Anodizing Party?

[jbl_1967]

All,

I am about to finish my first 80% AR lower and am contemplating a finish.

I would love to anodize, but it looks like I would have to sink a good bit of money into chemistry as well as temperature and voltage control.

That said, I REALLY want to have and upper and lower anodized in blue. Is there anyone in the Bay Area, home brew or professional, that has a good anodizing setup?

With all the interest in 80% lower finishing in the area, I was thinking that it might make sense to organize an anodizing party, if someone with experience and some of the hardware were able to pitch in.

Thanks,

Burke

[the big ravioli]

I'm in!! I have 2 that need a finish. Keep me posted.

Thanks

[Bing]

I have some sulfuric acid(battery acid) and a few battery chargers in hand. Who is game in testing out their anodizing skills? I am in the SF Peninsula.

[Bing]

Anyone in the Bay Area want to try out anodizing at home?

[jbl_1967]

I definitely want to try it out, but would love to find a way to spread the expense around as I don't need to setup a large anodizing line.

I'd love to find someone in the Bay Area who has experience and maybe some of the gear, as well as a few other people to go in on the chemistry.

[the big ravioli]

I'm very interested and I'm also ok with helping in costs! I use to anodize Titanium and Niobium but they are WAY different from aluminums.

I still have my set up if anyone knows of a way to modify what I have to get us up and going??

[jbl_1967]

Based on this site http://www.focuser.com/anodize.html it looks like we would need the various tanks, temperature control, and a good variable power source.

The power source would be the expensive part. I think we could get away with a battery charger, but I need to do some more reading on it, unless someone can jump in with a comment.

[the big ravioli]

It does take a lot more work to do it that way compared to doing Titanium or Niobium. I have a couple Variacs that are power transformers but I don't know squat about Aluminum..

[Bing]

so from what I read somewhere....we need a few gallons of diluted sulfuric acid (or battery acid), muriatic acid to clean the parts, a desmut solution to dip the parts before the acid bath (red devil lye), and colored dye. Can someone chime in on what else is needed?

[jbl_1967]

From what I have read, sealer is good, but not required. If you use it, the color doesn't fade as much during sealing.

There is also temperature control during anadozing, dying, and sealing. Anodizing requires keeping the temperature lower, which I believe can be done by putting frozen water bottles in the tank.

Decent, but cheap, thermometers seem like a necessity too.