Dykem Applicator Try an empty Sharpie.

[jjr2001]

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

[Frank S]

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

[Toolmaker51]

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.

[jjr2001]

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

[Frank S]

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

[Toolmaker51]

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

[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

[C-Bag]

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

+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.

[jjr2001]

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

[Toolmaker51]

+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.

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...