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the Daily hi thread
Anodising at home.
- Thread starter A3Riderr
- Start date
Hmangphilly
Super member
What’s your part made of ?
It’s machined aluminium
Neil54
Member Extraordinaire
Yes I have done it.
I used a car battery as a power supply.
Small plastic bucket with lead for the cathode and aluminium for the anode.
Distilled water for the rinse bath.
I made the mistake of using pure sulphuric acid instead of 50% dilute.
Plenty of info on you tube.
I used a car battery as a power supply.
Small plastic bucket with lead for the cathode and aluminium for the anode.
Distilled water for the rinse bath.
I made the mistake of using pure sulphuric acid instead of 50% dilute.
Plenty of info on you tube.
Thanks mate. Will have a look into it. I only want to change the parts from chrome to black so should be too difficult
zx6fighter
Member Extraordinaire
Started doing some anodising a couple of months ago.
Been doing quite a bit just lately, I'm really enjoying it.
Manage to anodise an entire aluminium chassis that I'd built.
been using an anodising solution from Chronos engineering.
They also do full anodising kits.
here's the power supply I use, got it from Amazon.
Colouring dye powder was obtained from eBay.
Crack on and have a go, it's really enjoyable when everything goes right
Been doing quite a bit just lately, I'm really enjoying it.
Manage to anodise an entire aluminium chassis that I'd built.
They also do full anodising kits.
Colouring dye powder was obtained from eBay.
Crack on and have a go, it's really enjoyable when everything goes right
zx6fighter
Member Extraordinaire
That shouldn't be any problem, done loads of bits and pieces like that.
I made all the parts that are black in the photos, they were all aluminium and then anodised black by myself
Attachments
Brill. Thanks mate. Just thinking, with the initial outlay of the parts. Do you find it worth while to have all the kit?That shouldn't be any problem, done loads of bits and pieces like that.
I made all the parts that are black in the photos, they were all aluminium and then anodised black by myself
View attachment 815860View attachment 815865
I think it would.
zx6fighter
Member Extraordinaire
I'm no expert, but I do believe you can't anodize some forms of cast aluminium.
For me, I didn't think the initial outlay was not too bad, I do make a lot of parts, so it's been brilliant to be able to anodize stuff, I got fed up with looking at polished aluminium.
I think the anodising solution and the power supply we're about £130, the red blue and black dye powders, which were enough to make up four litres of each dye at full strength was about £50, don't think I'm going to have to buy anymore of that for a few years, the consumables like caustic soda, bicarbonate of soda, ( which you don't have to use), distilled water and degreaser ar cheap to buy.
Then all you need is a load of plastic containers.
If you're going to do more than a few items, I think it's worth the money.
DIY powder coating at home works well too.
I thought it might be useful to share my DIY powder coating set up. This took a lot of iterations to get right and a fair few 20,000v tingles along the way.
It looks like this:
The gun comprises an air duster to use on my 100psi 50l compressor (you can see a mini regulator at the bottom of the handle - essential to get the flow right) some 20mm Conduit, a conduit t piece, a couple of brass connectors some tubing and a wire. It is the powder coating equivalent of an air brush - a full size powder coating gun is too big really for just doing moderators and small parts for...
It looks like this:
The gun comprises an air duster to use on my 100psi 50l compressor (you can see a mini regulator at the bottom of the handle - essential to get the flow right) some 20mm Conduit, a conduit t piece, a couple of brass connectors some tubing and a wire. It is the powder coating equivalent of an air brush - a full size powder coating gun is too big really for just doing moderators and small parts for...
Few pics on this thread
I can polyester powder coat small items. Mostly in black: semi-matt to very glossy. This is a fairly durable way of refurbishing things (much more durable than paint). I am limited on size by my toaster oven but this is an option if you have a small one-off item a bigger firm would not be interested in. Cost is generally postage and pint or two unless I have to get in a colour I don't have (if it's not black or gunmetal metallic then I don't have it!) in which case we can talk
Possible colours are virtually unlimited (I quite fancy trying a dark bronze!)...
Possible colours are virtually unlimited (I quite fancy trying a dark bronze!)...