Dykem Applicator Try an empty Sharpie.

The brush in the Dykem can is a bit stiff for my liking and leaves a heavy layer of dye on the parts.
Sharpies are quick and easy to use but they are not as durable as Dykem.

I found that the top of my large Sharpie was threaded so a very easy to use applicator was at hand.
Use care when filling the Sharpie with Dykem. You can over fill it. If you do, just pour the excess back in the Dykem can. It also occurs to me that the ink for ink jet printers could be used to re-fill a screw on top sharpie. Black and Magenta should work well. I think that ink jet ink is more of a permanent ink since it is so hard to remove it from your hands if you happen to get some on yourself. Not sure if alcohol would remove it.

I find the new Dykem Sharpie unit to work well. It leaves a light and even coat of dye on the parts.
Removal using alcohol is quick and complete.

Don't try this in the kitchen......I suggest doing the re-fill over some news paper in the shop and wear a pair of latex gloves. Keeps the stain off your hands.

My sharpie was not totally empty so I have a mix of red and blue but it still seems to work well. I think the dilution of the Dykem with the red sharpie ink is not quite as durable as pure Dykem. So it might be worth cleaning out or purge all of the old red prior to refilling with Dykem to get a tougher film. I don't think I will do that but some might want to. I find that both Dykem and Sharpie ink is very soluble in alcohol. I use the high concentrate stuff from the hardware store.

Happy layout and

Cheers, JR

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Thanks jjr2001! We've added your Dykem Applicator to our Measuring and Marking category,
as well as to your builder page: jjr2001's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

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JR,
This looks like a good alternative to the Dykem brand 2 oz. felt tip applicators. I have been using these in blue and red but the color film doesn't flow on as dark as the ones with a brush. These seems to work a little btter when stored with the cap end down. Unfortunately the Dykem felt tip sections have to be pried-off for refilling and not worth the effort. I like the Sharpie advantage with a threaded applicator top.
Paul

Thanks for your comments Paul. I am not sure if all of the larger Sharpies have removable tips. I have used the Magnum Red as shown in my pictures and I just unscrewed the top from a black one labeled as King Size. Hope they continue to use threaded tops.

One thing to note is that the threaded tops do not seal. If any excess liquid is still in the tube and it is set with the point down then the excess liquid will drain out. I work around this by "draining" the refilled sharpie back into the bulk Dykem can to make sure all of the liquid was absorbed by the felt inside the sharpie can.

Right now I want to use up my refilled sharpie so I can get a better blue color out of it but it works fine as is.

Cheers, JR

You can buy empty refillable markers for about the same price as what a Jumbo Sharpie costs, Just search Refillable Marker.

Refillable Makers; who knew? I was unaware of Dykem brand markers, but Marks-Alot have been OK for me. I use red for grinding operations, blue or black elsewhere. Not sure why two colors...red shows best on ground surfaces. Did some ultrafine boring past couple days. Marking used on each spring cut, locations and size repeated so closely the mark was removed only where the previous finish at .006 per rev and .0015 actually intersected with a zero radius boring tool. A comparison might be two threads of the same diameter but different pitches.

And while the topic is running. I found a "PILOT SC-6600" refillable to mess with; no pun intended. Barrel is about 1" diameter x 4", felt tip is 10mm. Still available, in the 6 buck range. There also is the "MOLOTOW" line---and when I say line I mean line; up to 60mm wide, that's a mean line awright! Not priced on their site. Its a pump style, like a paint marker.
Others; Angelus, Montana...applications specify paint or dyes. Paints need viscosity less than milk; comparable mammalian version not specified.

Our collective workaround has traction already at work; being able to walk around with Dykem or scribe-able equivalent in a pocket. No one seems all that thrilled with the brush in cap applicator.

I don't know if you can still get them, but I remember back in the early 80s having a Holbien graphic arts marker that had a felt that was about 1 1/2" wide Refilling it was a bit of a bother, as I would suspect most refillable markers would be

One and a half inches wide. Now that would be a good one and I shall try to see if they are still around. The Marks a Lot always impressed me. Seems like they have a lot of ink in them and would be a good choice for a throw away type.
Thanks for all the great comments.

Cheers, JR

Ok, the only Holbien I found were "collectors" items and priced accordingly....Yikes.

So I did find a wide one that is 15mm wide on the bay and it is:
MOLOTOW MASTERPEICE 460PI - SPEEDFLOW INK MARKER - 15MM WIDE NIB - PERMANENT
From GB and costs almost as much for shipping as the cost of the marker but that is not unusual for eBay.

Also found a 60mm wide one in the UK:
MOLOTOW MASTERPEICE 760 - COVERSALL INK MARKER - 60MM WIDE NIB - PERMANENT
On the bay also.

