AR15 Lower Annodizing

[gregorylucas]

Hi All,

I'm looking to get one of my AR lowers anodized, any recommendations?

Thanks!
-Greg

[BlooDSMeaR]

I have had Matthews carbine company do a couple pieces of mine. They do all sorts of custom colors. Mine came out far better than expected for a very reasonable price.

His email :matthewscarbinecompany@wildblue.net
his number is 559-364-9931

He is out of Clovis Ca. He will do shipping

[gregorylucas]

I have had Matthews carbine company do a couple pieces of mine. They do all sorts of custom colors. Mine came out far better than expected for a very reasonable price.

His email :matthewscarbinecompany@wildblue.net
his number is 559-364-9931

He is out of Clovis Ca. He will do shipping

He unfortunately can only do 80%ers, not the 100%er that I have currently. Thanks for offering the suggestion!

-Greg

[ModulusArms]

I hope you figure it out so I can tell other people!

[kcstott]

I hope you figure it out so I can tell other people!

There are places out there problem is it's expensive for one or two lowers and people don't want to pay that kind of money to get it done.

[daves100]

lowers

I need a few done also

[11bravo1p]

Fwiw,
I have seen completed 80% lowers (pre-parts) nicely finished using duracoat. I think it's worth considering if you end up SOL finding someone to annodize yours or the price point is too high.

[krwada]

DIY anodizing aluminum

I had the same issue too. I did not want to pay $60+ to do a single job. Plus ... the shop needs to have an FFL in order to do a completed part.

Therefore ... I decided to anodize my own.

It is not too difficult. If you wish to dye the part ... then all you need to do is add the dye step. the dye step is just simply immersing the finished part into a tank of dye before doing the boiling and sealing ... really ... it is just that

Now... a word of warning ... concentrated battery acid is basically 50% concentrated sulfuric acid! This is extremely tough stuff and you need to wear gloves and an apron when handling this stuff out in the open well ventilated area. Doing this operation in the garage is NOT recommended.

Pouring battery acid down the drain is a surefire way to completely ruin the drain and will incur very heavy repair costs. You MUST neutralize the acid before disposing of it. I recommend using lye ... However, lye, (sodium hydroxide), will cause the solution to boil as the lye neutralization is highly exothermic.

In my opinion ... the most difficult part of this process is proper neutralization and disposal of the battery acid.

Neutralizing with washing soda or lye are both ok. This is because the neutralized product is a salt, (sodium sulfate), which is very benign.

[VaderSpade]

Battery acid is 35-36% sulfuric acid and that needs to be dropped down to about 19% for anodizing.

[gregorylucas]

I found a place: http://www.ano-tech.com/

Call Brett @ (800) 266-6836.

Their prices are VERY reasonable compared to some of the other prices mentioned in this thread.

[toddh]

Hi All,

I'm looking to get one of my AR lowers anodized, any recommendations?

Thanks!
-Greg

Are we supposed to guess your location ?

And FWIW....you could use the SEARCH feature for anodizing since this has been covered about a billion times.

Near San Diego....A to Z finishing. FFL, $35-40 .

[kcstott]

I had the same issue too. I did not want to pay $60+ to do a single job. Plus ... the shop needs to have an FFL in order to do a completed part.

Therefore ... I decided to anodize my own.

It is not too difficult. If you wish to dye the part ... then all you need to do is add the dye step. the dye step is just simply immersing the finished part into a tank of dye before doing the boiling and sealing ... really ... it is just that

Now... a word of warning ... concentrated battery acid is basically 50% concentrated sulfuric acid! This is extremely tough stuff and you need to wear gloves and an apron when handling this stuff out in the open well ventilated area. Doing this operation in the garage is NOT recommended.

Pouring battery acid down the drain is a surefire way to completely ruin the drain and will incur very heavy repair costs. You MUST neutralize the acid before disposing of it. I recommend using lye ... However, lye, (sodium hydroxide), will cause the solution to boil as the lye neutralization is highly exothermic.

In my opinion ... the most difficult part of this process is proper neutralization and disposal of the battery acid.

Neutralizing with washing soda or lye are both ok. This is because the neutralized product is a salt, (sodium sulfate), which is very benign.

That will produce type II anodize not type III

[Munny$hot]

Cerakote is a much more durable finish than Duracoat. The cheapest way that will give you a very durable finish is make sure your part is grease/oil free, sand blasted/roughed up lower, then use a self etching rattle can primer or alodine then primer. After that a standard rattle can flat black, color, or whatever camp job you want to finish it off.

[1lowluv]

Armor Black cerakote is a very close match to most factory anodizing