Aluminum Anodizing Needed

GeneT45 said:
The acid can be used many times. I use battery acid (sulfuric acid) and further dilute it. You'll want some aquarium aerators to keep the fluid circulating, both in the electrolyte bath and later, in the dye bath.
Caswell is a good source of dye. (And maybe information.)

You can anodize a polished surface and it will be shinier than a blasted surface, but anodizing will itself dull the surface a little bit.

Many modern battery chargers are too 'smart' for anodizing purposed, but an older unit can be used. I use a lab power supply - eBay or they have some pretty cheap ones on Amazon these days. I anodize at 12A / sqft for 1 hour, so take a look at your parts and let that guide what size power supply you'll need. You can scale it linearly: e.g. 6A/sqft for 2 hours will also work.

GsT
Click to expand...
Nice. Glad someone with more specific info chimed in. I recall the name Caswell for the dye. I'd forgotten about the lye. I must have had one of the dumber" car chargers since it worked.

Article posted by jwmelvin looks to be everything one would need to know. I've saved it for future reference.
 
jwmelvin said:
[mention]mattthemuppet2 [/mention] shared an anodizing guide with me, and I have it available here:

Click to expand...
Newman went on to write a more comprehensive guide called "A Practical Guide to Anodizing Aluminum at Home", which he sold through his web site. Unfortunately it seems that he has ceased selling the book. That book was how I got started.

GsT

Edit: I stand corrected. The posted download is almost identical to the book I have, and appears to have been published *after* my copy. I thumbed through page by page and found only small differences. At one point there was a shorter guide by the same author which is what I mistook the download for initially.
 
Last edited:
lesrhorer said:
I read a bit about it, but it mentioned the parts need to be sand blasted. Not only do I not have any blasting equipment, but I would like the finish to be more or less a mirror.
Click to expand...
That is correct. The Cerakote process is fairly involved - probably at least as complex as anodizing. I’ve never done either myself, but have investigated both. If a mirror finish is desired, Cerakote is definitely not what you want.

I will say that Caswell sells a plating manual that has good information on anodizing as well as other plating methods.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top