DIY Anodization

[Eric DeSilva]

Ran across this the other day. I think I tried to post it before, but must have screwed something up. Given that the use of sulfuric acid has been what's stopped me from trying home anodizing before, thought others might be interested too. His finish looks pretty good.

[David Warkentin]

Where was it?

[Dan Hintz]

Eric,

Repost the link, but don't make it a hotlink...

[Eric DeSilva]

www[dot]observationsblog[dot]com/4/post/2011/10/anodizing-and-dying-aluminum-without-battery-acid[dot]html

I realize posts linking to other fora are prohibited, but this was an unaffiliated blog post... Didn't realize that was verboten. I've seen other people linking to their own blogs, so I'm not sure what is different.

Since I didn't think I'd posted a link before, actually, I'll try to ensure this doesn't get processed as a link by removing the http:// and turning all the periods into [dot]s.

[Eric DeSilva]

I tracked down the link policy for SMC, and I'm still unsure why the link was deleted. It wasn't a link to a competing forum, it was a blog, and the blog didn't even contain advertising. There is a note about making a link a central point of a thread, but this was a particularly interesting, and non-commercial, technique very applicable to home machinists. The link policy also implies that some commercial intent may be imputed for recent members, but I've been registered for four years and have over 1200 posts. I understand the linkage (so to speak) between the link policy and advertising, but I'm still unclear what I did that I wasn't supposed too...

[Chris Fournier]

Anodizing is a pretty laborious process that requires several carefully executed steps. The results are completely dependent on really monitoring several solutions for PH and temperature and the electrial source for the anodizing step. I would get a kit to help out. I use a kit from Caswell to anodize.

[Dan Hintz]

Thanks, Eric... I'll dig through the link when time permits.

[David Warkentin]

There is also an article on a pen making forum that tells how to anodize.