I'm asking this question because, I have a white 7x7 that I want to turn black. I have already tried the Rit Dye with my 5x5 and it took to long for me, so I was wondering if spray painting will do an easier job? My main concern is will it affect the turning of the puzzle.

If you do use spray paint, spray only the outside - you definitely shouldn't spray any internal surfaces, otherwise the paint will rub and stick together with heat of friction.

Also, you need to be very patient to let the paint dry properly (unlike me), otherwise it will end up covered in ugly finger prints!

You should probably also talk with someone like heiowge, who has a lot of experience in painting his puzzles.

Did the RIT dye work eventually? How low is "too long"? I've heard it does a really good job on ABS plastic.

I think however long it takes, dying is probably a better bet than painting the puzzle. You have to make sure that no paint gets in the mechanism (as Kelvin already said), and that means that you will be able to see the white puzzle underneath anytime you turn it.

-Eitan

Never had a hot sticky problem personally with all my sprayed cuboids and colouring just the outside will look pretty awful. So-

1. Disassemble.
2. Roughen all areas internal and external that are visible during use with approx 600grit wet and dry paper.
3. Use masking tape to cover areas not for colouring.
4. Hang each part up and carefully spray (with suitable plastic spray) around them. Use light coats and don't try to do everything in one go. Allow to dry and go back later.

Any sort of coating will eventually wear off (inside and out) but if you are determined that's what I would do. Naturally paint will add dimension to each piece so the puzzle will be stiffer than before and if you put on too much paint it won't move at all. Have fun but it's a lot of effort and a bit risky.

Thank you everyone for your advice.


It took me almost 24 hours to get the pieces close to black, even then some of the pieces still had a bit of a brown hue on them. I used a V5 so I don't know if Vcubes use ABS plastic or not.

Also just for clarification, I can spray paint the pieces, right? I just shouldn't get any on the core, because if that's the case, then I could use the good old sharpie and just color the centers, haha.

You certainly can spray paint a puzzle but I don't recommend it. If you study all the suggestions and the time and effort involved I think you will find buying a new V7 is the way to go. You can probably sell your existing one and at least cover shipping costs for the new one...

Dave

if you don't have the patience for dyeing then you definitely won't have enough patience for the paint to dry properly. I would do as Dave suggests and try to trade your white puzzle for a black one or sell the white in order to buy a black one.