Power supply for anodising?

[john swift]

what happens when you turn the curren limit knob clockwise to turn the current limit up ?

John

[lilvfr400boy]

what happens when you turn the curren limit knob clockwise to turn the current limit up ?

John

Literally nothing as it's setup, it's as if the unit itself is clicking off the current. I've ran several tests tonight, both wires In the bath which gives full volts and current , reversing the polarity ( plating setup ) which also have full current and volts, the only way it doesn't work is setup to anodise I'm totally stumped by it I'll be going back to the car charger temporarily as I'm now a few days behind with bits

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[Voicecoil]

It's worth checking your connections (with a DMM set to ohms/continuity) - one probe on the connection to the PSU, one on the workpiece. In my setup (I use sodium bisulphate) I'd be expecting about 0.7...0.9A on 31in2 @ 20 deg C - always seems to be less than the 720 rule predicts, so I just run it for proportionately longer.

[lilvfr400boy]

It's worth checking your connections (with a DMM set to ohms/continuity) - one probe on the connection to the PSU, one on the workpiece. In my setup (I use sodium bisulphate) I'd be expecting about 0.7...0.9A on 31in2 @ 20 deg C - always seems to be less than the 720 rule predicts, so I just run it for proportionately longer.

Thank you I'll grab a dmm asap I stood on mine just before I wanted to use it it's a shame though if I have a good connection but can't get the unit to get an amp reading at all, what would you suggest if that is the case ( good solid connection , small work piece 7sq2, no amps )

I assumed ( potentially incorrect) that you could set the amps to whatever you wanted ? ( I know you would only set it to the 720 rules suggestion anyway ) but would be nice to be able to push the unit to am exact amp to match the 720, for example I can get a reading from the workpiece when it's the 32 sq2 piece but only pushing around 0.6 amp which is half what 720 suggests for 0.2mm thickness do I just double up on time and it will give me 0.2mm?

Sorry if this is super basic stuff that should be elementary but I find some info online is overkill and others are futile in the basic nature they describe it .
I was hoping I could ditch the car charger in place of this but without being able to do small bits I'll need to keep it is my concern.

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[Boyan Silyavski]

If you have properly done your setup, you can set the Amps as you want but not more than the size of the setup, then slowly amps drop. Thats how you read at what anodizing stage you are.

If you can not reach the recommended settings, then your plate is too small maybe, or is oxidized or sth. I used aluminum plates and worked like a charm.


Why dont you connect your PSU to a real battery and check if it works properly?

[Voicecoil]

Under some circumstances you (or more correctly your PSU if you've set it to constant current mode) will only be able to push the current to what the 720 rule suggests if you have some reserve voltage available, which may not be much on a 15V supply - I've found that in my bath I need 2 or 3V extra to get the recommended current, so I'd always recommend a 20 or 24V supply now. As for what you'll get on your 7in2 workpiece I'd reckon only 0.2A with 15V, which might be below the bottom end of the meter on your PSU - I doubt if it's amazingly accurate down there. Now then, can you see any fizzing/fine bubbles coming off the workpiece/cathode? if so, then you'll be doing some anodising. If you want to check your PSU, get a couple of 10 ohm power resistors and connect one across the terminals - with the supply set to constant voltage it should draw 1A at 10V, 1.5A at 15V. If you set the supply to constant current then you should be able to set it to 1A (voltage turned right up) with one resistor - if you now add the second resistor in parallel the current should stay the same. If you want to monitor the current on you car charger you could simply add something like this in series with the bath:

https://cpc.farnell.com/hobut/f3pam6...548?st=ammeter

[lilvfr400boy]

Under some circumstances you (or more correctly your PSU if you've set it to constant current mode) will only be able to push the current to what the 720 rule suggests if you have some reserve voltage available, which may not be much on a 15V supply - I've found that in my bath I need 2 or 3V extra to get the recommended current, so I'd always recommend a 20 or 24V supply now. As for what you'll get on your 7in2 workpiece I'd reckon only 0.2A with 15V, which might be below the bottom end of the meter on your PSU - I doubt if it's amazingly accurate down there. Now then, can you see any fizzing/fine bubbles coming off the workpiece/cathode? if so, then you'll be doing some anodising. If you want to check your PSU, get a couple of 10 ohm power resistors and connect one across the terminals - with the supply set to constant voltage it should draw 1A at 10V, 1.5A at 15V. If you set the supply to constant current then you should be able to set it to 1A (voltage turned right up) with one resistor - if you now add the second resistor in parallel the current should stay the same. If you want to monitor the current on you car charger you could simply add something like this in series with the bath:

https://cpc.farnell.com/hobut/f3pam6...548?st=ammeter

That amp meter suggestions brilliant will solve my issue for the end caps.
I'm hoping I get time to have a play today and see what I can do. I did test placing a bolt as the anode ( work piece ) to check see if that got a reading which it immediately did v and A were both controllable

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