How to paint a large number of childrens blocks?

[Brian Tymchak]

Getting a jump on next year's holiday toy drives. I'm thinking of making a bunch of building block sets which would be painted in bright colors - red, green, blue, yellow. Probably a childsafe acrylic paint, but haven't really researched that part beyond finding that Rustoleum has such a product.

What I do want to figure out is how to paint a large number of blocks, say 5000 or more. I've tried several web searches hoping to find some insight into how this done commercially, but I found nothing beyond hand painting. I assume a commercial maker would spray or dip. I have questions of how blocks are held while being sprayed (or dipped) so as to not leave marks in the finish as it dries.

Would greatly appreciate any info or links someone could provide in this regard.

Thanks!

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I do things like that one, two or three sides at a time, with the parts in a rack or holder. I apply the paint with a roller or sprayer. Porch rail balusters for example. Line them up, paint, let dry, flip, paint again. 5000! bless your heart!

[Jamie Buxton]

There used to be a big problem with painting kids toys. Some part of the federal government put out regulations about the paint which were onerous enough that small shops could not afford to do the testing. Dunno if that's been resolved.

But here's a way around that problem, and to solve your original question too: use colored MDF. There are MDF panels from Europe which have the color embedded in the panel. Colors can be soft, or can be bright. The bright ones are just calling out to become kids toys. You get to make the toys without worrying about painting or about edge banding. (There might be an opportunity to acquire a CNC router too.) Here's one source, but there are others. https://trinityinnovations.net/produ...ed-mdf-panels/

[Mel Fulks]

I heard about lead paint as a young kid , and my parents wouldn’t buy anything they thought had it. But there was still old stuff
around ,so people had to be careful. For new things ,I would use acrylic paint, or tempora. Could also dip in dye ,then stamp on paint with
soaked felt. Early blocks were often smooth and decorated with glued in paper pictures.

[Tom M King]

Finding volunteer help should make whatever the process more enjoyable.

[Brian Tymchak]

There used to be a big problem with painting kids toys. Some part of the federal government put out regulations about the paint which were onerous enough that small shops could not afford to do the testing. Dunno if that's been resolved.

But here's a way around that problem, and to solve your original question too: use colored MDF. There are MDF panels from Europe which have the color embedded in the panel. Colors can be soft, or can be bright. The bright ones are just calling out to become kids toys. You get to make the toys without worrying about painting or about edge banding. (There might be an opportunity to acquire a CNC router too.) Here's one source, but there are others. https://trinityinnovations.net/produ...ed-mdf-panels/

I heard about lead paint as a young kid , and my parents wouldn’t buy anything they thought had it. But there was still old stuff
around ,so people had to be careful. For new things ,I would use acrylic paint, or tempora. Could also dip in dye ,then stamp on paint with
soaked felt. Early blocks were often smooth and decorated with glued in paper pictures.

I haven't fully researched the paint yet, but I'm pretty confident that using a paint designated as child safe will be sufficient. The question I need to answer is whether I can find a paint that I can run thru a sprayer. Hand painting that many blocks is a deal breaker for me.

I had no idea that mdf was available in colors. Thanks for posting that Jamie. I'll look at that.

[Brian Tymchak]

I do things like that one, two or three sides at a time, with the parts in a rack or holder. I apply the paint with a roller or sprayer. Porch rail balusters for example. Line them up, paint, let dry, flip, paint again. 5000! bless your heart!

Maurice, thanks for your post. When you said "flip", that triggered a thought about having some sort of clam shell contraption that would allow me to spray on one side, let dry, close the clam shell, flip, open the clam shell, spray on the other side. Something like those fish baskets for a grill. I would need to be able to paint at least a couple hundred blocks at a time to get this done without it taking all summer. That might be a pretty big basket. Hmm, more thought needed, but at least the brain cells are engaged now.

[mike calabrese]

WOW that could take forever. It is not just the application of paint but the dry time before you can reset for the next batch.
Off the top of my head what I would do to solve this problem is this

Go out and buy a bunch of sewing needles
buy some fishing line that will fit through the eyes of the sewing needles
stick the needles into the blocks preferably in the very corner of the block, use a pair of needle nose pliers to hold and push in the needles to the blocks.
buy a 10 foot long 2x 4 rip it in two or use a long piece of PVC pipe or metal electrical conduit
String a crap load of blocks on the line as many as you can suspend and paint over the 10 foot space
Suspend the line of needled blocks from a 10 foot long piece a couple of saw horses or other suitable supports. You will need to have intermediate drop lines to prevent the long line droop. Spray your brains out.
The blocks should be 100% accessable so you should not have to handle 5000 blocks twice and the extremely small spot that the needle prevented paint should not be an issue at all.
The blast from the spray can or gun is going to swing the blocks so keep the block lines short as possible to minimize and possibly invest in a HVLP sprayer .

lastly if it were my project I would just hire you.

mike calabrese

[Jamie Buxton]

Here's another brand of colored MDF -- https://www.atlanticplywood.com/brand/valchromat/

[Bradley Gray]

A friend who made puzzles dipped the parts in fabric dye

[roger wiegand]

I've been thinking about this; there must be a good way to do it, but I'm having a hard time seeing it. Somehow manufacturers manage to do it. Thinking back to things like Lincoln Logs, that had many colored wood pieces, they were dyed rather than painted, but then I've seen plenty of painted block sets that must have been made in the thousands, if not millions.

