Anodizing; Why did I wait so long?

[LeE]

There is nothing like anodizing that give your parts that pro look after that machining is done! After spending some time researching the process and some T&E, here is the result I obtained.

[Wayne52]

Anodizing is neat stuff, I've never personally done it myself but have looked into it before.  It actually goes into the metal too.

[screwwork]

The part looks really good Lee.

[LeE]

Anodizing is neat stuff, I've never personally done it myself but have looked into it before.  It actually goes into the metal too.

It really is fascinating what it is and the variables that need to be controlled to get good results.

[Wayne52]

I worked in a fabrication shop when I first got out of the service, there were three shops there one that was an extrusion plant for the aluminum, they they'd bring it to us and we'd cut the extrusions to the right lengths, and machine them, then we brought them over to anodizing and they finished up the parts.  That place is history now, I remember taking 55 gallon drums trichlorethaline to the dump. That dump is long gone because all the people that lived in the area couldn't drink the water anymore, last I knew all the contaminates were underground heading in the direction of lake Michigan.

[Rob M]

are you using sulfuric acid or the bisulfate stuff??excellent results.

[LeE]

are you using sulfuric acid or the bisulfate stuff??excellent results.

I am using sulfuric acid from the auto store and distilled water at 50/50 mix.

[Rob M]

are you using sulfuric acid or the bisulfate stuff??excellent results.

I am using sulfuric acid from the auto store and distilled water at 50/50 mix.

awesome ! looking forward to seeing other colors!

[LeE]

The part looks really good Lee.

Clean work and constant improvment is what I aim for. This is an adapter for a reg tester,

[Mole2017]

Very nice! I'm rebuilding a small microscope and thought about painting it (i.e. learn some powder coating), but that anodizing looks great too!

[LeE]

Very nice! I'm rebuilding a small microscope and thought about painting it (i.e. learn some powder coating), but that anodizing looks great too!

If you are working with mating parts with close tolerances, powder coating can be tricky to get enough coating so that is evenly covers the part but does not prevent parts that touch from moving. The pros of powder coating is the learning curve is short and can be done with minimal equipment and no nasty chemicals to deal with.

[Mole2017]

Very nice! I'm rebuilding a small microscope and thought about painting it (i.e. learn some powder coating), but that anodizing looks great too!

If you are working with mating parts with close tolerances, powder coating can be tricky to get enough coating so that is evenly covers the part but does not prevent parts that touch from moving. The pros of powder coating is the learning curve is short and can be done with minimal equipment and no nasty chemicals to deal with.

I didn't knew much about powder coating until I found a DIY on it recently. Oh, and the one time I tried to remove some on just the sort of problem you describe--a tow hitch/cargo platform I bought didn't figure for the thickness of the coating on parts that needed to slide into the hitch frame. That stuff was tough! My current problem is strictly an external job.