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Posted: 1/26/2009 6:16:55 AM EDT
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Performing anodizing at home is easy, while not as thick of oxide coating as milspec si very tough.
To begin you need a 12 volt DC battery charger that will charge at 5 amps, a plastic or glass container big enough for the part to be anodized, a lead sheet with at least as much surface area as part to be anodized, aluminum wire (no copper) and sulphuric acid (battery acid), nitric acid (Drano). These componients will allow you to anodize to add color use eather commercial dye for anodizing or Ritt cloth dye. take part from anodizing bath cleaned very well then put in 70 degree saturated dye bath, allow to soak for approx 1 hour. after that place in already boiling distilled water let stay for approx half hour. remove from water and clean in tape water. You will be amazied at results and it's plenty tough. I didn't give exact direction for performing, suggest a few minutes of surfing under Aluminum anodizing which give exact instruction from several sources. |
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When I first started home anodizing, that's exactly how I started.
Soon I wanted more consistency, and started using a constant current power supply. Messing with the bath strength, I'm able to achieve >2 mill thickness if needed. CC anodizing is very time dependant, meaning you control the thickness by the amount of time in the bath. For a 1.4 thickness @ 12 Amp/Feet, I leave it in there for 84 minutes, and seal for 35 minutes. I heat the dye to about 140° in dunk for about 30 minutes or so. That's what it is all about –– consistency... I normally anodize my lowers to 1.4 mills, use quality black dyes, and seal in nickel acetate. I than apply flat black Guncoat, for super duper protection. Sodium Hydroxide is very aggressive on aluminum, so I started using a weak solution of phosphoric acid to etch. Plus sodium hydroxide tends to leave a messy black residue on 7075. Ron |
| Would you agree Ron that its fairly simple. I've got a couple questions for you and an explanation. 1. Do you rinse after anodizing bath? 2. Do you place receivers in hot dye bath before rinsing in fresh cold water? I personelly place receivers in cold saturated die solution after rinse for about 30 minutes soaking I gradually bring die solution to a boil then remove and rinse. The lowers are a close match for most uppers. I use about 4 boxes of Rit dye I save and reuse every time. The coloring procedures on enternet is all over the place and most people are unhappy. The reason is that most try to boil before getting die deep into oxide pores left by acid and boiling or even above approx 90 degrees closes those pores. nice talking to someone who knows how. I forgot I've got a Pyramid constant DC power supply too I was just suggesting how new guys could do it with a battery charger. Marv |
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I agree, it's not as hard as it sounds by any means, but with most finishing - garbage in - garbage out applies.
Yes, I rinse after every step in R/O water. After the anodizing process I even use a little mild soap and toothbrush to clean the surface followed by a thorough rinse before going in the dye. The receiver then goes into the dye which is preheated to about 140 degrees or so. With the pro dyes it soaks right in @ 140, and maybe a little longer at room temp, but every color I have has a different sweet spot, and even PH. I then rinse in R/O, then it goes right into the nickel acetate and the boil time depends on the ano thickness. When considering all the time in a 0%, I believe the anodizing process is at least 25% if not more of the complete project. Therefore I consider it as important as say fitting the lower to the upper, or machining out the mag well, etc... Here's one of mine, and it's a pretty close match to the armalite upper... http://www.ronterry.com/arms/images/ar15-x1.jpg Ron |
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