Home Anodizing Set-up

[TomG]

There's not much to do on the bench until parts start arriving, but I did manage to make the cathodes and mount them in the anodizing tank. They are simply sheets of 6061 aluminum screwed to opposite sides of the tank and wired with some #12 stranded wire. The anodizing tank will also require a bubbler for agitation and a rack to hold the parts, which will travel from tank to tank throughout the anodizing process.



I think I have the heating system worked out. It will consist of 2000 watt heating elements, much like hot water heater elements, except that they are stainless. There will be one in each heated tank and they'll be controlled by a PID temperature controller through solid state relays. The plan is to place a thermocouple in one of the 140º tanks and use it as a master. The other 140º tanks will be slaves, with heating elements but no thermocouple. This way I can get by with one temperature controller for the 140º tanks and one for the 180º tank.

Tom