Dunking them in bright colored TransTint dyes (in alcohol to not raise the grain) will get them well colored. If a film finish is required I'd think about laying them out on a wire mesh and then spraying with a very light coat of either NC lacquer or shellac, flipping them over and spraying again, repeating until the desired film thickness is achieved. The trick will be to keep the coats light enough to not get drips or blobs at the edges. You'll want to use a finish that melts into prior coats without sanding and can be recoated quickly. If paint is what's needed I'd look at a product like the Emtech EM6500 pigmented lacquer, using the same technique and repeated light coats.

[Brian Tymchak]

I've been thinking about this; there must be a good way to do it, but I'm having a hard time seeing it. Somehow manufacturers manage to do it. Thinking back to things like Lincoln Logs, that had many colored wood pieces, they were dyed rather than painted, but then I've seen plenty of painted block sets that must have been made in the thousands, if not millions.

Exactly my state of mind Roger. I even looked into Lincoln Logs for insight. And bought a cheap set of those painted blocks to see if there were any marks in the paint that would give me a hint of the process. There were none. You would think that in this day and age there would be you tube videos of a painting process for small parts. But dang if I could come up with anything.

Dunking them in bright colored TransTint dyes (in alcohol to not raise the grain) will get them well colored.

True, but I'm thinking that a paint will eliminate any issues about discoloration in the wood as I'm leaning towards using poplar which is relatively inexpensive and can have wide variety of coloration. I've thought about using dyes but then a seal coat would be needed and I was hoping (maybe naively) to avoid that additional step. [/QUOTE]

If a film finish is required I'd think about laying them out on a wire mesh and then spraying with a very light coat of either NC lacquer or shellac, flipping them over and spraying again, repeating until the desired film thickness is achieved. The trick will be to keep the coats light enough to not get drips or blobs at the edges. You'll want to use a finish that melts into prior coats without sanding and can be recoated quickly. If paint is what's needed I'd look at a product like the Emtech EM6500 pigmented lacquer, using the same technique and repeated light coats.

Pretty much what my current thinking is for process using paint, if I can thin it enough. Although last night the thought struck me that there might be a problem with dried paint from the mesh coming off with the block when I flip it. I bought some cheap plastic mesh (bird guard for fruit trees) that I can experiment with.

Regarding the recommendation for EM6500, and thank you for that!, being a laquer I will have to check if that is considered a child-safe finish. I have not looked into anything other than paints in that regard. Never entered my mind to consider a pigmented finish.

[roger wiegand]

You could lay them close enough together (like 1/4" apart) that you're only effectively spraying one surface at a time, with little material getting down to your support.

The SDS for EM6500 (it is a water-based acrylic) is about as benign as I've ever seen. The only potentially problematic ingredient is titanium dioxide (white pigment), and even the EU has recently reviewed that for children's toys and found "no or negligible risk" except in some situations where nanoparticles are intentionally created and aerosolized, something that isn't going to happen with your blocks. I'm not sure the EU would describe water as having no or negligible toxicological risk!

Recoat time is 30-45 minutes so you could get through the process reasonably quickly.

[Brian Tymchak]

You could lay them close enough together (like 1/4" apart) that you're only effectively spraying one surface at a time, with little material getting down to your support.

The SDS for EM6500 (it is a water-based acrylic) is about as benign as I've ever seen. The only potentially problematic ingredient is titanium dioxide (white pigment), and even the EU has recently reviewed that for children's toys and found "no or negligible risk" except in some situations where nanoparticles are intentionally created and aerosolized, something that isn't going to happen with your blocks. I'm not sure the EU would describe water as having no or negligible toxicological risk!

Recoat time is 30-45 minutes so you could get through the process reasonably quickly.

Thanks for the great info Roger. I had read that the EU was concerned about titanium dioxide but I did not see anything about them dropping the issue. Good to hear that.

And I sure like hearing about the short recoat time! I'm thinking I may be able to manage maybe 400-500 blocks in a single session. But that still means 10+ paint sessions for 5000 blocks plus a session to paint a box for each set. This is going to take some time...