Power supply for anodising?

[Boyan Silyavski]

The one Jonathan linked to is 0-50V yours is 0-15v but it does need an external supply

Anodizing needs Amps not Voltage . Its perfect for the purpose, i wouldn't have recommended or bought it if it was the wrong one...

Now if he was anodizing Titanium or messing with plating, a better supply will be the 3602, which is 0-30VDc 0-30A. And yes, thats maybe the best Lab PSu to have at home for multipurpose, but its quite more expensive.

There are other cheaper possibilities:

http://www.ebay.es/itm/MLINK-KPS3030...8AAOSwgmJX1p2V

https://www.ercmarket.com/digital-la...0a-ps3020.html

https://www.ercmarket.com/maas-power...dc-0-30-a.html

[Clive S]

Anodizing needs Amps not Voltage

I don't think you can have one without the other

[Zeeflyboy]

0-15 volts is ok for up to about 6amps/square foot which is fine for the LCD method it seems, if going with 6asf that allows some fairly large pieces to be done with a 40 amp power supply.

30v would allow you to run at 12amps/sq foot, so you could get parts done more quickly but the power requirements quickly get out of hand for anything other than small to medium sized parts, but it is twice as fast.

I think 0-30v and 40 or so amps would be ideal, my largest part so far is about 2.6 sq/ft so at 12 asf would require 32 amps but I haven't seen any capable of that sort of power within a reasonable price range. The closest is that first link at 0-30v and 30 amps. I'm not doing it on a production basis so it's not a huge problem to run at 15v and 6 amps/sq ft and just accept that it'll take 2 hrs for a mil rather than 1 hour.

Jonathan - that looks interesting, I'll do some reading up and looking around at your link a bit more closer later thanks. The amps of the one you linked won't be sufficient to do the larger parts at 12 amps/sq foot but maybe I could just drop down to 6amps/sq foot for the larger pieces and it still leaves me the option to run at a higher voltage to do smaller pieces more quickly at 12 amps/sq ft.

Thanks for all the input guys!

[Boyan Silyavski]

40AMP 15vdc PSU will be good for ~7 square foot at 6Amp/Ft² density which is the recommended density for home scenario. Here is the calculator which i assume you know of, but anyway i will pass the link. I have tested it many times and it works perfectly.

For me price wise it was the perfect one PSU, having in mind i bought the acid in 20L

[Clive S]

For an experiment could you just use a standard lead acid car battery 3 sq/f would take 3 hours at 12A

[Boyan Silyavski]

For an experiment could you just use a standard lead acid car battery 3 sq/f would take 3 hours at 12A

I used that while waiting for my PSU. The thing is that there are certain times where you have to take certain steps and there is nothing better watching at the display what's happening with the Amp draw. In fact you have to limit it at the beginning, hence the need for Volt Amp separate control. I guess with and digital amp meter you could do that monitoring. With the proper PSU and using the calculator above, i was able to reach desired anodizing thickness at first try.

[Zeeflyboy]

I used that while waiting for my PSU. The thing is that there are certain times where you have to take certain steps and there is nothing better watching at the display what's happening with the Amp draw. In fact you have to limit it at the beginning, hence the need for Volt Amp separate control. I guess with and digital amp meter you could do that monitoring. With the proper PSU and using the calculator above, i was able to reach desired anodizing thickness at first try.

I'm certainly no expert, but from my reading it seems the key to consistent results (especially when dying the parts after) is to use constant current from a proper power supply.

Have you guys ever found a source for 6063 T6 aluminium for cathodes or do you just use lead and be done with it? I can't find 6063 T6 in any decent size.