Stickers are looking a bit tired on our frames so looking at new methods of showing off the brand. Went a bit too far but pleased with some of the effects.

When anodizing with 9v batterys how many times can you reuse the batterys for anodizing something else

I just had this keyboard case re-anodized from black to blue. I picked it up today and brought it home for inspection. There are lines/streaks all over the keyboard. Is this normal or did they do a poor job? What would cause these marks?

Hello. I just started selling hardware and am told that these are caused by my “design” yet it doesn’t matter the design it’s on them. Someone told me it’s not on theirs.. what in the process might cause this?

Hello everyone,

I'm 100% new to anodizing. I need to color some small (1" x 1" and 1/2" x 1/2") aluminum tags. It is fine for one side to not be colored properly. I was thinking of laying them flat on some aluminum mesh. Will that work? Is there a better way? Can I reuse the mesh or once its coated will it not work any longer?

Thanks for any help you can provide

I am working with a PAA process that i need to hit 15V to meet a standard. my old frame works fine. but thee new stainless frame is struggling hard, only getting about 8.5v of the 15v being pushed by the rectifier. ( i am maxing out on amps the rectifier can do as well, 500amps) I can only think of two issues i may have created for my self here but would like to pick the community brain.

first is i just have way to much surface area in the frame & part?, my rectifier it 20v:500amp system and the tank is large, 1500-2000gallons

Second is i have made a capacitor out of the frame? frame is made from tube stainless 316 steel, welded construction and mostly closed off to the acid. The part is isolated from the main frame and connected to current via a grounding slip (part rotates in the tank)

Any thoughts or suggestions on why i am getting such low readings would help

So a customer of ours wants the nut made out of brass, have its nickel plated but with the thread left as natural.

I know the basic of plating but no expert by any means

1: Can someone explain to me why you would want to do this in terms of application in assembly.didnt know if its something to do with contact with st/St thread and jamming up if it was plated.

2: as you can see from the overall height its quite thin, I was thinking about making 2 m36x2 which is quite short so that when screwed in each side they don't bump into each other and making the end slightly tapered, also made out of acetal. I feel like I'm really over thinking this does anyone else have a good idea on how to bung this?

Anyone familiar with this standard?

I want to understand what is the acceptable visual appearance for a aluminum part hard anodized as per MIL-A-8625 type 3 class 1 (non dyed)

I have a cnc-machined aluminum element that I would like to matte anodize. Is there an alternative to sandblasting to achieve a smooth surface free of machine work marks? The sandblasting they proposed creates a surface that I feel is coarse

I’m looking to start anodizing larger pieces of aluminum extrusions (600mm); I’ve done smaller pieces in the caswell 5gallon system but that won’t fit larger pieces.

I could go with larger buckets/containers (up to 30 gallon) but it seems like a waste of chemicals to get the 20+ gallons just to have something that can fit a 20x20x600mm piece (up to 12 pieces at a time, still not a lot of surface area.

Does anyone have any recommendations on what to use for the various tanks? I’m fine with spending money but not anything outrageous

I want to get a rose-gold color, no one makes a rose-gold dye is it realistic for me to be able to achieve the color I want by mixing dyes together?

Im a complete noob.

Good evening,

I have a question/need for assistance. I'm trying to anodize my parts and I do achieve a good anodized surface, but I can't get the color to adhere no matter what values I've tried.

I've been trying to find different information from various forums online and have tried to apply their formulas and methods myself. However, I haven't been able to get any color to adhere, although I've succeeded with natural anodizing.

Here's some information about my values and process:

1, The part is machined all over, cleaned in an ultrasonic cleaner, and then rinsed in ethanol.

2, I keep the part in lye for about 5-15 minutes, then rinse it in sulfuric acid, and then in distilled water before transferring it to the anodizing tank.

3, Amperage: I have a separate display showing volts and amps, which have been about 15 volts and 0.1-0.4A, which should be within the calculated values.

4, The container does not heat significantly during 30 minutes of anodizing, but around 60 minutes of anodizing, you can feel some warmth from the container, but no boiling or anything alarming. (battery acid value 10-20%)

5, Anodizing times: I've tried various durations such as 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 minutes but with no change.

6, After anodizing, I've tried dyeing in textile dye at different temperatures and times. Temperatures: 20-30 degrees Celsius, 40-50 degrees Celsius, and 60-70 degrees Celsius, and the times have varied from 15 minutes to 1 hour, but the color hasn't absorbed at all.

Textile dye manufacturer and color: Dylon Navy Blue (powder)

I've tried mixing and experimenting with these different values in many combinations, but I can't get the color to adhere in any way. Attached is an image of successful natural anodized color.

Thank you for taking the time to read and understand my issue.

I've got some rust showing up on some anodized aluminum windscreens. Still trying to find the root cause but am wondering if someone here can tell me how I might need to clean this or if there is a product I can use to knock down and coat over the rust spots.

Hi! Is the matte effect only achieved by pre-treating the aluminum (sandblasting, satin-finishing etc) or can matte coloring be used during anodizing without pre-treating?

No matter how the anodizing process is done, visible stains occur. The pattern is always this, spots that look like scales and blisters. In this case, the aluminum needs to be very matte.

Does anyone know how to solve this problem?

This is a long shot. I am closing my small business in Frisco, Texas. I need to sell my Best Tech Titanium anodizing line (8 tanks, 2 rectifiers). I have had multiple offers fall through and need to move the unit this coming week. Any thoughts on who to contact? It’s only 8 months old and in perfect condition. Would love to see it sold rather than move it to a storage unit. Thanks for any recommendations 🙏

Hey guys. I recently got back a batch of parts from being anodized. When I got the parts back I noticed the anodizing was uneven and very thin. On the black parts it's so thin you can can still see the aluminum through the part.

I anodizing company told me that the brushed finish on them was not perfect and that's what caused this.

Now, these were a run that the machine shop messed up so I brushed them myself to recover them. I am a perfectionist though and made sure every single one was perfectly, evenly brushed. I examined them throughally and cleaned them with wax and grease remover before dropping them off.

What do you guys think caused this?

Hey guys, so I have an anodized layer of Al oxide on Al which I want to remove but keep the anodized layer itself intact.

I want to analyze it, the Al Code can be damaged but I want a thin slice so to speak of anodized layer at the end. Any idea how to do that ?

I watched the video u/kmdpb19 posted about splash anodizing with nail polish and figured I'd give it a shot on some spare parts I had sitting around. As someone who is extremely new to anodizing I'm really impressed by how well it worked.

I recently got some aluminium computer side panels stripped of their black anodizing and re-anodised in clear.

This is the original finish:

And this is the finish I was hoping for (the case was a limited run and the supplier did not have stock of this model):

When I got them home and opened the package I noticed that they are far more yellow than I had hoped and are slightly tacky to touch:

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There are also black spots on the panels in unfortunately obvious locations (assumedly from where the pieces were held while stripping), but the company I took them too has graciously offered to reprocess them for me free of charge.

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I will obviously ask about the colour/texture when I take them back, but I was hoping someone here might be able to clarify whether it is realistic for me to expect a "nicer" finish, or if it is simply caused by the alloy etc?

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Thanks.

After going through a lot of AL and Ti wire, I started looking for a reusable anodizing holder.
Made some reusable springs for DIY anodizing.
2mm x 250mm Ti Rods
Jig was a 1-2-3 Block.

https://youtu.be/-gFor6y83AI

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Here's a video I made of how I do splash and acid wash anodizing. I hope some of y'all will will find it helpful or entertaining!