First Experiments Anodizing Aluminium at Home

[h4ppy-chris]

Disclaimer - None of the following is garrenteed to be strictly accurate. However it is garranteed to be extremely harmful to your eyes, fingers and other extremities if you don't take care with chemicals. Take care and don't blame me if it all goes badly wrong.

the idea was 1st sparked by blackburn mark, when he asked me on the phone (had i ever done any anodising ) and told me about one shot.

stuff i got and where from:
1, one shot B&Q £10.35 for 1 ltr
2, caustic soda £2 and distilled water £1 per 2.5 ltr from asda
3, http://www.gaterosplating.co.uk/index.php for de-smut and dyes they sell on ebay as well put in anodise not anodize

well here's where i am up to atm.

1. mix about 3 table spoons of caustic soda to 1 ltr water. i leave my part in this for about 10 mins, longer if removing old anodise.


here's my setup the bath is 6 ltrs distilled water then added to it the 1 ltr bottle of one shot. allways add acid to water never the other way round.
there is a peace of sheet lead in the tank that the negative is clipped too, the positive is clipped to the bass bar which my part is hung from using aluminum wire. i am using a 12v battery charger on the fast charge setting.


here's my part fizzin away :naughty:


it can be in there for up to an hour, i have found that when the multi meter voltage is fairly stable its cooked.
(multi meter is clipped too the + and - on the battery charger)



now anodised.


first step to dyeing it, let it sit in the dye for up to 10mins for a deep colour. (this is just food colour)


then i steamed it for 10 mins


this is it after 20 mins of boiling in water to seal it, it did buff up ok.


here's some other parts i have been playing with.
part polished


anodised and lost its shine :cry:


dyed with the red food coloring


the gold part was black so removed the anodise polished it to very shiny re-anodised it.
used yellow food colour, and it came out still shiny


thanks for reading