Colouring PVC waste pipe

[Cooper]

I'm making telescopes for my grandchildren, using PVC waste pipe for the tubes. But it looks like waste pipe, UGH!!
I want to colour the pipes and have spent hours on the Internet looking, without success, for suitable small quantities of solvent dyes. (Links to the process and stuff I'm looking for below). I've seen suppliers in the states, China and India sell small quantities but their delivery times and shipping cost make it impractical. Does anyone know where I can get a few grams of Solvent Red, Solvent Yellow and Solvent Blue quite quickly? The twins birthdays are less than a month away. It seemed such a good idea and apart from the colour work really well.
Thanks
Martin

https://makezine.com/projects/stain-pvc-any-color-you-like/https://www.dyes.co.uk/solvent-dyes.html

 

[Rorschach]

Will spirit dyes not work? Chestnut do a multipack quite cheaply.

 

[Boatfixer]

I might be inclined to wrap them in vinyl. Most sign shops will have bright coloured offcuts....

 

[Lons]

What Boatfixer said.

I've used vinyl wrap as used for cars and it's easy to apply with a hairdryer/heatgun, sticks well and is hardwearing, there is a huge range of colours including some stunning metallic options. Look on ebay.
The only issue I can see is whether you have clearance on the sliding parts, it's very thin but needs to be factored in.

 

[Cooper]

What Boatfixer said.

I've come to that conclusion this morning, good idea about popping down to the sign shop. I hadn't thought of that.
Thanks
Martin

 

[Cooper]

I might be inclined to wrap them in vinyl. Most sign shops will have bright coloured offcuts....

Thank you Boatfixer. I was thinking of putting up with the dull range from Wilko but your suggestion of a sign shop is brilliant!!
I popped in, explained I was on the scrounge and showed him the telescope. He asked what I wanted, I said anything you've got and he gave me at least a meter of each, Yellow, Red and Blue. It takes to the plastic pipe and fits brilliantly and they will look far better than my original idea. Tomorrow's sorted now.
Thank you.
Cheers
Martin

 

[rwillett]

View attachment 112337

Thank you Boatfixer. I was thinking of putting up with the dull range from Wilko but your suggestion of a sign shop is brilliant!!
I popped in, explained I was on the scrounge and showed him the telescope. He asked what I wanted, I said anything you've got and he gave me at least a meter of each, Yellow, Red and Blue. It takes to the plastic pipe and fits brilliantly and they will look far better than my original idea. Tomorrow's sorted now.
Thank you.
Cheers
Martin

Like the scopes. Now you need to make a pipe mount using much the same technology. You can find plans and the like on cloudy nights.

Suggest a simple alt-az mount (gun turret) but make it as rigid as possible. Eg wooden legs, full pipes with sand to deaden vibration. The mount is of equal importance to the scope.

Also how are you doing the focusor? A simple helical focusor works well but often needs more travel making them inpractical. You could try and make a simple Crayford focusor. Again see cloudy nights in the ATM (amateur telescope making) forum. Lots and lots of ideas on there to help you. They are a very friendly bunch.

Ask if you need any help there or PM me

Rob

 

[Cooper]

Like the scopes. Now you need to make a pipe mount using much the same technology. You can find plans and the like on cloudy nights.

Suggest a simple alt-az mount (gun turret) but make it as rigid as possible. Eg wooden legs, full pipes with sand to deaden vibration. The mount is of equal importance to the scope.

Also how are you doing the focusor? A simple helical focusor works well but often needs more travel making them inpractical. You could try and make a simple Crayford focusor. Again see cloudy nights in the ATM (amateur telescope making) forum. Lots and lots of ideas on there to help you. They are a very friendly bunch.

Ask if you need any help there or PM me

Rob

Thank you for the suggestion. Doing this simple project has highlighted how little I remember from my school science. Finding the lenses suitable for a child's telescope was difficult, as I had no idea what the spec should be. In the end I went for a Galileo type to keep the image up the right way. I found a lens supplier
http://www.sciencestore.co.uk/acatalog/Optical_Components.htmland then was faced with deciding which to order, a very interesting revision curve. The twins will be five next month. If they get an interested in the stars I may well take up your suggestion, at the moment they are fascinated by pirates!!
This site is brilliant, there is someone who on knows about almost everything. I should have posted my questions about lenses here.
Thank you for your interest.
Martin

 

[Fergie 307]

Just for info you can buy a product called vinylkote, which will actually stain the plastic, widely used in refurbishing car interiors. Comes in a wide variety of colours, or you can send them a sample and they will colour match it. It works really well on leather too.

 

[Fergie 307]

And really like your telescope, great fun.

 

[Cooper]

I thought I'd already posted a picture here of the successful project.