I mentioned this technique in another thread but figured that it should have a thread of its own to make it easier to find. I "discovered" this method by accident. I went to dye some shorts that took a hit from a bleach spill. I used a white plastic bucket to hold the dye solution and now the bucket is permanently black. I figured if it worked on one plastic, it should work for other. I needed a way to identify which carto held what and labels looked soooo cheezy. So i test dyed the small soft cap from a dead carto and it worked. So I went to Walmart and picked up a half dozen different colors of RIT dye liquid. Now all my cartos are color coded.
With this method, you can easily change almost anything e-cig related that is made out of plastic. This can be done to the end caps on cartos to make them more easily identifiable as to what flavor it has without changing the main color of the carto itself. It can also be done to carts. I haven't got any delrin drip tips, but I'm pretty sure it will work on those too.
First, the tools and material.
1) RIT brand fabric dye. Can be found at crafts stores, fabrics stores, Walmarts, and some grocery stores. USE ONLY THE LIQUID DYE. The powder stuff won't work well.
2) Glass container, sized to hold the liquid dye
3) White carts or the mouthpiece cap from a carto.
4) Microwave
5) Alcohol
6) Water
Step one:
Take the glass container (I used a shot glass) and pour the RIT dye and water into it in a 2:1 ratio. Two part dye to one part water. Mix well.
Step two:
Place dye solution into microwave for 30-45 seconds. It should be steaming when you take it out. It needs to be near boiling hot.
Step three:
Drop the carto cap or cart into the solution and let it set for about 20 mins. It also tends to help if you cover the container to keep the heat in. Make sure the parts going into the solution are clean and dry to insure that the dye takes evenly.
Step four:
Remove the parts from the solution and rinse in cold water. Examine the color. If it's not dark enough, reheat the solution and replace the parts into it. Repeat until the color is where you want it to be. If the color is good, set it aside for 10-15 mins.
Step five:
Wash the parts in hot water with dish soap. Rinse well and dry.
Step six:
Wipe dry parts down with an alcohol soaked cloth or paper towel. If you see dye transfered to the towel, the dye solution is too watery or wasn't hot enough. Redo using more heat and less water in the solution. This happened to me with the green RIT dye on a plastic cup. If done correctly and after it's been well washed and dryed, it should not bleed any color when using an alcohol wipe.
The reason I say to use white carts and carto caps is due to the nature of the dye. You can't dye a black cart red or blue. White carts allow you to dye them any color you like. I have my carto end caps dyed to match the flavors inside; red for cinnamon, green for menthol, black for tobacco, etc. I also dyed white ego XL carts to match the color of the devices; Blue for the blue ego, red for the red. Unfortunately there is no silver, but gray doesn't look to bad. If you want pink or gray, just use red or black dye and lessen the soak time. The longer you leave them in hot solution, the darker they get.
Do not use this for ego cartos. You don't want to vape dye. So far I haven't had any of the dye leach out into the juices I use, so I don't think that will be an issue. As long as it can stand up to an alcohol wipe down without transferring to the wipe, I doubt there would be any trouble.
I haven't tried this with other manufacturers dyes so I can't tell you if another brand would work. Don't get the dye on your skin because it takes forever to wash it off.
Good luck and I hope this is of use to someone out there.
With this method, you can easily change almost anything e-cig related that is made out of plastic. This can be done to the end caps on cartos to make them more easily identifiable as to what flavor it has without changing the main color of the carto itself. It can also be done to carts. I haven't got any delrin drip tips, but I'm pretty sure it will work on those too.
First, the tools and material.
1) RIT brand fabric dye. Can be found at crafts stores, fabrics stores, Walmarts, and some grocery stores. USE ONLY THE LIQUID DYE. The powder stuff won't work well.
2) Glass container, sized to hold the liquid dye
3) White carts or the mouthpiece cap from a carto.
4) Microwave
5) Alcohol
6) Water
Step one:
Take the glass container (I used a shot glass) and pour the RIT dye and water into it in a 2:1 ratio. Two part dye to one part water. Mix well.
Step two:
Place dye solution into microwave for 30-45 seconds. It should be steaming when you take it out. It needs to be near boiling hot.
Step three:
Drop the carto cap or cart into the solution and let it set for about 20 mins. It also tends to help if you cover the container to keep the heat in. Make sure the parts going into the solution are clean and dry to insure that the dye takes evenly.
Step four:
Remove the parts from the solution and rinse in cold water. Examine the color. If it's not dark enough, reheat the solution and replace the parts into it. Repeat until the color is where you want it to be. If the color is good, set it aside for 10-15 mins.
Step five:
Wash the parts in hot water with dish soap. Rinse well and dry.
Step six:
Wipe dry parts down with an alcohol soaked cloth or paper towel. If you see dye transfered to the towel, the dye solution is too watery or wasn't hot enough. Redo using more heat and less water in the solution. This happened to me with the green RIT dye on a plastic cup. If done correctly and after it's been well washed and dryed, it should not bleed any color when using an alcohol wipe.
The reason I say to use white carts and carto caps is due to the nature of the dye. You can't dye a black cart red or blue. White carts allow you to dye them any color you like. I have my carto end caps dyed to match the flavors inside; red for cinnamon, green for menthol, black for tobacco, etc. I also dyed white ego XL carts to match the color of the devices; Blue for the blue ego, red for the red. Unfortunately there is no silver, but gray doesn't look to bad. If you want pink or gray, just use red or black dye and lessen the soak time. The longer you leave them in hot solution, the darker they get.
Do not use this for ego cartos. You don't want to vape dye. So far I haven't had any of the dye leach out into the juices I use, so I don't think that will be an issue. As long as it can stand up to an alcohol wipe down without transferring to the wipe, I doubt there would be any trouble.
I haven't tried this with other manufacturers dyes so I can't tell you if another brand would work. Don't get the dye on your skin because it takes forever to wash it off.
Good luck and I hope this is of use to someone out there.
