Home-brew anodizing?

[losiXXXman]

What kind of solutions are necessary to do anodizing and get all those cool colors? AND where do I get them without being "in" the industry? I remember RC CAR doing a home brew anodizing article like 20 years ago, using dry cells or lantern batteries, and I'd swear he used Mr. Clean or some other similar household cleaner as the electrolyte. Is this possible?

At work we had a pair of machines sitting at work that are for electrostatic plating/etching/marking of metals. They hadn't been used in the 5+ years I have been there, so I inquired about them, and was told to take them home. There are a couple of solutions that I can also acquire, but I think they are for marking stainless steel, and in black. The machines do AC and DC, on several different voltage ranges in each current setting.

I already de-anodized a pair of worn Kyosho golds that I had laying around with some 1M NaOH (Sodium Hydroxide). Just need to know where to go from here...

[Charlie don't surf]

There is a bunch you can find online about it, but you basically have to run about 16 v and buy the correct solutions

[losiXXXman]

Yeah, I'd looked around out there a little bit, but kept coming back to needing H2SO4 for the oxidizing, then a dye bath. From what I saw, getting hold of the Sulfuric acid is the difficult part. Also saw that you can use some organic acids, so was thinking of acetic acid - (white distilled vinegar). I just gotta be careful, I don;t want to blow anything up for sure.. I don't think that I should be dropping an electric current into just any solution.

Oh, and happy B-day Reggie, and congrats on the new little Hammer that'll be joining the race team soon...

[pancar]

Check out this website, they are pretty much the place to go for "at home" anodizing stuff. They also have a forum section which would probably be the best place to ask your specific questions. Let us know the results!

http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/aluminum.htm

[jwscab]

yeah, its sulfuric acid and you should be able to get it at most good automotive shops as battery electrolyte.

You mix it is a solution with water to some percentage (15-20% I think). Then you need a DC current source such as a battery charger, or something similar. I forget what you used as the cathode, maybe lead. Otherwise, you use aluminum or titanium on the anode side. Always Add Acid when making a solution.

then you wash the parts in a caustic solution, such as oven cleaner to strip the parts. prep the parts as desired, such as polished, natural, brushed, etc. Then clean them really well, either the caustic dip or acetone, etc, attach aluminum or titanium wire, and put the parts in the solution and turn on the current. There is some rough formula for current, but I couldnt' tell you what it is.

you leave the parts in for a set period of time, while making sure the solution stays cool. then you take them out, wash them in COLD water, then drop into a dye bath. Once there for an appropriate time, you put them in a boiling pot of water to seal the pores.

I've never done it at home, but I want to. And you should use plastic buckets/containers, and in a well ventilated area.

caswell is an excellent resource.

[Seabass]

I ano'd some stuff at the house using a battery charger. Get some battery acid, readily available at the automotive parts store just as mentioned.

I used RIT dye for my coloring, and pretty much followed what was mentioned. Cold water rinse, warm dye, boiling water to seal.

I can tell you your acid solution can become very warm so you need to watch your temps. I even read about guys standing next to the solution adding ice cubes as needed to keep the temp down.

It was a success but the color was very difficult to the same across different parts. The most diffcult part ot eh process is haning your parts and having a solid connection between your aluminum wire and the parts.

Here are some parts from my attempts at ano. It was hit and miss. I even tried an entire tub but I could not get a solid connection to the wire and the color ended up being light in some areas.

Hanger with parts



Acid with current



Dying Color



Parts that came out blue




The funniest thing about this entire process was my youngest daughter. After I made the hanger and attached all the parts, she said, "You made a crown for me? Thank you" I had to take a picture with her wearing her crown. (This is before the thing ever came close to the acid in case you are wondering).

[Charlie don't surf]

I remember that pic of your daughter. Jake, how many amps were you using?

[mrlexan]

(This is before the thing ever came close to the acid in case you are wondering).

Got me!

[Seabass]

50 amps was what i used.

at Mrlexan

[Coelacanth]

Your process really intrigues me, especially the part about using RIT dye. I like that idea because it allows you to combine colors and get custom colors. I wonder how comparable it is to whatever dye is sold that's intended for anodizing, though? With anodizing, your color choices are quite limited. Why wouldn't anodizers use RIT dye or something similar?

[Lonestar]

50A ?????

[jwscab]

50A sounds high, but maybe that was the source he was using.

RIT dye is an organic dye so it's not very uv stable. inorganic dyes are more durable and UV resistant. At least that is what I've read on the subject.

[Charlie don't surf]

50 amps was what i used.

at Mrlexan

Wow, I thought 16a was the "perfect current" for a bath that size! I can't believe you didn't melt the bucket!!!

[rctenracer]

I used the 20amp setting on the battery charger I had. I worked great for the tub chassis and I used red rit dye. The problem I had were the small parts at 20amps ( couldn't go lower) keeped frying the wires. Thats were I gave up thinking I am going to blow up the garage. Here is what I tried using a five gallon plastic bucket. I stripped the chassis using caustic soda . Then used a muratic acid and water solution next. Washed the chassis off with water. For the anodizing I used battery acid from napa and water I think I mixed it two parts water and one part acid. 12ga aluminum wire and a lead cathode from home depot (roofing material) . Turn on the 20amp supply and the chassis started to fizz . I think I let it cook for ten minutes . When done I used red rit dye at a Boil and left the chassis in there until I liked the color . Rinsed it off in cold water. Thats my story with the home brew .

[Charlie don't surf]

One day I decided to google local ano and plating companies, I got connected to a consultant by mistake, but he was bored and I had the time so he spent about 2 hours on the phone with me going over the process and correct procedures ( a fair amount I didn't pay attention to ). But I do remember him saying there was a formula for the surface area vs voltage/time/temp and that an ice bath around the vessel that you were using was almost always a good idea as the temps can get pretty high as you go along- still haven't tried it because he stressed the 16a thing, which meant 2 deep cycle diesel/marine batteries in parallel, then a pair of 4v resistors to bring it down ( sounded like too much work )