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Dykem steel red and blue not drying consistent

plastikdreams

Diamond
Joined
May 31, 2011
Location
upstate nj
Lately I've been having issues with dykem not drying consistent on aluminum and steel, I've tried smooth facemilled rough end mill and scuffed with Emory. Acetone cleaned and denat alcohol too...anyone else have these issues?

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That looks like what auto painters call "fish eye". Generally caused by not clean enough or left over abrasives on the surface, silicone is especially bad and hard to get rid of. Can't say I get that when I use Dykem.

Ed.
 
I agree with Ed. That's always a cleaning issue. I use acetone too, but even with that you may have to swap or fold the towel, cloth etc and go over it twice or more to get a good cleaning. In my experience, a shiny surface is not an impediment to Dykem (I use the aerosol) if it is really clean.
 
I agree with Ed. That's always a cleaning issue. I use acetone too, but even with that you may have to swap or fold the towel, cloth etc and go over it twice or more to get a good cleaning. In my experience, a shiny surface is not an impediment to Dykem (I use the aerosol) if it is really clean.

Yeah it's only the last few months I've had the issue, maybe I'll do some experimenting at tomorrow. I remember it used to almost look like anodizing. Probably operator error lol
 
Shake the can once in a while. I had problems with the blue that was solved by shaking the can. I generally use red because it seems to me that red goes on evenly as opposed to blue.
 
I've had to add a little denatured alcohol to old layout die to thin it down a little bit so it will dry better.
 
Lately I've been having issues with dykem not drying consistent on aluminum and steel, I've tried smooth facemilled rough end mill and scuffed with Emory. Acetone cleaned and denat alcohol too...anyone else have these issues?

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This is not a "new" problem. First try a known-uncontaminated container (I use a dauber as often as a spray, so YMMV).

Otherwise, your surface is almost certainly contaminated with something residual, and hard to get off - Silicones one of the worst, but not-only. Waxes and emulsifiers and their modifiers in coolants, too. Even fingerprints after eating tasty-gummy "dried" friut. Think vegetable oils, Glycerin, etc.

Try Xylol / Xylene or the Toluene-ish ready-mix widely sold for clearing graffiti and painting mistakes - "Goof Off".

You may need two steps, different solvents - even hot water and a touch of surfactant or caustic - until you figure out what it is and how it is getting there, hopefully stop it at the source going forward.

Smooth surface is not an issue. No abrasives needed. Try your Dykem on a clean mirror or window glass. If it didn't coat, they couldn't sell it. We'd DIY artificial bird shit or use one of the lesser-known, and often cheaper brands. Which DO work, also, BTW. DAMHIKT.

3 colours worth. It's "Made in the USA" (not-only, but at least not "Pee Are Sea" China..) ... product-patriotic!

:D
 
We bought staining fluid once by accident...it's like paint.

No joke, there are actual paints that work a treat in a pinch as a substitute, white Dykem sub especially. Thin, even, coat, fast dry, good adhesion, and even clean scribe lines.

Downside is what with a protective nature and more (also protective) pigment, they can be a right bitch to REMOVE, relative to Dykem, hence costlier, overall, even if the paint was leftover, AKA "free"!

DAMHIKT!
 
Well today when I go in I'm going to apply these suggestions and see what happens. I've resorted to using a sharpie magnum marker for marking, it has its advantages but it's one major disadvantage is on really smooth surfaces it tends to rub off a bit.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far!
 
Guess I wasn't cleaning it enough.

To be fair.. Acetone has taken-over lots of the roles of "older" solvents as their serious nastiness has become better understood. Deadly "Carbon Tet" was still in use in my youth, carburettors routinely cleaned with "wood alcohol" in an open washbasin pan with a chip-brush, bare hands.

Trichlor replaced the Carbon Tet, was thought to be so safe we scrubbed coal dust and paint off our bodies, swabbed the floors of an Oxygen plant with ordinary GI string mops of it, washed our uniforms in it to prevent oil build up MOST unwanted anywhere near pure O2, read "explosive human torch".

And then? Many, many 55 Gal drums of it later, they ban Trichlor by the tiny half-ounce for cleaning typewriters as it causes brain cancer? And here I am on PM?

:D

Meanwhile, back in the shop... Acetone is one of the few we actually produce small amounts of within our own bodies, so it is at least "thought to be" one we are equipped by nature to better shed, metabolize, or neutralize, with lower risk of damage.

While it is not a BAD solvent, neither is it exactly a "great" one for all common contaminants.

Ignorant WATER is actually the nearest most "universal" of solvents known. It makes sense to use it when we can because it takes very little added chemistry, sometims nothing more than HEAT, to get it to do all manner of useful stuff with a higher degree of safety than hydrocarbon solvents, even if the residue wants special handling.

Being nearly full 75 years into careless use of chemicals - Trichlor only one of many - and "statistically" already f**ked up well beyond "dead", several times over, and "too long" ago, I still use what I have always used, whatever best suits the need.

That's not the same as a "recommendation", I AM a lot more CAREFUL at it at least.

"Brake Cleaner" seems to have become the first "go-to" on PM? Would you believe I only use on... ta da.. brakes? And even then, sparingly. Very! And "not always", even so.

YMMV but "more care and planning, fewer chemicals, aerosols least of all" seems wise as well as frugal.
 
Try a Blue Sharpie next time

I do that now, I have a couple blue magnums. As I said earlier my only problem is it rubs off easily, especially with cutting fluids. But I do often use it especially when I'm in a hurry.

OK. I'll bite. How d'yah make a BLUE sharpie lay on a RED dye?

I'd guess lies to pollsters, so may of 'em are wannabee "reds" in a different sense but - different flavour of circus animal acts, up in the great North Woods - so y'all don't even have Democrat and Republican parties anyway, do yah?

Yah.. and you are the better for it, PET French bread "True Dough" for a PM or not.

Guess you'd have to know your fizzy cola's?

:D

You get a red sharpie :)
 
I do that now, I have a couple blue magnums. As I said earlier my only problem is it rubs off easily, especially with cutting fluids. But I do often use it especially when I'm in a hurry.



You get a red sharpie :)

We did. Problem is he'd rather play an arsehole than lie down and bleed dry most days.

Bigger problem is it seems to be doing the average citizen more good than harm.
The issue to follow is that we have always been in national SURPLUS of arseholes.
Going to be a right bitch telling 'em apart, going forward.

You know dogs?

Whole country could "come to a bad end" off the back of suspicious cold-nosing?

Guess we earned that. Long as they are sniffing each other they ain't shagging we chik'ns, so we'll just have to make the best of that.

:(
 
I am with the Sharpie crowd whenever practical. For anything less than 10 square inches, I don't even bother looking for the cans of Dykem, and for anything 10-25 square inches there's a pretty high hurdle. Just grab a fat chisel-point Sharpie (blue, green, red, or black) from the cabinet and give it a quick manual going over. Instant dry, thin film, nicely transparent (except for black).
 








 
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