Re: ATM Painting Aluminum

[Technologie2000@t-online.de (Helmut Göbkes)]

Hi Scott, Hi List,

> If I wanted to anodize a piece or two, who would I need to talk to?
>I checked a around a bit locally and could only find places with
>a large minimum order.

You can easily anodize small pieces of aluminium for yourself! the process
is
simple und can be done with very cheap materials.
Sure, you must handle sulfuric-acid at 20% concentration, but if you
are a litlle bit careful, there is no danger on this.
You can get sulfuric acid from an auto-mart as refill for car batteries
and mix them (slowly) with distilled water 1:1 to get the right
concentration.
The part is put into ths acid with a DC supply +-pole connected to you part
and the minus-pole to a piece of lead, both hanging in the acid-bath.
Important: use only aluminium Wires to connect the parts in the bath!
let them in the bath for about an hour at currents of 2 Amps
(current and time depends on Size by 900Amps/Square-Inch per Minute formula)
after that time, rinse your part and dye it in the color of your choice for
20 Minutes
at 60 Degrees Celsius.
http://www.caswellplating.com/ delivers excellent dyes for aluminium dyeing.
"Normal" acryllic paints my work, but personally i have only excellent
results
in using "real" anodizing dye colors from above manufacturer.

After Dyeing, boil the part 30 Minutes in Water and
you have a perfect anodized aluminium parts in your hands, for a cost
of less some Cents.

I used this Technique for anodizing my Parts now for 6 Month *very*
successful!

btw: exact Step-By-Step procedure can be obtained also at
http://www.caswellplating.com/

helmut