Is AES safe to boil?

[Thorogrimm]

I bought some grey iDye recently since I plan on dyeing an HHKB some time soon. However, I'm unsure if the material AES (the plastic used for white HHKB cases) is safe to boil. I've heard ABS is a nono, but is this the same for AES?

[jsheradin]

AES, ABS, and ASA are all pretty much the same physical property wise. ABS will definitely not survive boiling so I'd guess AES would fair just as poorly. Which version of iDye did you get? iDye-poly is specifically meant for polyesters and nylons - it probably won't work too well on AES. The regular stuff is meant for natural fibers so it's also questionable.

Please do share the results if you try though.

[Thorogrimm]

AES, ABS, and ASA are all pretty much the same physical property wise. ABS will definitely not survive boiling so I'd guess AES would fair just as poorly. Which version of iDye did you get? iDye-poly is specifically meant for polyesters and nylons - it probably won't work too well on AES. The regular stuff is meant for natural fibers so it's also questionable.

Please do share the results if you try though.

I purchased iDye poly. I've heard it works well on PBT but haven't heard many reports on AES seeing as I doubt many people have dared to try it.

[jsheradin]

PBT is a polyester which makes sense. Some skimming shows people have had luck with Rit dyes on ABS; their methods would probably be applicable to AES/whatever blend the HHKB uses.

I don't think I've ever seen dye-sub ABS, only PBT. There's probably a reason for that.

[Muirium]

This white HHKB case material?



In Wobbled’s case, it looks even more like ABS than the spacebar! Sure AES isn’t just a typo?

The black HHKB Pro 2 case is definitely ABS. It’s molded into it in big capital letters inside. Been too long since I’ve been inside my white HHKB to remember what it says.

[Thorogrimm]

This white HHKB case material?



In Wobbled’s case, it looks even more like ABS than the spacebar! Sure AES isn’t just a typo?

The black HHKB Pro 2 case is definitely ABS. It’s molded into it in big capital letters inside. Been too long since I’ve been inside my white HHKB to remember what it says.

Yeah, apparently more recent HHKBs like the Hybrid Type-S use AES which is a more UV resistant ABS

[Muirium]

Mine’s a 2014 Type S. I’ll take a look.

[wobbled]

My white Pro 1 is ABS, as is the black pro 1
Same deal with white pro 2 and black pro 2.

The only exception is the Pro 3 Hybrid and Classic where I believe the cases are now PBT?

[wobbled]

I should probably add if you're going to use iDye Poly on the Pro 3, it'll probably work for you (as long as it is in fact PBT plastic)

Don't attempt it on a Pro 2 or Pro 1, they'd warp under the temperature needed for iDye Poly to work

edit: Pro 3 isn't PBT (I always thought it was thanks to a mistake on fujitsu's website) it's 'AES' which is pretty much the same thing as ABS except it has uv protection qualities.
I would avoid using iDye Poly on that too

[Thorogrimm]

Edit: I decided to dye my white Realforce R1 case Silver Grey by filling a box with slightly under-boiled water (to be on the safe side) since someone online mentioned that 60c was fine for ABS. The results are okay, it's dyeing slowly and it's gone sort of a lavender colour after about half an hour.

[Thorogrimm]

Update: Dyeing was successful with just hot water. It came out a deep lavender purple

Although, as you can see, some of the dye got to the badge as the tape I used to cover it seemed to lift slightly. Also there's a little dark spot under the spacebar.
Not bad at all however since the dyeing is pretty even

[wobbled]

Looks to have turned out pretty damn well considering the low temperature you used.

I wonder if you left it in longer, would it continue to darken into the grey you were after?

[Thorogrimm]

Looks to have turned out pretty damn well considering the low temperature you used.

I wonder if you left it in longer, would it continue to darken into the grey you were after?

To be honest, this is as dark as I'd want it. I could have left it longer but I liked this kind of lavender purple