MetalworkingFun Forum

releasing the smoke genie is never a good thing Tom but it sounds like you are on your way now!

Really nice job on making up that control box. I'm anxious to see the outcome of all of your hard work

Ed

Success!

All of the gremlins that showed up for the controller construction (still chasing some of them) stayed away tonight and I was able to anodize my first part. I just grabbed a piece of mystery aluminum out of the scrap bin and cleaned it up on the belt sander so it's not that pretty, but it's anodized and dyed a deep shade of blue. The pics below show it in the anodizing tank under power and in the sealant tank. The steps involved are as follows:

1) 5 minutes in the cleaner at 140ºF to clean off any grease and oil.
2) 1 minute in the etch tank at room temp to etch the surface. If the part has been buffed you would skip this step.
3) 40 minutes to 1 hour in the anodizing tank, a 15% sulfuric acid solution at 12 amps per square foot of area. Less time makes a more clear colored part, the full 60 minutes makes for more protection and leaves the part with a slight yellow tinge.
4) 5 to 20 minutes in the dye at 140ºF if desired.
5) 20 minutes in the sealer tank at 170ºF to seal and protect the color.

When I get the bench totally finished and gain a bit more experience, I'll make a video showing the entire process.

Tom

Well done Tom. Thats really cool.

Not bad at all for the first try. What a great addition to a home shop.

Ed

Always nice to have a successful first run - nice work Tom. I'll be looking forward to the video.

Wow Tom, that's good
What sort of dyes are used? Are they special for anodising?

DaveH

Thanks Dave.

They are special dyes. The pores in the anodizing are very small so it takes a dye with very small pigment to color it. I got my dyes and other chemicals from U.S. Specialty Color Corporation.

Tom

I spent the last two days working at home, building a manufacturing fixture for one of our products. This gave me the opportunity to try out the anodizing set-up on real parts. There are four aluminum parts in the fixture and I decided to get artsy and make the base clear and the rest of them black for a bit of contrast and variety. Had I thought about it sooner, I would have racked the base separately and pulled it out earlier than the rest before it got so yellow, but it still looks pretty good against the black.

Tom

Wow! That turned out very nice Tom. All the work setting it up paid off with good results.

Ed