Its no secret that I love Black Couplings and I have been fortunate to source black plastic regular Hook and Couplers but I also wanted the odd styled white couplers in black also. The big 'Push' hook/couplers and the longer couplers that are commonly found on the DD51's and DE10 Diesels are what I desired too. Painting or using a permanent marker which just laid a thin layer on the outside of the plastic always easily chipped or rubbed off showing the white underneath. Until now I have had to live with the white ones...until now because I have successfully Dyed these Black.
Rit Dye makes a product that is for synthetics acrylics and some plastics. https://www.ritdye.com/type/dyemore-for-synthetics/
Strange thing about this Dye More for Synthetics is there is no Black. Thankfully they have a recipe chart for mixing to get the colors you want. The recipe are also divided into the size are what you are dyeing. I used the recipe for dyeing Buttons. For black I had to use...
10 Teaspoons Graphite
1 Teaspoon Racing Red
½ Teaspoon Sapphire Blue
I used a cheap Dollar store pot and utensils pictured below. I made some hangars out of sturdy Clothes hangar wire to suspend the items in the dye and to keep them off the bottom of the pot where it is much hotter with more chance of disfiguring the plastic.
My first test with a regular hook and coupler came out great but the hook seemed to have swelled a tiny bit as the 'T' part was hard to fit into the slot on the train. The hook was also somewhat softened in the hook area. Still able to use but not perfect. The coupler was perfect. Also I must add the the heavier Push Hooks were not affected at all.
Its important to note that the second Test I tried the heat at a lower setting but the parts did not fully become black so the heat is important. My success came at a temperature just below boiling for an hour
and as you can see came out pure black. I also tested the finish and it wouldn't rub off and I had to use a file to grind off the black to reveal the white under the dyed plastic. Off course the true test will be the constant running of trains with these dyed couplers to see how long they will last but as of now I think there won't be any problems.
![[Image: DSCN0091.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/TLct90FK/DSCN0091.jpg)
![[Image: DSCN0094.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/LhNygyj7/DSCN0094.jpg)
![[Image: DSCN0099.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/5QNnkvWn/DSCN0099.jpg)
![[Image: DSCN0114.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/jCsg5VnP/DSCN0114.jpg)
Rit Dye makes a product that is for synthetics acrylics and some plastics. https://www.ritdye.com/type/dyemore-for-synthetics/
Strange thing about this Dye More for Synthetics is there is no Black. Thankfully they have a recipe chart for mixing to get the colors you want. The recipe are also divided into the size are what you are dyeing. I used the recipe for dyeing Buttons. For black I had to use...
10 Teaspoons Graphite
1 Teaspoon Racing Red
½ Teaspoon Sapphire Blue
I used a cheap Dollar store pot and utensils pictured below. I made some hangars out of sturdy Clothes hangar wire to suspend the items in the dye and to keep them off the bottom of the pot where it is much hotter with more chance of disfiguring the plastic.
My first test with a regular hook and coupler came out great but the hook seemed to have swelled a tiny bit as the 'T' part was hard to fit into the slot on the train. The hook was also somewhat softened in the hook area. Still able to use but not perfect. The coupler was perfect. Also I must add the the heavier Push Hooks were not affected at all.
Its important to note that the second Test I tried the heat at a lower setting but the parts did not fully become black so the heat is important. My success came at a temperature just below boiling for an hour
and as you can see came out pure black. I also tested the finish and it wouldn't rub off and I had to use a file to grind off the black to reveal the white under the dyed plastic. Off course the true test will be the constant running of trains with these dyed couplers to see how long they will last but as of now I think there won't be any problems.
![[-]](https://www.blueplastictracks.org/images/collapse.png)