Working on a turbo bike project and have 5 medium size bits (plenum, clutch cover etc) and 10 or so small bits (brackets etc) that I want anodised black. Anyone have an idea what it would cost to get done by a pro? Can get kits on ebay for £70 to £150+ which include current controller and chemicals (and buckets to put them in). Not sure but I suspect the larger bits might need more current than a car charger could deliver.

Just need a very rough estimate of prices so I can work out if it will be a diy job or not.

I've used a local guy a few times here. They do huge batches for industry. So long as I'm happy to wait for the right colour to be in the tanks they just sneak it in as and when. Last time I had two blue bits and 2 red bits... parts were 60mm diameter and 40mm thick. Cost about £45. Quality as you'd expect was perfect.

Worth looking around your local industrial estate for a coating specialist.

[Edited on 25/2/17 by tegwin]

I may be miles off but my experience with cast items, in home setup, is poor. Impurities yield black spots and the surface finish of even machined bits is poor.

I have done a few bits diy. Silver (No colour) works well, but I tried colour and did not work well.
As I understand Black is very difficult to get right.

No need to buy a kit for non coloured. Bucket, 12v Power supply, sheet of lead or aluminum and some sulfuric acid.
do a google search, I found several diy setups.

WARNING FOR THE ACID . IT BURNS TO TREAT WITH CARE.

Bad colour attempt.


Slave

Uncoloured. still looks good after 7years.


Lamps

Cheap and diy coloured anodising often fades and looks dreadful imho. If you want it purely as protection then diy and colourless would be ok (or coloured and expect it to turn funny colours), but if on show I'd bite the bullet and have done properly. If you can find someone locally that does anodising a lot for marine purposes then that process will be so hardy it'll outlast the car!

Point taken! I wont do it diy unless its clear. Will poke my nose round the industrial estate

How do you prepare a tatty used part for anodising?

Does it need keyed (vapour blasted?) for the process to work, or is a polished finish better for adherence?

afaik Scot, very much the same prep as for chrome plating.

Needs to be a well polished surface.

Looked into DIY plating a few years ago.
The larger pieces of alloy that I wanted to anodize needed a fair few amps current, a suitable power supply was fairly expensive.

As for chrome plating, the sheer hassle of obtaining the right chemicals put me off from the whole idea.

[Edited on 26/2/17 by bonzoronnie]

Cheers

It'll *work* on any surface, but it'll accentuate the surface finish. Like painting, if there's imperfections you'll see them twice as bad in the finished item.
This is an interesting post on it.
https://i3micro.org/2008/01/18/homemade-anodizing/

Cheers!

Experience of having parts anodised for work are slight differences in colour between batches. For this reason I'd opt for having them done ideally in a single batch by a professional company. Using a professional company they should also ensure the material surface finish is correct prior to anodising.