Cheers, JR

JR the next time you just happen to find yourself shopping 'gasp' in which ever store you are dragged kicking and screaming into. Mosey over to the floral flagrance air freshener department. My wife used to buy a particular one that had a 1" wide felt wick in it when it was empty I used to unscrew the top and pull out the wick, it was about 2 ft long then after they had completely dried, when she wasn't looking I would toss them in the laundry, once they were washed and dried they made excellent swarf stops or way protectors on my lathe.
Upon thinking about the dykem ink dispenser it somehow made me think of those. it has been several years since she bought them but if thye are still available I imagine one might make a fair dinkem extra wide dykem ink marker

Thanks Frank, that sounds like a good source. I did a quick eBay search for air fresheners and got something like 66K hits...
Who knew the air was so stinky.......Any how I then thought of oil lamp wicks and found some in 1" widths. Might just buy a short order of that and see how it would work for a wide marker and at the same time use it for way wipers on the lathe.

Cheers, JR

JR the thing about lamp wicks is most all I have found are made out of cotton the antique ones were made out of wool. the braided cotton ones may be far too course of a weave to function very well as a marker but who knows I may be wrong.
if you were to fabricate your own applicator which has a way to raise or lower the wick like the lamps did but had a very tight tapered slot for the orifice which would keep the wick squeezed just enough to prevent dripping but still allowed for the wicking action as the ink was transferred from applicator to work piece it may work just fine

Agreement; the differentiation's are paint/ ink/ dye. You'd have to experiment which flows through your wick at a manageable rate. Seems dyes are 'thinnest' and represent the viscosity for dependable flow. There is material called interchangeably insulating felt and machinery felt. They'll isolate temperatures or vibration. Readily made 1/8" to 1/2" thickness and more I suspect. Somewhat like regular craft felt that is pounded, rolled, and compressed, over and over to whatever durometer style 'hardness' toward intended use. I have a strip, 1/4" x 1" of unknown parentage, adhesive double backed. Probably some kind of door seal.

Thanks again Frank and Toolmaker51. I found some machinery felt or insulating felt at Zoro for a good price if you order $50.00 worth of stuff but I don't have anything else right now to order. I really wanted to try the felt. So I ran over to HD and found some stick on glider felt that was almost 1/4" thick. It is sticky back but I removed that tape and found that the felt had a stiff resin applied for a minimum thickness on one side only. So you can see by the pictures what transpired. Used a bit of super glue to put it on a flat stick. I only made it about 1" wide and it really lays down a thin light and very even coat of Dykem. It works great for a wide applicator and I think I will just save my Oil Lamp wick for some other project. So If I want wide I just go to the plastic jar with felt "brush" and for a quick smaller applicator I will use the refillable Magnum Sharpie.

Thanks again for all the great comments.

Cheers, JR

An old mold and die maker I once knew had cut a felt door sweep into 6 and 8" pieces then fashioned handles for them. He would thin the ink and pour it over a large blank use a squeegee to spread it then use the felt wipers to reduce the layer of ink to a very then even film

Calling this just a 'website' is a serious understatement. In a couple months, I'll be on a year; continues to astound me.

Yep, this is the place for a lot of information and how to do it. I find interesting things here every day, even if I am not going to make the item, it is very interesting to see how someone made it.

Cheers, JR

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jjr2001

Yep, this is the place for a lot of information and how to do it. I find interesting things here every day, even if I am not going to make the item, it is very interesting to see how someone made it.

Cheers, JR

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+1 I love how things can wander off the rails and come up with the most interesting stuff. I didn't know 99% of the stuff you guys came up with, deep bow to y'all!

I've got some of that felt glider stuff laying around and am going to make a applicator like yours JR. Is there a reason not to make it replace the brush in the Dykem bottle?

Personally I've struggled with sharpies and find them to be mislabeled. Should Dullie, or shortie for how long they last IMHO. My contractor neighbor gave me what he uses to try. It's a marker made by Milwalkee that he says outlasts and never goes dull like the supposed sharpie. So far it hasn't. Don't know what they cost but if they stay sharp and last longer than a Dullie, I won't have so many laying around semi useless.

Sounds like a good idea to me. Remove the Dykem brush bristles and maybe open up each side of the crimped part of the brush area a bit. I would think that a good cleaning of the metal with alcohol would then allow the CA to hold everything solid. I made mine wider than the can opening and used a different bottle that would fit the wide tip. Anything that replaces that coarse brush would be good.
I had thought about just getting a good camel bristle brush, removing it from it's wood handle and gluing or crimping that to the in can brush stem as an improvement for obtaining a light thin coat. May still do that.

