Mike, you can start here......http://www.caswellplating.com/electroplating-anodizing/anodizing-products/anodizing-kits.htmlTom
This is very interesting to me.Was there a particular website that you feel was the most helpful to get you going?BTW, what machinery are you making those nice parts with?Mike
Quote from: shorty on August 28, 2013, 05:16:17 PMHay Nutshot,What is the process for the anodizing and coloring along with sealing. I have a project at work and thought the coloring was pretty neat that you did.All I did was anodize using the 15% H2so4. I think it would be cool to color as well but lack the knowledge to color and seal. How did you do the color and seal process after anodizing ?Hi Shorty,Colouring is easy if you have anodised the part right to start with You can buy anodising / anodizing dye off ebay quite cheap or caswell do a lot of colours . Some dyes are easier to use than others , black , red purple , blue etc are very easy , colours like gold have metal in them so its a bit more temperature critical to get the right pore size . over here its usually quite chilly so I don`t have much issue with tank temps . for the easy colours 60-70f is fine , gold wants to be a bit warmer for bigger pores, 75f ish seams to work well for colours that fail at cooler temps. Too warm and the pores are too big and the dye washes out on sealing.Anodise the part , rinse with distilled water , plunge in the dye anywhere from 1 minute to 20 minutes depending on how dark you want the part. Remove from dye and simmer for 5-10 mins in distilled water Cleanliness is everything so degrease well and only use distilled water both in your dye and for rinsing and sealing . You can buy sealing solutions but I have had no problems sealing in simmering distilled water .6*** allys take colours well , other grades like 2*** and 7*** are apparently a bit more awkward.Heres a tactical brake I made the other day . Shot blasted for a matt finish . Can`t quite seam to get my blasting right for bright colours. Think I need something like soda rather than sand for a blasted finish as my colours seam to come out patchy with the pores growing at various angles . Doesnt matter with black as its so dark it hides the patches
Hay Nutshot,What is the process for the anodizing and coloring along with sealing. I have a project at work and thought the coloring was pretty neat that you did.All I did was anodize using the 15% H2so4. I think it would be cool to color as well but lack the knowledge to color and seal. How did you do the color and seal process after anodizing ?
Aah.....very nice. I need to buy a rotary table. That would sure open up a lot more options.I intend to go the cheap route for starters. I have a battery and charger that I can start with.I see that many have used the Rit dyes. Have you tried them?I suspect the Caswell stuff is better suited, but I'm only looking at black and clear for my current project. Just wondering if I could get away with the Rit for now.Thanks again,Mike
Now that's one mean looking brake. Very cool !!
Fantastic work (fun). Wish I could look over your shoulder during the creation of these.