How to Anodize

[Vector006]

Thought everyone here might benifit from this site:

http://www.focuser.com/atm/anodize/anodize99.html

If anyone has done this themselves before, how did it go?

-jer

http://www.focuser.com/atm/anodize/colors.jpg

[Vector006]

Thought everyone here might benifit from this site:

http://www.focuser.com/atm/anodize/anodize99.html

If anyone has done this themselves before, how did it go?

-jer

http://www.focuser.com/atm/anodize/colors.jpg

[Alejandro]

When you anodize two pieces that are welded. How does the welded joint looks like? I`ve heard that turns kind of black or a different color than the anodized.

[Brent Howard]

Hey Alejandro,

It turns the same colour as the other anodized material, just the shade is a bit different. I will try to remember to take some pictures of it when i'm over there on Sunday. Try to remind me though as I'm likely to forget.

Brent

[Charlie]

One of our guys tried to anodize in 2002, it looked OK.

In my experience (and we had professional anodizing in 2003) welded joints suck for anodizing. Its very difficult to remove contaminants from the weld and if you can't/don't it turns an awful black color. I wouldn't recommend anodizing anything that has a lot of welds on it.

[Bulldog R]

theres a special type of rod used that when anodized, it looks just like the part. Sorry i dont have details but i can ask one of our team mates who uses it what it is if anyone wants to know.

[Brent Howard]

http://www.enme.ucalgary.ca/fsae/Pics/Intake.JPG

I figured I might as well post it here rather than just e-mail you alejandro. This was our intake in 2001 and it was anodized aluminum. As you can see the welds are anodized as well, however there is some discolouration, especially in the HAZ. All in all it ended up blotchy and not too appealing. I agree with Charlie, stick to parts that are just machined for anodizing. Welded parts should just be painted or polished, etc... as you will likely not achieve your desired effect.

Brent

[Farls]

We had our diff cover anodised last year, only 1 weld but it looked fine (not perfect but good enough).

[Michael Jones]

We tried homemade anondizing a couple of years ago. It was pretty sketchy and dubious on the safety factor as well, and frankly looked like ass. But this guy seems to have figured out a few things we didn't try, so it might work.

That noted, getting a anondizing sponsor is probably a better use of your time.

[RiNaZ]

which part of the car that usually get anodized? im kinda new at this method, anybody here can shed some light on why we need to anodized parts apart from making it stronger only at the surface? thanks in advanced

[Brent Howard]

Really for us it's just for looks. We did use the surface hardening anodizing once for Aluminum rear hubs, but I don't think it really improved anything too much. Anodizing is basically a hard oxide film...I guess it would prevent corrosion, but how many of these cars actually have issues with corrosion??

Brent

[Alejandro]

The judges like anodized aluminium, or with a good look...

[Charlie]

One of our guys told me to post up and inform the board that the blackness that can occur from anodizing welded joints is a result of the silicon in the filler rod. 4043 is a common filler rod and contains 5% silicon. If you use 5356 rod you can achieve a good color-matched welded joint.

Oh and anodizing in our case is mainly for looks, but it does mean a more durable part. Most of our 2003 car parts are anodized and with a bit of cleanup they still look great even after everything the car's been through. Plain aluminum would be tarnished by now.

[Garbo]

There's a guy at our school who started doing anodising for paintball guns and the like. I talked to him about DIY anodising and he talked me out of it. It's not overly complex but getting big power supplies can be a problem and getting a consistent current density is nasty, particularly in bigger, complex parts. He said that even the little parts that he was doing often came out blotchy which would seem to mean uneven thickness... not good for looks OR performance.

garbo