Dye Recipe

From FIS Freestyle wiki

Dye is prepared using a combination of water, windshield washer fluid and a dark blue colouring agent.

• The colouring agent most often cited is blue liquid food colouring, although other water soluble dye in liquid or powder form is also used.

• The colouring agent must be able to emulsify in both water and alcohol

• A base mixture of water and glycol is used. Glycol percentage can range from 100% to 50%, weather dependant.

On very cold days 100% glycol is required to ensure that the mixture does not freeze in the spray nozzle or the tubing mechanisms. On warmer days glycol should still be used as a base to ensure that the applied paint adheres to the snow surface and does not “crumble”.

Industrial dye packs hold 12 – 15 liters of fluid. The full pack weighs close to 25Kg. If you use Chefmaster concentrated gel you will need 60% of a bottle for each dye pack. A good rule of thumb is that each bottle has 4 good squeezes to be almost empty. The residual from the four squeezes can be flushed with glycol for 1 additional measure. So each bottle yields 5 measures (4 squeezes and a flush).

• Two colours of Chefmaster food color can be used – Royal Blue and Violet. For sunny days use all Royal Blue.
• For overcast and snowy days use 2/3 Royal Blue and 1/3 Violet. It doesn’t matter what colour glycol is used. The mixture should be very dark in the tank.

[edit] Also see

• Anti-freeze
• Sprayer
• Glycol
• Hash marks
• Cross-hatching
• Outside line
• Inside line
• Visibility
• Chefmaster food color

[edit] References

1. See Alpine Canada Race Course Dye Summary prepared by Andrew Wolff [1]
2. See Chefmaster Food Coloring Web Site [2]

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