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Plastic Color Specifications

Page history last edited by Bestow 10 years, 8 months ago

Hi PDer’s!

 

 

Thanks for all the informative and (enthusiastic!) tips on color selection for plastics; below is a compilation.

 

 

What is the general consensus regarding the use of instruction sheets or booklets, vs. a product with self-explanatory usability? My guess is that the product needs to explain itself to the user independently of instructions sheets. Some of my clients have products that are so confusing to use that they need long instruction sheets; however, these instructions did not seem to improve the product’s usability or the user’s experience. Other clients have relatively straightforward mechanical assemblies, but say that their users need a one-time explanation (verbal or written). Is there some method for determining the success of a product’s usability in relation to the “instructions”, or some standard ratio for “instructions :: good usability”?

 

 

Thanks,

Jessica Cohen MFA ‘02

 

 

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Plastics responses:

yes, pantone is the standard. or they say: PMS

what i like to do is spec. out the exact color with pantone, AND give it a simple name.

like: color = PMS 292 (Royal Blue)

 

 

the major colors are no problem. there are 2 ways of getting the color: the cheap, simple way: buy the plastic in uncolored, or natural color. add powdered colorant into the hopper of the injection molding machine. this is very much up to the guy running the machine. if you have an odd color, the only way to get it right is for you to go there, and watch the guy running the machine.

 

 

the more expensive, better way: buy the plastic, and the colorant, and run the whole

lot through an extruder. then re-grind it. this is called a custom formulation. then you know the whole batch is the same color. They can do this at their factory, and mail you a color sample for your approval.

 

 

 

Pantone colors are usually called out on drawings and specs for color-matching. GE has a color-matching website so you can call out their specific colors, but that limits your vendor to using GE plastics.

 

 

You also need to specify texture, and the standard is Mold-Tech textures. They have a sample book like Pantone that you have to buy (or borrow).

 

 

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pantone is generally the way to go.

works well for fully opaque, non-metallic, non-irridescent plastics.

 

there are also alternative color systems, such as RAL, used in Europe and elsewhere.

 

however, the greatest tool out there for plastic color matching is GEColorXpress:

http://www.gecolorxpress.com/jsp/extranet/user/home.jsp

 

it rocks. they blend up custom colors for you, mold up some variale texture plaques, and will express ship bags of resin to your molder. these guys know how to serve.

 

hope that helps!

 

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Pantone makes a special color sample set just for plastics. Instead of printed samples (like for inks) they are binders full of actual plastic chips in zillions of colors. The set is a bit expensive, as I recall. We bought ours from them at a trade show booth, they probably have it on their web site.

 

 

You can use pantone but it does not work very well. Best quick & dirty way is to send a sample piece of plastic (taken from something you bought at best buy) for them to color match.

 

 

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Your color options will depend on what plastic you are molding. Your molder will purchase a coloring additive to be mixed with the base plastic. The result will vary depending on the natural color of the base resin, and whether the base resin has glass or carbon in the mix (for strength). I’ve attached a sample color sheet that one of our molders uses for some of our plastics. These options may not be available for the plastics that you are molding. I’ve rarely had much luck trying to match a color to a pantone swatch. Usually we start with the available colors (such as those on the attached sheet), get free samples of the coloring additive, and have our molder mold several parts with the different colors. Even then, the final parts rarely match the color swatches (probably because the base resin affects the final color).

 

 

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you can use whatever color standard you want. Pantone references will work just fine. Just be specific about what you want, as the texture will also have a bearing on how the color appears, and Pantone has several different standards involving surface finish (coated, uncoated, etc). And be critical when reviewing parts for color match, particularly if your product comprises more than one material.

 

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Pantone is a reasonable starting reference. I often use coated color guide as first point of reference for direction.

 

Pantone has Plastic guides as well but I don't see them used often - most suppliers can work with it but it is limited in not having metal

flake or like additives available in plastics. There are a variety of paint standards used as well -Sikkens, etc. and typically production

color control is measured in a quantitative color system like CIE L*a*b*. Checkout http://www.brucelindbloom.com/ if you want to get into technical side.

 

Ultimately, you can work through representatives from DOW, GE to review their "standards" or Custom Blenders to get what you need. Keep in mind - common plastics like PC, ABS, etc. are translucent to some degree and the color will shift depending on part wall thickness, the inclusion of fillers like metal flake, fibers, etc.

 

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Perhaps you could use these!

 

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/allisonmccarthy/147535161/in/set-72057594136547408/

 

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/allisonmccarthy/147535164/in/set-72057594136547408/

 

 

:)

 

 

Sorry, I don't have a more constructive answer.

 

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The best standard I've found is that used by GE Plastics. Their ColorXpress service allows you to match colors online to standards or send them chip samples to color match using a colorimeter. I've played with the Pantone standards but they seem to be less well known than the GE color plaques.

 

 

In general if you are working with an overseas vendor it is advisable to get a handful of correct color plaques molded in the material that you are selecting. Hold on to one of those plaques and disperse the rest to your suppliers for matching. They will typically do it by eye underneath a color corrected light box. Some have color matching systems (hi-res, digital videoscopes essentially) that can compare samples absolutely. But most are still eye-balling it and using go/no-go samples as guides.

Hope this helps. Ping me back if you want to know more. I've been down this path a lot and it can cause headaches! So best of luck.

 

 

http://www.geplastics.com/gep/Plastics/en/ProductsAndServices/ColorXpressServices/color_xpress_services.html

 

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