Best anodisers?

[kink]

I plan on getting some items colour matched. But first I need to locate the best anodisers in the UK,
who are happy to send items via mail and who can match colours spot on. Basically perfect workmanship.

Failing that, anywhere in the world...

Thanks

[GoMachV]

Color matching anno, you end up trying several places typically to get the closest one. Everyone's mix is a little different, and custom colors could get very expensive. You will probably want to ask more specifically who has had anno done a certain color and how close it ended up, for example Lohas does a killer match to the Hot Trick red.

[kink]

I am after a match to the Kyosho gold shocks.

[GoMachV]

Naushad doesn't post on here all the stuff he posts on oOple, he recently had a chassis anodized to replicate the celebration chassis set for an optima and it turned out great. You may want to pm him here and see where he had it done.

Here is the oOple link
http://www.oople.com/forums/showthread.php?t=123939

[Coelacanth]

Fwiw, I've seen the dark orangey-gold color that AE uses for the gold pans on the vast majority of gold-anodized products; bike parts, car parts, etc. I don't recall very often seeing that champagne color produced by Kyosho for their shocks, motor guards, sideguards, etc. That one might be difficult to reproduce because it might be a custom-colored dye.

I *do* believe that Pargu2000 will anodize that color; I seem to recall in a past email communication with him that he showed off one of his all-gold cars. His English communication isn't so hot, mind you, but perhaps 59burst could be of assistance; he's buds with Pargu and sees him often.

Pargu did the blue anodizing of all my CYANide Optima parts. He did a great job, but the light blue color is also pretty common. It's everywhere so a lot of different anodizers seem able to easily make that color.

[GoMachV]

Here is how my gold turned out.

Nose plate is gold anno, the shocks are stock for comparison


Gold anno chassis rail next to a duratrax and a gold shock


My optima junk

[aip47-2008]

[quote="gomachv"]Here is how my gold turned out.

Nose plate is gold anno, the shocks are stock for comparison



Not to bad for an early RC10!

[Coelacanth]

Here is how my gold turned out.

Gold anno chassis rail next to a duratrax and a gold shock

Not bad, it's pretty darn close, except for a slight greenish tint (according to my monitor, anyway, and we all know monitor colors are not always accurate). Might even be closer if it was polished before anodizing, so the "shine" would match the shocks more closely. Either way, you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference unless you had a real Gold Celebration chassis side-by-side for comparison.

[GoMachV]

Here is the rest of it. I need go work on prep more, some pieces are dull and others have shine. It will look fine but this is all just practice.

[Coelacanth]

Jeff, you do your own anodizing? Because I'd caution you not to try polishing the already-anodized parts, you'll just scuff the anodizing. They need to be polished before anodizing in order to look glossy. I wouldn't want you to damage the anodize layer unless of course you're planning to re-do the anodizing (but then you'd have to strip it all off first, then polish).

[GoMachV]

O I know how it works. I just haven't taken the time to polish the pieces before having them done. That's why I say, this is just practice to try different prep (these were sanded with 320) and I plan to try some polishing on the next batch.

I found an anno shop literally 1/4 mile from my house that does very inexpensive "minimum shop charges"

[Coelacanth]

O I know how it works. I just haven't taken the time to polish the pieces before having them done. That's why I say, this is just practice to try different prep (these were sanded with 320) and I plan to try some polishing on the next batch.

I found an anno shop literally 1/4 mile from my house that does very inexpensive "minimum shop charges"

Good, I just didn't want you to mess up your ano job. So what did they charge you to do all those parts, if you don't mind my asking? You could PM me if you prefer. Thanks.

[GoMachV]

Shop minimum is $20/strip and $40/coat and they also do hard for $70
Now that I realize I can have the products back after stripping for my own prep work it allows me to play with the material more, like the polishing.

I took a lot more than shown

[Coelacanth]

Not bad, I think I paid about $60-ish, not including shipping, to do all of the Barney parts in 2 colors. I did all of the stripping & polishing myself, though. The guy who did it said it was great that all the parts were practically ready-to-go, he had hardly any prep work to do. He also said me might be getting out of anodizing and selling his equipment, so I'm not sure if he even does it anymore.

[phoenix]

Not in the UK but very good company:

http://www.jacobi-eloxal.de

I did a lot with them in the past, anodising and powder coating. Despite doing larger and professional work they always had an open mind for people showing up with smaller batches and individual wishes.