Copper dye

[Eligator]

Hi All,

I am new to this forum and not sure if this thread is in the right place, but here it goes:

We would like to colour some small copper items. Is there a colour dye that could be used to colour copper? we have a big tumbler in which we put the copper items in along with polishing corn cobs to make the shine, but we would like at the same time to colour the items.

Any idea?

Thank you!
Eli.

 

[rtbcomp]

Welcome to the forum Eli, I've moved this to "Paint & Metal Coatings", it may attract a bit more attention.

 

[wyn]

I don't know if copper can be dye'd. But it can be given different coloured patinas by the application of various chemicals.

This link gives an idea of what to use for different colours.

 

[Eligator]

Thank you.

 

[Eligator]

So I guess there is no way to "paint/coat" copper with a dye? Does it have to be chemically engineered or is there an easier solution?

 

[Alex.]

This any good?

http://www.frost.co.uk/item_Detail....ubCatID=&FrostCat=Electroplating&FrostSubcat=

Alex.

 

[Eligator]

Great, I'll look into this one.

Cheers,
Eli.

 

[wyn]

I think that dye is for aluminium anodising.

The anodising process creates a surface with lots of tubes/pores. The item is then put in the dye, which fills the pores and the pores are then sealed to hold the dye in and give the item it's colour.

A dye would probably need something on the surface of the material to hold it there.

Would using a paint give you the finish you want.

 

[Eligator]

Right, this is the scenario:

In our line of business, the sport shooters (pistol shooters) reload their ammunition at home. One of the components is the cases (brass) which are made of copper. The problem is that on the range, people often search for their own brass among tens and hundreds of other people's brass.

Before reloading ammo, the brass (cases) go into a large tumbler which is used to polish the cases using Corn Cobs Media.

We thought there might be a substance we could pour into the tumbler to paint the cases so they could be identified later on the range.

Any ideas?

 

[Paul.]

So are they copper or brass?, anyway have a look here and here this may help.

 

[Eligator]

Excellent - thank you Paul!

 

[Pete.]

Eligator your location says UK but as far as I know pistol shooting or even owning any pistol is banned in the UK. Where is your club based?

 

[Robotstar5]

Made me wonder as well, I thought centre fire pistols had been banned?