not really sure where this thread should actually be but here it goes. i am considering experimenting in anodizing parts for my engine. i have read up on it and it doesn't sound all that complicated. the items needed are easily obtainable and it would save me big bucks. has anyone else tried this and if so, how did it go for you? the rit brand of dye is often referred by many people. i am unfamiliar with dye colors but i do know that the color on the box usually isn't the color you end up with. anyone recommend a good solid red color? does the "home job" anodize hold up against heat well? not only would this make the engine compartment look much better but it would be kinda' fun too. any advise or recommendation is welcome. (oh and sorry about not having any capitol letters....my left shift isn't working so i just use if for ? " () and stuff)

First thing to know and a lot of people don't is that anodize only works on aluminum. Steel, brass, pot metal CANNOT be anodized. There are quite a few people that does home anodizing with good results. I am listing a couple of sites that has some threads on doing it but you will have to search thru them. Hope it helps you out.

Here

And here

Or here

Kevin

i used to know a knife maker who made his handles out of titanium, he anodized them, different lengths of time in the electrode solution created different colors. i wish i'd have paid more attention.

Buy the kit here. I have one of their Copy Chrome kits and it works like a champ.

I'm never had luck with cast aluminum parts like motorcycle side cases and engine blocks. Ther are still to many impurities in them.
But any extruded or rolled parts worked great.
Look up a local aluminum extrusion plant in your area. Anodizing is the next step after extrusion and they normally have the tanks in house. So they might be able to get you a few dyes for nothing. you won't need more than a few pints at most and I found out they can be mixed to come up with even more colors.
if you luck out they might be able to do the whole thing for you for free. Adding a few extra parts to the batch isn't much trouble and the whole prossess only takes about half an hour start to finish.

Thanks Willys, I have been looking for a good quality small production kit for a while to use at work ( we make a lot of aluminum fixtures and surgical instr etc.). I'll give it a try...purely for hospital work of course.

The nurses will love pink instruments.

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Outlawed tunes from outlawed pipes

I am really impressed w/ Caswell. I too have dreamed of being able to do the plating thing at home but it has always been an environmental, cost and voodoo nightmare. These guys have really brought it to the masses. Their triple chrome package does away with the cyanide based vats that were a major no-go for me. The CopyChrome kit I have works great. I plated the battery end hubcaps and headlights on the fisher body restoration I just did (see pics in my journal) and it was very easy and look great. I didn't polish the part to perfection 'cause I was only after corrosion protection and wanted to maintain the finish I put on them as a 12 year old but it is still a super finish. I have since done a few small pieces w/ a fine polish and it is as good as any triple chrome finish I have seen.

I'm sold Willys, thanks for the link.

Wonder how I can justify the chroming kit? Hmmmmm...

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Outlawed tunes from outlawed pipes

Easy choice for me - $1,800 estimate from my chrome shop to plate the 6 Rochester 2Gs vs. $400 for the kit. Let me see . . . $1,800 . . . $400 . . . whole bunch more little parts to chrome . . .hmmmm.

I can vouch for Caswell also. I have their Copy Cad/Zinc kit. Works great. I did an Autolite carb for a friends 66 Mustang and it was very nice. The kit was more than I needed to do the carb, so now I do lots of other small parts. They have excellent customer service too. I had a heater burn up, and they sent a replacement the same day I emailed them about the problem. I wasn't expecting that.

home anodizing isn't too complicated without a kit.....i tried it once with a paintball gun barrel yes i know its completely irrelevant but the same process will work for any aluminum.
first you need some supplies: a 12 volt battery charger which im sure you have, aluminum ground wire( found at electronics store for maybe $35/spool), some foil and a less easy to come by sulfuric acid. I recieved it from a pawn shop where it is used to test gold. it could take some searching. colors are very easy to come by, fabric dye works well , rit has somethin like 40 colors in their line. and of course a good solvent to clean the aluminum.
now the process. just remember to add the acid to the water not the other way around and do it slowly. now to prep the solution. you're gonna wanna mix about 1 part water to 2 parts acid in a stable container that is begin enough to allow total immersion of your part. making a sort loop with the aluminum wire you'll want to cover it with foil to form a round shape that will fit in the bottom of your container. run the wire from the bucket and attach to negative lead of battery charger. then the positive lead should be attached to the part making it an anode. with the paddle (cathode) in the solution place the part (anode) in as well not allowing them to touch each other. the part will fizz for about 15 minutes. once it has stopped remove it and disconnect everything and rinse it with COOL water.
for color use a strong dye and water solution on a low heat, low heat is important, a kitchen stove will work place part in dye and allow to set until slightly darker than desired color, you may want to turn it now and then to allow even color. after this you'll want to remove the part and place it in clean boiling water, the high heat will seal the color and will leech some color from the part.
that should do it all but clean up. just rinse it off and remember to keep any source of ignition away from your acid water solution, with the electric current running through it you'll get a hydrogen gas byproduct which it very flammable.

