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Tried a search, no results....

any of you riggers out there have any feedback towards dying a container. simple black is the desired result. bought a very nice used container, but it's a bit bright for my local locations.....

I'm only concerned with retaining fabric strength, not so concerned with appearance, so long as it isn't neon anymore.

thanks

just take a big permanent marker and paint it black. it's very helpful if you listen to the rolling stones song 'paint it black' while doing that! it is important that you paint it from the top to the bottom and not the other way. moreover make sure the container bottom is facing to the west as of the rotation of the planet the paint will be looking shit if it's off by a few degrees or painted in the wrong order. also the painting speed is very very important...not too slow and not too fast!
good luck man. it's some hard work you gotta do there. but i think you are professional...you can handle that!
if not...well...buy a brand new white container and try again...even harder!



ah...almost forgot... as we all have learned from our friend the dzh 'ducktape can fix everything'!!!!!! so another possibility is to take a lot of black ducktape cover every bright spot of your rig with it!

http://www.ritdye.com/home.lasso This stuff should do the trick, don't go with the marker idea, the solvents in it can degrade the fabric.

Rit Dye is what most use when Tie Dying, just be sure to rinse well several times in clear water, and expect it to still bleed if you get the thing wet.

get some RIT dye. it is available in powder and liquid. use about double the amount of dye that the instructions say. i use 4 boxes of dye on a rig. use a large pot like one of those turkey cookers and heat the water to 180 degree's F. no hotter, no colder. add all the dye and submerge the rig for 30 minutes. i put a few smaller rocks in the dye bath so the rig will not be directly aginst the hot bottom of the pot. it will try to float so use a rock or something to hold it under. stir a lot every 5 minutes. you may want to soak it for another 30 minutes to get it darker. remove the rig from the dye bath and rinse it very well a couple of times, hang it up to dry. if the rig is dirty at all you will want to wash it before you dye it. i have dyed several rigs and this way works great. you will be impressed with the results.

dyed assembled rigs? mlw and all?

yes, of course remove the risers, canopy, closing loops, and cutaway cables. i checked with a base gear manufacture and got their ok before i dyed the first rig. i have done some research and i don't believe the dye will weaken of hurt the material at all. if anyone has any info that indicates the dye will cause the harness to fail please let me know as i had rather not find out on a jump

just curious, repeat, just curious, has anyone died a canopy before? Im wondering what would happen to the air flow?

 
One of the secrets to dyeing nilon is to add some vineger to the water. It takes better if it's a little acidic. I think the die it self is a little acidic. I don't know if it's enough to be a problem or not. Now dieing the cordura is one thing. It's over strong to beguin with. I can not give a definative answer but I'd be hesatent to die the MLW.
Good question. I think you should look into it a little more. Please share what ever you learn.

Lee

sorry. by assembled i meant stitched up.

i dont know if im comfortable dying anything structural. but im wierd.

I just got second rig. It's red white and blue Evil Knievel looking with stars and all. best to have a dark setup around here and I am considering dyeing it black. My well respected rigger said don't dye it but didn't really give me a reason why. nor did anyone else on this thread but I'm still on the fence about. wonder if all the different colors would have the same shade afterward but more importantly I would hate to screw it up some how. Any one have a reason why dyeing a container shouldn't be done?

Is it one of the old 'Skydive America' sorcerer's?

If it is, just keep it like that for historical thingy whatever I am trying to say.

keep it like that for historical purposes +1

Finding a used black container is cheap & easy.
Canopies are the most expensive part of a rig.

Here is an email response from a gear manufacture I got regarding dyeing.

My email:
Hi, My name is Brad. I just bought a used container with about 170 jumps on it. Its red white and blue and pretty clean. I just noticed in your used gear section you have an all black container on a manikin and you say it was died from white to black. I was wondering if an rig can be dyed or just white ones? if so what is used and where would I get it? does the container need to be dismantled before the process or do you just dye the whole thing?

Manufactors reply:
Hi Brad,
We use Ritz Dye that you can find at Target or other shops alike. Just read the instructions. Typically the results are better if the fabric is white. You can dye the harness and container.
Take care,
*****

So now I'm really considering giving it a try unless one of you guys wants to trade to preserve its historical value yourself? If I dye it I'll post before and after photos to keep any one else from doing it incase it doesn't turn out that well

do a test with cloth of different color and dye that you going to do, some color combination well look worst than before

seems like, I should test with the same material and similar colors as my rig for accurate results. I don't know where to find test pieces and with the dyeing process it wont be possible to test none visible pieces of my gear. any ideas? The other thing is it doesn't need to be pretty really. not hideous would be nice but I'm really just looking to darken the thing up as its really set up for attention and that wont work well around here

any ideas?

Post a pic of how it looks now...

That way someone might know
whether it is worth preserving
or NickDG can chime in with
a story of its origins.

is it the rig I sold you? If so, dont dye it!!!! The historical factor is that I jumped it!!! Nah, do what you want, but I always liked it because it was different. And you can sing the Team America theme song on the way to the exit point!!

Found this thread from a few years ago and was wondering:

parasd, did you ever dye your rig? If so, what was the outcome?

Or any other personal experiences...

Thanks

 
Apparently this works, I’ve received several messages from users here confirming that it does.

Thanks for the information guys.

I’ll take some photos of the before and after shots and let you know how my experience with it goes.

Here’s some information that my friend sent me, who also is a rigger, for future jumpers that might want to do the same.

"Yo Ammon

Yes RIT dye is what you need .The trick for it to really '' grab '' on cordura is the temperature of the water and the mix .

So I use 2 boxes of powder or 1 bottle of the liquid RIT ( my 1st choice ) for about 2 to 3 gallons of hot water at 150 F .

The temp is important for 2 things, the dye grabs more the hotter the water but too hot and you beat up the cordura too much so 150 is perfect .

BUT my past experience is that the harness shrinks just a tiny bit when you do this so if it already a tight fit, go at 120 F.

The recipe : 2 to 3 gallons of water at 150 F for 20 minutes or 120 F for 30 minutes .
Rinse in cold water until no more excess dye run out and hang to dry in the shade so it dries nice and slow
When almost dry , spray a thin coat of '' scotch guard '' and kind of massage it in the fabric .

I use a big crock pot on the stove top and candy thermometer to check the temp . Make sure the stove top is off before putting the rig in the soup and put a lid to keep it hot, as long as possible .

The resulting color will probably not be solid black but more of a darkish maroon like because you start with orange. I’m almost tempted to say use NAVY BLUE dye, it's a stronger dye for some reason and it might end up darker looking..."

 
Great results... here's a photo of before and after.

C ya!

Looks good Ammon and yeah no worries about it holding up i'm sure. I ordered an ass ton of 24" spectre quickdraws (rock climbing webbing for those who don't know) a few years ago because they were on a sweet deal. When they showed up they were all pink! Slapped those bitches in the rit dye and had a colorful assortment when I was done.

Been whipping on them for a while now and i'm still alive. Party on!

Did the embroidery on the yoke not dye, or did you colour it in after the fact?

Anyone tried to dye certain parts of a container without disassembling, and without the dye bleeding over? In other words, could you dye just the pin-cover flap, or side flaps of a container at the seams, or do you need to do the entire thing?

It didn't hold the dye as much

Just tried this on my old purple Wizard, and didn't get nearly as good of results as you got. The whole thing is kind of muted now, but definitely not what you'd call dyed. Interestingly enough, the embroidery on the yoke of mine didn't hold dye at all either. I think it has something to do with the fact that the thread is probably just some synthetic embroidery thread, and synthetics don't take dye.