Legendary Member

• Jun 6, 2012

• #4

I know they said rit dye for model kit windshields but i never got it to work right.

 

Ozymandius

Sr Member

RPF PREMIUM MEMBER

• Jun 6, 2012

• #5

The powdered Rit dye is suppossed to work better than the liquid stuff.

 

Tim Allen

Sr Member

• Jun 6, 2012

• #6

I've used nightshades before but tinted my cars taillights with it so I can't contest to the visability quality.

 

DaddyfromNaboo

Master Member

RPF PREMIUM MEMBER

• Jun 6, 2012

• #7

Look here :

http://www.therpf.com/f9/daft-punk-interstella-helmet-wip-97512/

 

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Eopie Herder

Sr Member

• Jun 6, 2012

• #8

Thanks for the suggestions, I'm going to give the dye bath a try. But, in that thread he was doing it green...will black work the same way?

And, just so I can make an informed decision before dying, what are NightShades?

I may pick up a few extra visors to try stuff out on, I certainly appreciate all the suggestions!

 

Supa troop

Sr Member

RPF PREMIUM MEMBER

• Jun 6, 2012

• #9

plasticoat Tint spray is the best ive used

 

epilepticsquirl

Sr Member

• Jun 6, 2012

• #10

Night shades is a spray on tint; the can typically looks like this:

Typically used in automotive applications:

Like anything preparation and patience is key to getting an even shiny look. :thumbsup

This was tinted with Night-Shades

 

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Eopie Herder

Sr Member

• Jun 6, 2012

• #11

epilepticsquirl said:

Like anything preparation and patience is key to getting an even shiny look. :thumbsup

This was tinted with Night-Shades

Click to expand...

That is exactly the look I'm going for...what's the visibility with that?

 

epilepticsquirl

Sr Member

• Jun 6, 2012

• #12

I personally haven't gone that dark; but I imagine it'd be like having on dark glasses at night.

 

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Eopie Herder

Sr Member

• Jun 6, 2012

• #13

Awesome, thank you! I'm going to try that out. If it doesn't let me have some vision, I'll dye another one.

 

BLACKULA727

Active Member

RPF PREMIUM MEMBER

• Jun 7, 2012

• #14

Hey guys, I'll give my two cents. I've used both methods. I've stopped using Nite shades due to terrible visibility. The RIT dye bath is the way to go. Also, Oz is correct. the powder is what you want to use. From my experince, the more dye you have in the bath, the faster it absorbs into the visor. Also, the more heat, the faster it absorbs too. I tend to use a lot of dye and lower heat to reduce warping on the visors. WHen I dye visor, I use 4 to 5 packs of black RIT dye in a stainless steel pot (I think its a 12 quart, I'll check tonight). I'm normally dying PETG. I wish I could tell you the temps, but I just know when it's right and I use the knobs to keep the temp where I want it. It also depends on the type of plastic you're dying and the thickness.

 

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Eopie Herder

Sr Member

• Jun 7, 2012

• #15

Do you have any pictures of visors you have tinted? I'd like to see how dark the RIT dye can get it. I'm looking for as black as possible with me still being able to see.

 

Tim Allen

Sr Member

• Jun 7, 2012

• #16

BLACKULA727 said:

Hey guys, I'll give my two cents. I've used both methods. I've stopped using Nite shades due to terrible visibility.

Click to expand...

That's what I was afraid of, it looks awesome on the taillights but the visibility on a visor must be terrrrible!

On a side note have you thought about automotive tint such as this

WINDOW TINTING BANNER SIGN car tint film roll signs auto sun | eBay

You might be even able to take it took a tint shop and they may be willing to do it cheap for you, just a thought

 

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Eopie Herder

Sr Member

• Jun 7, 2012

• #17

I actually bought some 5% Limo tint, and that didn't work. It's concave, so laying the film causes creases and bubbles.

 

BLACKULA727

Active Member

RPF PREMIUM MEMBER

• Jun 8, 2012

• #18

Sorry guys, been a way for a min.

Here is the darkest visor I did

Here are a few other examples

I can get them darker, but I'm afraid on the bubble visors...lol.

Anyways, the hotter the water, the more dye, the faster it absorbs into the plastic. You can get these pretty dark if you want to. Also, I'm pretty sure Volpin is using a dye bath now too. So, its possible to get them really dark. Like I said, I just get to nevous and take them out, or I get to lazy to wait.

Again, these visors were made of PETG plastic. You'll have to test other plastics to see, but I'm pretty sure its possible. I've seen people use the RIT dye technique on motorcycle visors which is a different plastic then PETG.

Also, I've seen people have success on slightly curved visors with auto tint. the method they use is similar to installing it on a cars back window. I believe they take a heat gun and shape it first to by drape forming the tint over the shape. It's a tricky process and I personally know I'm to clumsy to make it work.

Anyways, good luck guys!

Tony

 

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Eopie Herder

Sr Member

• Jun 8, 2012

• #19

That looks pretty cool.

As I had said before, I'm going to grab a few extra visors, I'll do one in a dye bath and one with Night shades. If the visibility sucks, I'll just use it for pics of my costume and use a dyed one for events.

thanks so much for all the great suggestions everyone, I very much appreciate it!

 

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Eopie Herder

Sr Member

• Jun 10, 2012

• #20

I've got four light coats on the visor, and it looks great. Visibility is not great, but I can see. I need to add some clear coats before I polish it, should I use VHT clear, or can I use anything?

I am still going to do the dye bath on one too.