Hydro-dipping gear?

[Hoag]

Hey Jack...

The common practice of hydro dipping I've seen is to fill a container/drum with water and use ''rattle cans'' to spray multi colors on top of the water and then dip the object being ''painted'' through the paint scum until the object is covered and then remove...

Common use ''spray bombs'' use highly volatile hydro-carbon solvents such as toluene...butane...heptane...and others...all highly detrimental to plastics...

Best...

Warren

Perhaps for crude DIY hydro-dipping, but normally it is done with a sheet of water soluble material that provides the pattern. There are some pretty complex patterns available that could not be duplicated simply by using "'rattle cans' to spray multi colors on top of the water and then dip the object being 'painted' through the paint scum until the object is covered and then remove..."

The one variable that I am not sure of is the spray-on activator. I do not know if it uses a solvent or not. I do know, however, that people have dipped motorcycle helmets so I wouldn't think that it has a solvent or it would have the potential to compromise the integrity and the protection of the helmet.

 

[JohnnyC]

Hey Jack...

The common practice of hydro dipping I've seen is to fill a container/drum with water and use ''rattle cans'' to spray multi colors on top of the water and then dip the object being ''painted'' through the paint scum until the object is covered and then remove...

Common use ''spray bombs'' use highly volatile hydro-carbon solvents such as toluene...butane...heptane...and others...all highly detrimental to plastics...

Best...

Warren

That is NOT the "common" practice of hydro-dipping. That's some ghetto redneck way that no real water transfer printer would ever consider even thinking about doing.

The real stuff, even the cheap DIY kits, use a soluble substrate that floats the paint on the surface of the water due to surface tension.

The activator is the iffy stuff: http://hydro-vator.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/B11761sds.pdf

 

[W W Meixner]

That is NOT the "common" practice of hydro-dipping. That's some ghetto redneck way that no real water transfer printer would ever consider even thinking about doing.

The real stuff, even the cheap DIY kits, use a soluble substrate that floats the paint on the surface of the water due to surface tension.

The activator is the iffy stuff: http://hydro-vator.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/B11761sds.pdf

Hey Johnny...thanks...

Never had an interest in this method of color application...therefore never investigated application variances...

I like the good old ghetto redneck black scuba gear...and the thought of leaving ''well enough alone''...

Besides I'm of the generation where paint came in a can...and a portable phone was for making a phone call...

Best...

Warren

 

[Sam Miller III]

Deleted
Too Historical for modern divers

 

[Johnoly]

...that has a patch of ''bondo'' under the ''re-finish'' hiding a big dent in the tank...

If you ever get a picture of this can you post it up here. I've seen some wild stuff with tanks, but this would set a new level of head scratching.

 

[D_Fresh]

Today, both commercial and DIY hydrographics is done with print on a water soluble paper-like substrate. The aerosol used is to help the paper dissolve and the print to adhere to the dipped object. A clear coat is often applied to protect the graphic. It's really amazing how well complex patterns like carbon fiber can transfer without flaws; everything is nice and aligned. The process is safe for wood, fiberglass, plastics, and metals. But the big question is what about rubber? Will it stick, and for how long, considering the flex....?

I have seen DIY guitar dips using acrylic paints from bottles (not rattle can), and the results are pretty cool. I suppose that could be tried in this case as the investment would be low. But it only allows for swirly like designs, there is very little control over the final product.

 

[W W Meixner]

If you ever get a picture of this can you post it up here. I've seen some wild stuff with tanks, but this would set a new level of head scratching.

Hey John...

This was a tank that was specially prepped by the instructor...to get the students thinking...during the ''practical application'' part of the training program...

The tank was professionally prepared on the outside so it looked really nice...and the dent was high enough up on the collar that you needed the ''dental mirror'' to see the dent on the inside...

He had another 3AL-80 cylinder that had been drilled...tapped and had a bolt inserted through the hole...again...refinished on the outside...and ''visually'' undetectable...it was also up high...you needed the dental mirror to see the bolt from the inside...and you had to have a good look...a less than vigilant inspection would miss it...

He also had a couple steel cylinders that had been cut into two full length slices...these tanks were used to check interior bottom tank pitting using a s/s probe rod...by touch and feel the students estimated whether the pitting was deep enough to fail the tanks...

After the students ''guesstimate'' the tape holding the two halves together was removed...and the pits were measured with a depth gauge...

You take all these good things away after the course...I follow through to the letter...

For divers never exposed to cylinder servicing...the number of cylinders that are failed annually for cracked threads and deep gouges is high...if strict adherence to cylinder servicing protocols by every cylinder servicing technician were followed...that number would be considerably higher...

I refuse to service the old 6351-T6 alloy cylinders...and a lot of our ''high volume'' tourist destination operators...like Tobermory...are no longer filling ''any tanks'' older than 1989...I'm sure a few older tanks slip through during busy periods...but 1989...has become the cutoff...

Best...

Warren