Anodizing Set Up?

S

SPAknives

Well-Known Member
Hello Everyone,
Hope you all had a great Christmas! I know I did. I got a new 0-120 volt power supply from ol' santy clause. This will be for my anodizing set up. being that I have never anodized before I have a few questions for ya all.
Now that I have the power supply that came with leads what else do I need.?
I know I need some sort of container to put the trisodium phosphate/distilled water mixture in. Is there a size requirement for the container? Can it be to big. I was thinking of using a rubbermade pan that in about 10"long by 8" wide and about 5" deep. This way I could fill it about 3/4 full of the solution, put my cathode on one side and then dunk my liners in on the other side.
Is there a size requirement for the cathode?? I believe it needs to be larger than the item to be anodized, but I am just not to sure how large to make it. And what about the holder or the hook for the other lead.
If you pro's could give me a few hints and tips on how to set this part of the conglomeration up that would be awesome! pics would be realy cool as well. I am open to any suggestions or help that anyone can give me on the subject of anodizing. Thanks in advance for any help, Shane
 
Hi Shane!

Just about any non-metallic container will work. I like using a glass container, because I can look through it and see where the color is on my Ti during anodizing. I prefer a taller vessel, and use one of those glass kitchen storage "jars", that has the old style flip type lid.

The larger the cathode, the more efficiently your anodizing will go.... I use a piece of .070 Ti, 3" X 4" which is rounded to match the inside contour of the container, with a "tab" that is bent over to hang on the rim of the container.

The Holder/Hook used on the other side/terminal MUST be Ti! I used a scrap of .040, and made it into a long, thin "hook".

In my opinion one of the most important things is the concentration of your solution. Most folks use a "saturated" solution, but I have found that I like a 50-60% solution best....it takes a bit more time, but the colors come out more vivid and bold than with the saturated solution. The container I use holds about 1/2 gallon, and I use approx. 1 cup of TSP. In order for me to achieve a saturated solution in that container, it takes just less than 2 cups.... (that's how I made the guess of the solution percentage).

Where the rubber meets the road with anodizing is in your finishing of the part(s) to be anodized. Mirrored finishes will result in bright, bold colors, satin finished parts will come out less bright, and bead blasted finishes come out looking pastel. The cool thing about anodizing is realizing that higher voltages will anodize over lower voltages. Many times I will mix finishes, and/or anodize a part with a higher voltage color...come back and sand off selected areas, then dunk the whole thing again at a lower voltage....you can get some cool effects, and often times perplexed looks from folks who can't figure out how you did it. :)
Play with it and have fun!
 
Thanks Guys for the great info. I have seen the Tom Anderson thread before and it has tons of great info.
Ed thanks, that helps a ton! I never could find a thread that explained things that good. I have found a few on building the power supply but hardly nothing on the container and cathode and that end of the rig. The thread Keith posted has a lot of good info as well.

So here is another question. Do you fellors anodize both liners at the same time to get equal results, or do you do them one at a time?
 
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If you want the liners to match as closely as possible, doing them at the same time is the way to go. What you have to remember is that the more mass you introduce into the vessel, the more voltage it takes to achieve the desired color....for example, if you experiment with with a 1"x1"X.040 Ti to get a specific color, and find the voltage for the color you desire, that will not be the exact same voltage for something with as much mass as a set of .060 folder liners....you will have to "bump" the voltage up bit by bit until you get the color you want....that's why a vessel that I can see through is so important.
 
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