Kashimax mx from blue to Black. Been looking for a black seat for months with no luck but bagged this blue one to dye. Came out very good.
Note - not all plastic will dye some seats just wont and you could end up wrecking them. They have to be a nylon plastic and any 80s Kashimax is just that.
Thanks to bendycat for tips also.
So heres the start - I managed to track this one down after a good while it was in fair condition.
First of all prep the seat - clean off any dirt and add something so you can remove it easy while in the dye. I just added these cable ties and its nice and simple.
Now find a big bowl- this wasnt easy to find as with a near foot long seat you need a big bowl. Most cooking pots are just too small so measure seat and take a trip round some shops. I know Tesco do this one , clean bowl out of any mess and fill with clean water so it just covers the seat. Dip the seat in to make sure its all covered.
Now your need 1kg of Table Salt this is added to the water before you start boiling it. Its pretty important you add this as it raises the boiling point of the water. If you think of a madly boiling pot of hot water and black dye flying out over your new kitchen worktops the salt stops this mayhem from happening.
Heres the Rit dye. It comes in a small packet and can be easily found on ebay. They do a big range of colours. You only need one packet and yes it is small.
Now add the salt and the dye into the water and stir it well. You should have a good even mixture.
Now add the seat and turn the temp up high.
Now let it go for 40mins , dont remove the seat just leave it be. The water wont boil but will steam alot just let it do its thing.
Once 40 mins have passed switch off the hob, put some paper down onto the work top and remove seat to paper so not to drip dye on your worktop.
Now should look like this.
Should be a nice even coating of dye all over.
You can see here just how well it works. No damage to the rails either.
Add a decal if you wish to finish it off. I hung the seat up in the shed afyer finishing te dying process and gave it a coating of wd40 and let it soak in. This just helps give it a finish look and almost seals the dye in.
Now I did this at the start of the year and the seat still looks new. I ride the bike a lot too so can report no issue of making my new jeans black on my butt !!!
Hope this will help anyone thinking of doing this. I know there are bits here n there over the net but hope this clears up a few things of why bits are done the way it is.
Dazzer.
