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Anodising Aluminium!

Neil Lawton

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This is from a technology card from 1974, published by Mills and Boon, of all people!
I've used this method, but used a 1 amp power supply instead of the battery.
When I scanned the card it was hard to read so I've taken snips of the relevant information.

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I did have some scrap pieces as samples to show, but I can't find them at the moment, they might be at work.
 

Jim

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This should have come with a health & safety warning Neil ... :funny::funny:

Great tip, and one that i just may use my friend .. :thumbs:
 

Neil Lawton

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This should have come with a health & safety warning Neil ... :funny::funny:

Great tip, and one that i just may use my friend .. :thumbs:

I've written over a hundred Risk assessments recently, and I'm all health and safety'd out!:down:
 

Neil Lawton

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I mentioned it in the Aluminium pen thread, so I put it up in case anybody wanted to try it on a pen. You'd have to anodise the finished blank without the tube in though, and then re drill to clear the hole. It does make the Aluminium exceptionally hard.
 

Buckeye

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I can't stress enough that the part to be anodised should be scrupulously cleaned and when you think it is clean enough clean it again, when it has been cleaned twice, clean it again. I bought grade 1 titanium wire to hang the pieces from as it doesn't get anodised and keeps a better contact with the part being anodised.

Peter
 

Lons

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Thanks for posting Neil, I find that very interesting and am going to give it a try. I have everything I need including the acid.

What is the finish like? Can you get a high polish?

Peter. When you say clean it - what with?
 

Neil Lawton

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Thanks for posting Neil, I find that very interesting and am going to give it a try. I have everything I need including the acid.

What is the finish like? Can you get a high polish?

Peter. When you say clean it - what with?

I just used to use it for jewellery Bob. The finished piece was just spray lacquered, so I'm not sure about a high polish.
We used to clean up with 0000 wire wool, and degrease with Isopropyl Alcohol.
 

Grump

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The shinier it starts, the shinier it finishes.
I buff with jewelers rouge then start the cleaning process, white spirit, meths, and end with a soak in soda bath.
Using natural soft bristle brush, thoroughly dry using hot air before dipping in plating solution.
Same process as any electroplating.
 

Buckeye

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Thanks for posting Neil, I find that very interesting and am going to give it a try. I have everything I need including the acid.

What is the finish like? Can you get a high polish?

Peter. When you say clean it - what with?

I was advised to use soft soap in warm water using gloves which I did eventually and then rinse in de-ionised water and finally a degreaser. once it is clean you must never touch it again with your hands. If you can see any scratches or blemishes before you anodise it then get rid of the blemishes as the anodising will not hide it and it looks terrible.

You can get a high gloss and it was something that was omitted from the process that helped with the gloss, but I have forgotten what that was, if I can find my notes I will let you know. I bought the kit to anodise parts for a mates cycle and he wanted both gloss and matt which we achieved, I just wish I could remember how.

Peter
 

Buckeye

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The difference between gloss and matt anodising is using caustic soda as a bath that will give you a matt finish, so if you omit that part you will get gloss anodised parts. When I made the pens and bike parts before I anodised I finished as best I could with the finest wire wool and then buffed them until I could see no marks or blemishes then cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. I did anodise without the thorough cleaning and it was not good.

Peter
 

Lons

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Neil, Brian, Peter

Thanks for the info guys, much appreciated, I've pasted your comments and will refer to them when I have a go.

Just got to try it!
 

Buckeye

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Neil, Brian, Peter

Thanks for the info guys, much appreciated, I've pasted your comments and will refer to them when I have a go.

Just got to try it!

You don't need to use dye you can just seal the anodises aluminium so that it looks natural. I looked at my notes and it was after I had buffed the parts using mops and buffing compounds that I used a degreaser and then washed in soapy water.

If you do get round to trying it let me know and I have a fair bit of info I can send you.

Peter
 

Penpal

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The snowball effect Neil thanks for coming back to the method. Years ago a mate used to commercially use a coventional bath for this process also fraught with OH&S even so long ago up in his shed so fraught with danger.

Peter.:thumbs:
 

Lons

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You don't need to use dye you can just seal the anodises aluminium so that it looks natural. I looked at my notes and it was after I had buffed the parts using mops and buffing compounds that I used a degreaser and then washed in soapy water.

If you do get round to trying it let me know and I have a fair bit of info I can send you.

Peter

Thanks Peter, I'll take you up on that
I have a fair bit of aluminium so I'll have a go on a scrap bit first I think. Not sure when but will definitely do it.
 

Buckeye

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Thanks Peter, I'll take you up on that
I have a fair bit of aluminium so I'll have a go on a scrap bit first I think. Not sure when but will definitely do it.

This is a 3 part video from Brad Gothard, he is a very nice guy and very helpful although he seems to have disappeared from the IAP and his website is no longer working.

Peter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GccTVfMiIIo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANyhHszppps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4bbtE1ci2Q
 
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