Cheers, JR

Quote:

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Originally Posted by C-Bag

+1 I love how things can wander off the rails and come up with the most interesting stuff. I didn't know 99% of the stuff you guys came up with, deep bow to y'all!
Well, maybe the 'rails' can't keep up with us. HMT is all about outside the box anyways.

Personally I've struggled with sharpies and find them to be mislabeled. Should Dullie, or shortie for how long they last IMHO.

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I'd email Sharpie Corporate with that re-branding. Dullie LOL ROFL LMAO and all the rest. Wonder if they'd get the hint? Most of what I mark is relatively smooth and clean-ish, but they are intolerant of many surfaces...

TM51, I think most corporations could care less about what us "eaters" think. They do their best to hide behind phone trees and auto replied email bots. A lot of why HMT exists and is expanding is because quality well thought out products are hard to find. They make all the $$ they want with the Dullie just as it is. If I was going to send the Dullie Corp anything it would be "close but no cigar". There's a reason they mostly come in those packs for 4 or 5. It's not because I lose them, its because they don't last for me. If I didn't have such an iggy about adding to this stupid plastic mountain of disposable trash I'd toss them all. If this Milwakee marker works out I AM going to toss the three in the shop and the one in my office. Rant off.....

Yes C-Bag, that is precisely the case. There are very few stellar corporations. Substandard entities effectively cause downgrading of the field, the worst offenders 'lower the bar' further yet. Felt tip pens, Pinto gas tanks, ethylene in pet food...I'll bet on one of those 'memos' for every crap product AND service imaginable. "Oh, it's just a...", "...they'll never...", "We're gonna make millions"
I think your description of HMT.net (and a stellar few, again not surprising) is accurate; to allow us control of an important niche or process fallen into disregard elsewhere.
I hope 'we' collectively are around for the resurgence.

Perfect example; our home was burgled end of August. Alarmed and all. Occupied structure four days, rifling every room; drawer, package, closet, pantry, refrigerator, freezer. Took huge array of property; linens, crystal, silver, handmade fireplace screen, cosmetics, fashionable European women's clothing, cases of soda, tools, yet ignorant pinheads missed prominent bigger ticket items like Persian rugs. They were caught leaving; whilst police investigations conducted in immediate area for the same crew! Another caught posting fire screen on Craigslist, at fraction of value!
They cut the phone line. ADT didn't pursue lost connection, or the monthly line check. But were ready with a claim form! Took a few calls to get account closed and refunded; under continued billing...
Rant ON.

Rant on indeed TM51! ADT has always struck me as a possible scam, unfortunately my 87yrld dad just went for their services......

Personally I think the real American Dream is to have some kind of scam of continuous monetary extraction. Either through rent( the real meaning of lease), planned obsolescence (the real meaning of shoddy engineering) ,proprietary supplies( like printer cartridges) or the ultimate corporate wet dream patent/IP.

Whatever happened to "build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door"? My wife has to do tons of paperwork so uses her pens constantly. Some Corporate clone got the idea of packaging 10 pens but each pen has a fraction of the ink in the cartridge that old pens used to have. So she tried refillable, they were worse because she could never find the refill for the specific pen. The goal I think is to shoot for the idea that your product is disposable so it's taken for granted that it has a short life so you have to buy multiples where you used to buy one. It's no wonder there is an island of plastic trash in the Pacific. And it's only getting worse.

I get a lot of hope and joy out seeing folks like JR sidestep the cost cutting stupidity of a MBA's brain fart and fix it with an renewable replacement that does the job better and cheaper.

Throw away and refillable without replacement support is a huge business which seams to have been around for quite a long time.
Back in high school our student desks still had inkwells. Very few of us kids actually used them though.as most used ballpoint.
However in one of my English lit. classes the Teacher demanded that all work be turned in only done so by quill. His theory was that society as a whole was on such a downward spiral that one day even cars and all home appliances possibly even the telephone would be manufactured as throwaway items,but he nor his students if he had anything to do with the prevention of societal decay would not be contributors. In some small way at least part of his teachings and almost daily rantings may have helped me through the years.

Sorry to hear about the burglary TM51, the mess they make and the disgusting feel that you get after they ramshackle your home. They should be............@@@@@!!!!!!!!....you get the idea.
I would say what I would like to see done to the purps but I don't use that kind of language and it would certainly not be politically correct!

I think the whole thing about the cost of most stuff is that not much of it is sold with a cost plus a reasonable profit. Too much of the things that we "need" are simply sold at whatever the market will bear with no relation to cost of manufacture and since everyone (well almost everyone) needs that new iPhone or Xbox they make a killing selling them every 6 months since new ones are on the drawing board as soon as the latest one has been released.

