ken555
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| posted on 5/2/09 at 07:00 PM |
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Anodizing Aluminium at home
Going to try this
Need to see the chemists at work for some sulphuric acid.
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jlparsons
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| posted on 5/2/09 at 07:42 PM |
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How weird is this... I was just wondering this morning if it would be possible to anodize stuff at home. Very interesting, cheers mate!
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Guzzisti57
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| posted on 5/2/09 at 08:04 PM |
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I've done this, and it works fine. The hard part is getting the sulphuric acid.
I used a supplier of motorcycle battery acid :
www.getgeared.co.uk/Battery_Acid
It's only 33 percent sulphuric, so you gotta compensate for that, but it's very hard to get pure these days, they think you're a
terrorist 
easy to use a plastic box, and an old battery charger 
smashin 
can't get the bladdy link to work
[Edited on 5/2/09 by Guzzisti57]
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rf900rush
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| posted on 5/2/09 at 08:12 PM |
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Iv'e anodize many parts at home now.
My brother got me some sulphuric acid for Car batteriers.
I use a small loft water tank with a U shape ali sheet in the bottom. The fill with enough acid to cover the component.
Set a power supply to 12-15V dc.
Old Battery charger may do.
Positive connects to the part.
Negative to the sheet in the tank.
Leave for 60 minutes
Then remove and clean
Then put in boiling water to seal.
I've tried dying but never had good results.
The plain silver finnish seem to work well.
Note Cast ali is not good for this process.
and not all ali works.
SAFETY NOTE
ACID BURNS so only try this with care.
Frost.co.uk sell Anodizing kits. plus dyes.
last item I anodized at home.
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smart51
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| posted on 5/2/09 at 09:07 PM |
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Frost sell all kinds of anodising stuff. Kits, solutions dyes, the lot. Probably not cheap but a
1 stop anodising shop.
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 5/2/09 at 09:41 PM |
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Good link Ken - bookmarked!
(Although I've always been wary of having sulfuric acid round the place - I have quite a bit of machinery in my garage, and H2SO4 is incredible
for causing rust - just a hint of fumes will start steel rusting.)
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BenB
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| posted on 5/2/09 at 11:18 PM |
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The trickiest bit is trying to get a good black colour for anodising. You can buy the dyes but they're pretty evil stuff. Not only are they
nasty chemicals but if you get it on your hands it's a keeper!!! Black ink meanwhile comes out a wierd yellowy green colour (ie it's not a
"solid" enough colour to be effective on such a thin film).
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02GF74
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| posted on 6/2/09 at 09:44 AM |
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I have some info. about doing DIYU anodising; don't recall ssulphuric acid being mentioned.
aslo I think dylon or similar dyes for clothes (or maybe food coloruing) was mentioned.
will need to dig it out.
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hughpinder
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| posted on 6/2/09 at 10:59 AM |
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I bought some drain cleaner from B+Q - the label says its 96% sulphuric acid!!!!!
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 6/2/09 at 11:16 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by BenB
The trickiest bit is trying to get a good black colour for anodising.
The bloke in the link (1st post) seems to have got good results with clothes dye - the dark blue seems to have given a colour that's almost a
perfect black.
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ken555
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| posted on 6/2/09 at 01:44 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by hughpinder
I bought some drain cleaner from B+Q - the label says its 96% sulphuric acid!!!!!
Good Find, may be worth a shot.
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Confused but excited.
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| posted on 7/2/09 at 07:02 PM |
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Have a look at; http://astro.neutral.org/anodise.shtml
and;
http://coloured.net/designresources/anodize.html
HTH
Tell them about the bent treacle edges!
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