DIY: Custom Prop Colors

[RobertMfromLI]

Hello all,

I figured I'd share a little tip for everyone who wants custom color props. This may especially come in handy for those with 9450 props (that apparently only come in white at the moment).

It's very simple to change your prop colors to a variety of different colors (though not to any color).

• Buy a white plastic prop set. I use the "Genuine DJI" props.
• Buy RIT liquid fabric dye in the color that you want.
• Get a container suitable for disposing when done or suitable for easy cleaning (such as glass). A 10" to 12" cylindrical or square clear glass flower vase works well and minimizes the amount of dye you need.
• Heat or boil some water (be careful if you get a thin walled vase and are using boiling water - fill the vase with the hottest sink water you can first, then empty it, and fill with the boiled (but not STILL boiling) water.
• Assuming you are using a 10" to 12" vase, put about 3oz to 4oz of Rit dye in the vase.
• Stir WELL.
• Stick props in vase.
• Move props around every few minutes (to ensure that all sides get evenly dyed - otherwise, the sides leaning against the vase sides will get less dye).
• Leave in vase for 30-45 minutes (longer if you want - I've left them overnight on occasion).
• Remove when done, rinse with warm water (and of course be careful to not drip dye on anything it will stain).
• Rinse with cool water.
• Let dry.
• ENJOY YOUR NEW COLORFUL PROPS!!!

If you want to stripe them, you can cover the parts you don't want to dye with electrical tape (packaging tape, scotch tape, marking tape, masking tape, etc, does NOT work well for this - the dye causes it to lift, leaving a partially dyed area that's covered with gummy adhesive).

You can even "write" on the props using good quality stick on lettering. Put the lettering on before dying, follow the procedures above, and then carefully pull off the lettering once the props are fully dry.

This will dye the outsides and top layers of the plastic props. What that means is that shallow scratches will be the same (or close to the same) color as what you dyed the rest to. BUT, deeper scratches will expose the white "innards" at the levels the dye did not absorb to.


NOTES:

• The colors will not quite match the bottle color.
• The center area of the DJI 9443 props does not take dye as easily as the rest of the prop area - leave in longer to get somewhat better color absorbency/dying. The DJI 9450 props dye much more evenly.
• Black dye will probably create a dark grey color. Please let me know if you try black.
• The cap nuts will not absorb dye.
• The ESC LED covers will NOT absorb ANY dye whatsoever. Don't bother trying. I was hoping to "tint" them, but 2 days of soaking resulted in absolutely no difference.
• Obviously, this won't work for carbon fiber props.
• Mixing colors results in odd results (mixing the red in my picture with a little green and a lot of black resulted in violet) - have some fun if you're not worried about interesting color results.
  
• I am dying my next set red for front (one CCW and one CW) and green for back (one CCW and one CW) to match the copter lights.

Here are some pics.

 

[N017RW]

Yea.

This is the best way to color plastic stuff without [really] adding any weight and it is permanent too.

Lots of folks have been coloring stuff this way for years. It will work on most plastics and like you say the final color will vary depending on the materials and other composition factors.

 

[Happyflyer]

Discussion on this here.
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=32318

 

[zitrojj]

Thanks for tip just finished tinting mine.

 

[Hammer660]

I know this is a older post but stuff like this make this forum great