Anyhow glad my sharpie re-use helps us out a bit.

Cheers, JR

Thanks Jr for another great thread and a perfect HMT application for an issue we all face. I love the way this thread has evolved and all the chime in from members of the consortium. Thought I might throw in a few bits.

On the topic of cheap product mass production for profit, the one thing not brought up is the packaging/marketing costs in relation to the actual product...good or bad. Dykem layout fluid is inherently a Good product, been around for almost a century, and a defacto standard. They do seem they follow the markets with innovation, like their pen applicator to thwart the onrush of Dully use by the trades and craftspeople. However the cost of the fluid and the applicator is pittance compared to the packaging and eye candy approach we see, ever invading our markets. The blow molded bottle and injection molded cap are penny's in quantity also. The rolled ink label is also cheap and cheerful but does require a lot of maintenance on the line and the Inks are gosh awful expensive and a class 3-4 shipping hazard...therefore Expensive. So for 30 cents of fluid, bottle & applicator, the cost is probably around $2 for all the rest on ~$6-10 product. A good profit on 30 cents but Ok for the other $1.70 on a low dollar item. I also agree that the "Market Will Bear" is one of those Marketing Terms I loath and goes back to the craze of the Pet Rock and how Marketeers jumped on the band wagon and never got off, and have now added i-candy to the mix to invoke Pavlovian responses from the masses.

I am thinking that having a felt applicator on the bottle lid might be the way to go. I've always just used the nylon bristle brush that came with the bottle and just developed the technique of wiping the excess several time before applying it. I also use Dully's once in a while but don't like them very much because of the tip issues. I would bet that if it was suggested to Dykem your idea of a wide felt applicator they might run with it...they've been around for a long time for good reasons, imho. Hopefully someone from there reads this and doesn't market the Heck out of it driving the costs up even more. In the meantime JR your fix is brilliant and the suggestions abound once again on this great forum.

An interesting note on Dykem with a bit of rabbit hole diving...Established in 1920, Dykem was acquired in 1987 by Illinois Tool Works (ITW), now ITW Professional Brands. ITW Professional Brands is headquartered in Olathe, KS. So who knows if they would listen??

Thanks JR and All for the great thread and rabbit hole toward making our world a better place, at least for ourselves.

:clapping: ~PJ

P.S. TM I'm sad to hear about your kerfuffle and hope the bastiches are handed a rope long enough for such a violation and skullduggery. Perhaps public atonement should be brought back.

Thanks to all for all the great comments in this thread.

Ok, I think this will be a great Dykem brush in the can solution. The Dykem brush is just a plastic tube with some very coarse bristles pushed in the end and the other end just pushed into a short shoulder built into the cap. Why not just put a good quality brush in the can. We discussed this in an earlier post. I also had trouble with that lid seal. It would always stick to the can and then I would have to grab it and put it back in the lid. Blue Finger Again!..

Pictures show the story. Remove that plastic tube with bristles. Put some CA on the gasket and then glue it to the cap. Get a good camel hair fine bristle brush. Cut to length, I like mine short so the metal brush holder does not fill up with Dykem. I can always tilt the can. Turn down the end of the brush so it fits the lid and put it in with some CA. Very nice fine layer of Dykem. So now we have the best of both. A refillable felt tipper and a good brush in the can.....

Cheers, JR

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Frank S

Back in high school our student desks still had inkwells. Very few of us kids actually used them though.as most used ballpoint.
However in one of my English lit. classes the Teacher demanded that all work be turned in only done so by quill. His theory was that society as a whole was on such a downward spiral that one day even cars and all home appliances possibly even the telephone would be manufactured as throwaway items,but he nor his students if he had anything to do with the prevention of societal decay would not be contributors. In some small way at least part of his teachings and almost daily rantings may have helped me through the years.

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Well, I hope he should rest easily on our account; upholding his ideal and adopting it as our own. Maybe not inkwells per se, but in preservation, redefining, making it interesting to others, and so on. The world wide aspect fascinates me no end.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Toolmaker51

Well, I hope he should rest easily on our account; upholding his ideal and adopting it as our own. Maybe not inkwells per se, but in preservation, redefining, making it interesting to others, and so on. The world wide aspect fascinates me no end.

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Yep,It is funny how things that really irked us while we were young produced many of the values we hold dear in our later years.
I am predominately left handed so writing with a quill was a challenge, often I would get so frustrated that I would write with my right hand. I have always had horrible penmanship anyway,and no matter how many thousands of times I would have fill every chalk board during my elementary school years sometimes even have to stay after school doing it I didn't improve much.

Just bought a 30mm and 15mm width empty maker pump action dispenser off eBay. I really like this great idea. Thank you again for yet another great post.
The Home Engineer