Anyone here anodizing aluminum parts at home? I've got a handful of parts on coming off my mill that I want to anodize all 6061, and I think adding this capability to my workshop will be beneficial in the future. I've been reading about the basic process and it sounds relatively straight forward. Really doesn't take much in the way of equipment and materials.

Adjustable power supply (I'd likely purchase a bench top power supply since I can use that for other projects as well)
hot plate to heat solutions
containers for the baths (Desmet, anodize, cleaning water bath, boiling water bath, dye bath)
PPE

sulfuric acid
lye
distilled water
dye (if color is desired)

Aluminum wire and plate for wiring up and acting as the cathode

Any gotcha's I should consider?

Go to Mark Pressling's YouTube channel.  He does a lot of home workshop anodizing, as well as other surface treatments like parkerizing. He's Australia based, but the techniques don't vary with latitude.

https://youtube.com/@Preso58?si=jVHw9QmQU7_l23__

Nice, I'll check his videos out. I've watched many of his but didn't realize he had some on anodizing.

I've done it. Wear your safety glasses and do it to it. Get a fume system for the lye steps.

You'll need Nitric acid to de-smut your parts. It's fun as hell watching a part come out of the lye solution, when you think you've ruined it, to throw it in the Nitric and all the trash just falls off revealing a clean, flawless part.

Use titanium wire.  It won't become anodized or fall apart.

https://caswellplating.com/anodizing-products.html

I do it pretty regularly.  As others have said, Titanium wire is the way to go.  I use an aluminum bar with holes in it to hang everything, and lead sheet for my cathode.  I use sulfuric acid as my electrolyte - dilute battery acid has worked well. I don't always use a lye bath during prep, often I will just scrub down with acetone to clean the parts and that works fine.  I have had great results and I have had some pretty poor results.  Cast does not anodize well, if at all, using the home process.

I use buckets for my solutions, and stainless pots for my hot stuff.  I kept the oven/range from my old kitchen and moved it to the shop.  It is nice to have multiple burners available for the dye and water sealing steps.  The oven works great for powder coating too.  If you have the room and can find one, it is pretty handy to have in the shop.

I think the most irritating thing is the inefficient use of dye.  I usually only have a few parts to do at a time and the mixed dye does not store for long at all.  It molds and I have to chuck it.  If I can save up a few things that helps, but that never seems to be how projects roll through the shop.  I was going to try freezing the dye mix next time and see how that works.    

If you have any specific questions let me know.  I am far from an expert, but I can probably save you a little on the learning curve. Attached File


It is tough to get small and big parts to match all the time.
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Bead blasted then anodized
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Lye dipped, natural
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