Painting Propeller Tips Red

[Rustynuts]

I am going to try it this weekend with some prop guards I have but never used and some old chewed up FC40 props that came with a crashed copter I bought. I have read that on parts that don't like to take the dye to add acetone to the water but only up to 30% max but really don't like that thought on props.

#1... Did you get the crashed FC40 off e-bay from MS ? :?
#2... I use acetone a lot and will not let that stuff near any plastic whatsoever !! Have seen it just eat it ! Take a small jar with some and drop a piece of plastic in it and leave it for awhile :shock:

#1...No got it from a friend after his first flight
#2...I alos work with a lot of solvents including Acetone. From what videos I have watched about dying, it always mentions to add the acetone to very hot (just removed from boiling) and it should bubble when added. I am guessing that in doing this, the hot water is actually evaporating solvent in the Acetone yet leaving something to make the plastic take the dye better....who knows I am far from a chemist. No big deal to try, they are toasted props. From what I have read, most dyed Phantom parts take it with nothing but Rit dye and water....I will see what happens.

 

[Larry L]

Well in my infinite experience with balancing props, I have to add this; To dye or not to dye, that is the

What about masking props and painting them while they are spinning? Wouldn't you get a more even distribution of paint/weight?

I'm thinking that's about a half cents worth of info.

Do it outside as I think painting them while spinning will definitely distribute paint evenly on to everything around you

 

[paulgrenga]

I used a Sharpie to "paint" my forward prop tips red and my rear prop tips green. Worked fine, no difference in performance. You can only see the "rings" at low and close altitudes though. "Painting" the bottom is obviously more important than painting the top of the props (unless you're somehow flying below your home point). The colored DJI props (which I have) only are colored on the tops.

 

[gunslinger]

Well in my infinite experience with balancing props, I have to add this; To dye or not to dye, that is the

What about masking props and painting them while they are spinning? Wouldn't you get a more even distribution of paint/weight?

I'm thinking that's about a half cents worth of info.

Do it outside as I think painting them while spinning will definitely distribute paint evenly on to everything around you

I would think a brown paint would be appropriate for this particular application...

-slinger

 

[PhantomFanatic]

Well I just had to try this with a Sharpie and masking tape . Instead of taking 4 I should have just done 1 to see how it did cause after I peeled all the tape off all the props the sharpie colors had run under the tape :roll: and that color is hard to get off :lol: So I tried scotch tape doing one color at a time and better this time . Still not just right but as right as they gonna get :lol: These were old ones and just wanted to try this. I did balance them before I did this and checked them after and they had stayed balanced . Sure fire way to kill an afternoon and cuss a lot though :lol: Now I think I will leave them white from now on !

Did you use painters tape?

 

[PhantomFanatic]

I am going to try it this weekend with some prop guards I have but never used and some old chewed up FC40 props that came with a crashed copter I bought. I have read that on parts that don't like to take the dye to add acetone to the water but only up to 30% max but really don't like that thought on props.

Looks like I'll be doing it too! But, Although Green isn't appealing to me, I want the right rotors in Green and the left rotors in Red, so they will be like navigation lights used on planes. For night flying, I also use Red and Green strobes, one on each arm.

Let's soak them in nuclear 'stuff' so they will glow real bright! Now, there is a brilliant idea! Gotta go to Wally World and look in the nuclear section.

 

[Green_Phantom]

Alright, so I went and picked up red and green RIT dye. Going to do this to an old set of OXOXO props I stopped using. I'll be taking pictures along the way.

 

[Larry L]

Alright, so I went and picked up red and green RIT dye. Going to do this to an old set of OXOXO props I stopped using. I'll be taking pictures along the way.

I hope it works out. Looking forward to see results.

 

[Rustynuts]

So, I finally got around to trying the Rit Dye this evening. My trademark color is Orange, so I went with "Tangerine" Rit Dye. I had 3 old original props from my FC40, a set of once used 9443 props and the cell phone clip off of a TX and 2 prop guards with Shapeways snap on connectors. Right away, I could tell there was a difference in plastic on the FC40 props and the phone clip, they were slick and slightly shiny. The 9443 props, prop guards and Shapeways connectors all had a slight texture to them. I found a glass pan that everything would fit in poured the Rit powder in the pan and started boiling up some water. I did have the parts soaking in hot tap water after cleaning all the parts off with a magic eraser to remove a few stains....I though that soaking them in hot water might open up pores or something like that, well it sounded good anyway. added the boiling water to a warmed glass cake pan that had the powder in it and stirred it up and gently placed all the parts in at once and let them soak for 15 minutes. Took them out and started rinsing them with warm water, right away the FC40 props and phone clip, the dye washed right off and just the edges here and there were slightly stained. The rest of the parts that had a texture to them took the dye great, the Shapeway parts came out a little lighter than the guards but not much. Being the landing gear and shell are a slick shiny plastic my guess would be that a dye would not take, maybe one evening next week I will try adding the Acetone like some videos show to see what happens on those old FC40 props......stay tuned!

Also, I was thinking about making a hanger to hold the prop tips in a dye solution and do the tips in Black to see what that looks like.

 

[Green_Phantom]

Pretty much what mine did. I tried to do the tips in the top cover of a CD spindle filled only as far as I wanted the red line to go. The XOXOXO props took the dye pretty well, but you REALLY have to be careful. Any movement of the dye at all, and you're not going to get that really nice clean line. That being said, don't get the props all the way up against the edge because the water/dye mix will try to climb up between the prop and the container. My phone's at work, and with it the pictures. There's really nothing to see that the guy above me hasn't already posted.

 

[Larry L]

Great job Rusty. I bet red & green props would look cool

 

[Happyflyer]

Since I had some old rotors, I thought Purple and Golden Yellow would be just fine. :lol:
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With the strobes and lights if it lands in someone's yard they will think it came from outer space.

 

[Larry L]

Since I had some old rotors, I thought Purple and Golden Yellow would be just fine. :lol:
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With the strobes and lights if it lands in someone's yard they will think it came from outer space.

That does look good. I guess I will have to stain the wife's counters :shock:

 

[nelly]

Did mine in blk/ylw

 

[Happyflyer]

...That does look good. I guess I will have to stain the wife's counters :shock:

Thanks.
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Oh, NO! Use the laundry tub!

 

[JJM]

So everyone is having good luck with the rit dye, right?

 

[JJM]

How long do the props need to stay submersed?

 

[Rustynuts]

I did mine for 15 minutes

 

[Happyflyer]

How long do the props need to stay submersed?

I used an old plastic ice cube holder for mine. Put about a 1/2 teaspoon of dye in and poured in small pan of boiling water. Dropped rotors(props)in and wiggled them for about a minute then poured in a small amount of cold water. Was worried the hot water may warp the rotors. Let them set for 1/2 an hour, pulled them out and rinsed them off and dried. Did this in the laundry tub.
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Nelly,
They look good. Match the rest of your color scheme.

 

[Larry L]

How long do the props need to stay submersed?

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Nelly,
They look good. Match the rest of your color scheme.

They sure do.