Diy anodizing small parts.

[MJP]

I have made some parts and guns and having the need to anodize them so here we are.
I use sodium bisulfite and distilled water around 100g to 1litre of water.
First I was using battery charger but that doesn't have voltage or current adjustment so I bought a booster converter.
Prepping the parts, degrease properly and etch if you want a matte finish.
I use a pretty large cathode for I had a scrap alu plate at hand.
Time varies between 20-120min depending on the current and part size.
And if you want black, go for industrial dyes, they work the best!
Couple of parts, one natural grey and one black.



Marko

[Back_Roads]

 Hmm the kid had been doing that with copper etc. for his custom vaping device bout a year ago , glad you put 2 n 2 together for me thanks !

[MJP]

No problem,
And more test conducted today, kind of flow coloring, wanted to try different colors.
Easy ish now that I have the electrolyte right, just adjusting temp to get bigger pore size.
30C is about right for color anodizing on my setup.


Marko

[MJP]

Works ok on bigger parts too, af style main tube.


Marko

[ezman604]

Great stuff Marko. I'm building my new shop and plan on adding an anodizing setup. Any info, hints and tips appreciated. I plan on buying my supplies here...
http://www.caswellplating.com/anodizing-products.html

[MJP]

Thanks Dave,
You should be good with caswell products, their dyes are known to be good.
When doing anodizing you learn as you go, I still need better dye tank with adjustable heater, now I just use hot plate to heat my dye.
Adjustable power supply is a must, I use a cheap booster converter from eBay it's good to about little bigger parts that I have now done.
Get good rigid tanks that don't flex, you are playing with acid.
And for the most important part always wear safety glasses and protective clothing!!!
Those came to mind at first, feel free to ask for advice I'll try to answer what I can.

Marko

[Gippeto]

Worth looking into....

http://www.observationsblog.com/sciencetechnologyexperiments/anodizing-and-dying-aluminum-without-battery-acid



Al

[MJP]

Nice Al, you found the link quicker than I had time to post. Yeah, that's the method I'm using.

Marko

[Gippeto]

 





Or...maybe I had it bookmarked.

Al

[MJP]

I too have it bookmarked but not on my phone. 

Marko

[Tater]

You two are cracking me up.   

[Gippeto]

You two are cracking me up.   

We're here all day...come again!

[MJP]

More testing, trigger housing from 7075. It too takes color pretty good.


Marko

[Gippeto]

Pretty decent.

Picked up the last of what I need to give this a try...dug out an old power supply 0-30v/0-2amp. Hope that ends up being enough for small parts, one sure way to find out.

What are you using for dye? Picked up some fabric dye and on a suggestion....99.9 rubbing alcohol and gel food colouring. See how it goes, not holding out much hope for the alcohol/food colouring.

Al

[Gippeto]

Think the magic smoke flew the coupe on my little power supply...things were bubbling along and then they weren't. Only putting out 6 volts now and no measurable current.   Tomorrows problem.

Hooked it up to a battery charger and threw the amps to it...all 10. Bubbled along for 45 minutes or so, then pulled it out, rinsed it and put it in the dye for a couple hours.

Dye did not take. Could be bad dye...could be a bunch of other things too.

Tomorrows problem. Time for some "readin up on".

Al

[SpiralGroove]

Hey Guys,
Anodizing home made, aluminum parts has always been a goal of mine; I know it's not that hard, but I've never taken the plunge .
Please keeping feeding the information as understanding this set-up has been a Gap in my shop process for too long .

[QVTom]

You guys are nuts.  It's hard enough and time consuming enough to design and make you own parts...... 

[MJP]

Thanks guys, Al it's most likely the dye, I did manage to get black only with industrial dye. I use gaterosplating dyes and they work really good. Food dye also works but it fades over time.
Too much current is the other problem, I use around 0.1A per square inch, constant current and voltages starting at around 25-30V

Tom I know, for you it's business / work, for me it's a hobby for the most part. And learning to do new stuff is always fun(ish) 

Marko

Edit, Al dye in distilled water and heat it around 40-50C it'll take better. Keep the anodizing solution around 30C to get a bigger pore size for coloring, and around 5C or less for hard anodizing.

[wahoowad]

Marko,

How well would anodizing hold up on small metal targets? For example, if typical NRA 1/10th scale steel chickens were anodized? I ask ask I always have to reapply paint and I have wondered if anodizing with a bright color would offer a permanent solution?

[MJP]

Anodizing steel is well a little different mater. You could call it anodizing when you electrochemicaly make an oxide layer on top of steel, but you can't dye it like aluminum.
You can get sort of magenta and purple and black(ish) color with different amount of  electrosity and chemicals, but it's not anodizing in the way we see in alu.
And it'll just get covered in lead anyway.

Marko