Problems with hydro-dip - Success - With pics

I attempted to try out this hydro-dip thing, and something is definitely not going right. I first tried some lukewarm water. When I dropped the film in, it immediately began to dissolve and curl up on itself. Within a few seconds it was nothing but a mangled mess at the bottom of the tub. I thought maybe the water was too warm, so I tried using cold water. This time the film just seemed to want to sink to the bottom, and after about 30 seconds began the curling up and dissolving again. This is all without any activator in the water, just plain old water.

Can anybody tell me what I'm doing wrong? I'm glad I decided to try it out before cutting off a huge chunk.

Edit: I was submerging the film. No go. Tried again but don't think I let it soak long enough as it didn't do anything. Experiment will continue..

the water needs to be around 95 degrees. Make sure you have the right side up on the film and it needs to float on top of the water.

Here's what I've tried. Side A and B don't refer to anything in particular.

1.) Warm water, Side A up, submerged - no go, sank and started disintegrating.
2.) Cold water, Side A up, submerged - no go, sank and started disintegrating.
3.) Warm water, Side A up, floating, soaked for approx. 60 seconds, sprayed with activator - no go, the film started disintegrating.
4.) Warm water, Side B up, floating, soaked for approx. 60 seconds, sprayed with activator - no go, film immediately dissolved and the ink ran all over (some sank, some ran to the edges of the tub)

Not sure what else to try. When I let the film soak, it started looking all wrinkled and taught, almost like it's drying out, not soaking up. Edges are taped to help it float. WIthout the tape in between the 2nd and 3rd try, the film just sank and wouldn't stay afloat.

This video shows what's happening, but it's happening at a much faster rate, and I'm not getting any actual "dippable film".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glFulhwUMjs&feature=related

I'm using TWN film with Hydro-dip.com activator. It's breaking apart very quickly like the film with the TWN activator in the video, only I'm not getting anything that will allow me to dip.

Edit Again: I'm using small sections, probably 4"x4". I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it, but either way it does not seem like I'm getting any ink transfer to the water that I can dip through.

I'm no expert on it, but have tried it a few times. You have to make sure you have the correct side up and fresh, clean water each time you dip. Make sure you also use a container that is just a little larger than the film or after you apply the activator, it will spread out to the size of the container and ruin it. It could be the activator is not working well with the film. I have heard that twn only recommends their activator with their film, but like in the video you had you can use others. You might try adding less activator as too much will dissolve the film too quickly. Until you get it right, hydro dipping is a real pain to work with.

I think I got it figured it. Will post back.

Edit:

I attempted to dip the stock. It worked, but I didn't take into account that the stock would float. Soooo, I got some double dipping and missed a bit because of trying to un screw myself and get it in the water. It looked killer besides the messed up parts. So, I quickly scrubbed off the print and am going to try it again making sure to push down the stock in the water this time.

I got my cheek riser done. I think I had some bubbles or something because there's some speckles where the pattern didn't pick up. I think it looks really nice though. It's in the oven baking right now, so I'll get pictures later. Only other problem I had was the pattern split a bit at the hard round edges. I watched a few videos on that so I'm sure it's just my technique. I'm real happy with it though. I just hope I can get the stock right the next go around because then I'm out of film.

Edit 2:

Here it is, fresh out of the oven. I think the speckles may be part of the pattern. It's hard to tell. Either way, I think it turned out nicely. You may be able to see the little tears I was talking about. And on the bottom in the corner on one side, I'm not sure if that's a spot that got missed somehow, or if it too was part of the pattern. There's darker parts of the pattern underneath on the edge and also on the lip on the bottom side.

Got the stock done. It turned out pretty decent. For some reason it just didn't cover the top of the rear of the butt stock. But I think it looks ok as is. And since I'm out of film now, I don't have much of a choice now.

The pattern came out a lot darker than I was anticipating, especially since I used an extremely light colored tan (Krylon Almond color.) It's not bad, just darker than I thought it would be.

Stock is in the oven baking right now, so here's a picture of my cell phone case as a teaser for now. The textured look is cause the case was originally a sort of carbon fiber type of look with raised texture. Looks pretty neat now.



Here's the stock hanging to cool off from the bake for clear coating.

i know your excited about your first dip but i would give it another shot. theres a few issues i can see. you need to tape off the voids like the buttstock opening or else the water rushes too fast into the stock before the film has a chance to bite into the base coat. if you can try to get better paint. over the counter spray paints wont work well.ive had limited success with krylon fusion and valspar for pastics in the spray can.if you have a sprayer ive been told to use behr exterior latex with the primer in it.just get a gallon of it mixed up with light tan in color or even off gray or yellow should work as a tint.havent tried it but supposedley the film will still bite into the behr paint weeks after it dries so it makes it very friendly to use.good luck!

could it be a hard water problem???

Im out of film now so this is going to have to work for me for now. Im happy with it.

Its definitely not perfect but for what I have in the project, I can't complain.

Edit: I did have the holes plugged during dipping. Definitely helped I think.

Copyright © 1996 - 2013 :: AR15.Com LLC :: All Rights Reserved.
Any use of this content without express written consent is prohibited.