Home Anodising
If you fancy having a go at home anodising try this link to the AirgunBBs
http://www.airgunbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=240803&highlight=anodizing
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Blob,
That looks great! Love the shroud. Of course with the letters D&C on it everyone will think it is for gyno exams….LOL
That shroud looks sweet Sean! 8)
I like the contrast between the polished and the blasted part 😀
How tough is that finish? And can we see something done in black?
Ive done a bit ov black stuff ( 😆 )
Heres a breach that i sandblasted first
and a tube for a shroud
And heres a before pic.
I polished a bit where i wanted the stencils then aplied them before blasting
The surface is signficantly more scratch resistant.
Im still messing with diferant acid strengths and soak times.
Sean.
Walter,
the method I’m using is the LCD (low current density) its done in a weaker than standard acid bath and uses constant current as apposed to voltage
they claim more consistent results for the home anodizer
My understanding re: time is that you would energize the piece until it will no longer take current. In the setup i played with we had an ammeter in line and watched the current back off to zero. Also gives a good check on the electrical connection to the workpiece. probably the trickiest issue to deal with. I like your method of a substantial rod threaded into the workpiece. Good idea for sure!
Watching this with great interest!!!!! :):)
Walter….
Dog,
Prep takes almost as much time as making the thing sometimes. I some new sanding drums and a blast cabinet just to get a consistent finish. Of course now I am dealing with all the things that go with that…..but boy am I glad I can sand blast stuff now. Glass bead blasting would give a nice matte finish when anodized.
When you get it figured all out give us a tutorial.
seems like it’s fairly tough, just ran my key across it and it didn’t leave a mark and felt quite slick, but then I didn’t press real hard.
Should be as strong as any anodizing, well except for mil spec hard anodizing 😯
Black is supposed to be rather tricky, I’ll do some black when I’m a bit more comfortable with the process and results, plus I’ll use professional anodizing dye.
you really need to spend a lot of time in prep. anodizing shows everything.
Voltar, from what I’ve read, 7075 anodizes twice as fast as 6061, which might explain why it took more color, will play around with timing a bit and see.
Dog,
How tough is that finish? And can we see something done in black?
My understanding is that 6061 is THE choice for anodizing. Interesting that your 7075 took it so well!
Gotta make a bench for this as once you can anodize ally there is no holding back now eh? 🙂
Walter…
Best part about finished aluminum…… no more black hands/fingers.
tried to do a bit of anodizing this weekend, thought I had some aluminum wire, but turned out not to be so I made a hanger from some aluminum rod.
The parts I anodized where 6061, the rod I believe is 7075, it seemed to take the color better than the parts.
need to spend more time in prep, left a finger print on the small piece 😳
Another link http://astro.neutral.org/anodise.shtml
I’ve never tried it myself but I have seen the stuff at the club that used printer ink and it did a first rate job.
good to hear about the RIT dye, was going to try that first as it is readily available.
I borrowed a CC/CV power supply from one of my Uber Geek co-workers.
picking up some acid at NAPA, have most everything else, do need to get some sort of dye though.
once I get a bit more cash I’ll pickup some “real” dye and a few other goodies from them
they sell a kit but its wayyyyy over priced
IIRC a power supply of about 25vdc is required, a very good connection to your work piece, lead plate for the cathode?/anode?
The dye I used when experimenting was the Rit clothing dye got it at the grocery store. All colors work well except black. Could not get black to work. All we got was a washed out kinda purple/pink.
Keep us posted as I know it would be worth a go once more!
Cheers,
Walter….
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second round went better, got a nice layer of Anodization and a good dye absorption.