Anodizing at Home
by Jim Bowes

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Based on the number of companies selling, and people looking for, anodizing services for their gun's aluminum bodies and parts, I wanted to provide this info to the paintballing community. I first came across the process in Super Chevy magazine, in an article about anodizing your own parts and brackets, for a custom touch on your hot rod. (* Original article by Bruce Hampson.) Often anodizing is considered and/or presented as a difficult and expensive procedure. As it turns out, it really isn't that hard or that pricey.
Supplies Needed:
The first thing to do is to get the following things together: First on the list is the most expensive item: a 6 to 12 volt battery charger. This item is what might make this too expensive for some paintballers. I (and most other hot rodders) already have one, for my car. If you don-t, then you will need to pick one up. They run from $45.00 to $110.00 depending on model, functions, etc. While it may seem like a lot, it does have other uses. (You could charge a battery, for example.) =) The next item, though not that expensive, will take some effort to find: battery electrolyte, a.k.a. sulfuric acid. This should be available at a battery wholesaler for about $2.00/gal. To make the negative ground, you will need some aluminum ground wire and aluminum-foil. The wire can be found at an electronics store for about $35/spool, and you should have the foil in the kitchen. If you happen to be out of foil, you can pick up some more at the store when you go to buy the last item for this project.

No super-special chemicals or solutions necessary to make the colors; just plain-old fabric dye. (Something like Rit dye, for about $5.00.) Rit offers something like 30-40 different colors, so you have quite a number of choices for what color you want your parts to be. An optional item is nitric acid: about $25.00/2.5 L. (This is used to clean parts prior to anodizing, but there are some cheaper alternatives. See end notes.) This is available at chemical supply stores. Should you not be able to find any, you can try to get on the good side of the high school science teacher. He may help you out since you only need a few ounces.

Safety Precautions:
There are a few precautions I want to go over to help keep you from blowing up the house or trashing the garage. First of all, do not mix or store your anodizing solution in a glass container. Something could happen to make it break, and most households are not equipped to deal with that kind of spill. You also don't want to knock over the container, so a stable, rubber bucket makes a good choice. You will also need to be certain that the part you want to color will fit in the container without sticking out of the solution, and without touching the negative ground in the bottom of the container. Any acid that you don't use, keep in what it came in, or an old plastic bottle, like a bleach bottle. You can also store your used solution this way for doing more parts later. (Make sure that there is absolutely no bleach left in the bottle. Acid and bleach make chlorine gas. Very bad. Don't breath. Poisonous.) Safety also applies to the nitric acid, but in a different way. It is imperative that you label and keep track of this stuff, as it is a stronger acid than sulfuric, and more dangerous. The breakage/spill problem is not as likely since you won't have that much around. (Unless you bought more than a few ounces from the chem store.) The last note about the acids is to mix properly when adding acid and water. Always pour acid into water, never the other way, and do so slowly, being sure to mix in well. There is a reaction taking place and it releases a lot of energy. During the anodizing process, you will be running electricity through a weak acid solution. This creates hydrogen (just like charging a battery) which is very flammable. This stuff burns at the speed of thought when ignited, so do be careful. (Read as Remember the Hindenburg?) Make certain that there is some way to ventilate the project area, and DO NOT let any sources of ignition near the project area. Other precautions you should take include safety glasses, rubber gloves, and maybe some sort of drop sheet under the area.

(Editor's Note: While Mr. Bowes recommends not using a glass container, we highly recommend use of glass within a plastic container to help keep the acid from eating through plastic, but keeping the glass less breakable in the event the container falls over.)

Preparations:
One of the most essential things you need to do in order to get even color over the whole part is to be sure that the part is absolutely clean. You want it free of all contaminates, from dirt to the oils in your skin. This is where the nitric acid and some rubber gloves will help. A solution of 1-2 ounces of nitric acid in a gallon of distilled water will allow you to clean the surface in preparation for the anodizing. Aluminum oxidizes very quickly when exposed to air, so the easiest way to keep it clean is to clean it just before you are ready to start working on the piece. (You should rinse the part with distilled water before you put it in the next acid solution.) Other options are carburetor or brakes cleaners, or other similar degreasers. Soap and water will work also, or cleaners like Simple Green. These are cheaper, a nitric acid wash is the best. (You decide, it's your money.) =) Make your negative ground with the aluminum wire and foil. Shape the end of the wire into a paddle shape and cover the round part with the foil. What you want to do is create a flat, round shape to sit on the bottom of the bucket, with a lead that comes up out of the bucket. You will clip the battery charger's negative lead to the wire that comes out of the bucket. When you are ready to start, you will want to mix up your immersion solution. In your rubber bucket, combine the sulfuric acid and water to come up with a solution that is about 30% water. (1 part water to 2 parts acid.) Place the paddle in the bucket and attach the negative lead. Then attach the positive lead to the part, making it an anode, and immerse it in the solution. (Remember that the two leads the paddle (cathode), and the part (anode) should not touch.) This is the best time to turn on the charger: once the part begins to fizz, leave it in there for about 10-15 minutes. After about this time the part should no longer conduct electricity. (You can also use an ohmmeter to check conductivity, but this is not needed.) Turn off and disconnect everything, and rinse the part in cold water. DonÀ Àt use hot water! YouÀ Àll find out why in the next section.

A couple of notes:
I have read some other procedures that say it is important that the copper lead from the charger does not enter the acid solution. The article says nothing about this, and shows a picture with the lead right in there. It may take some trial and error to find out if this is a problem. It wouldn't be a bad idea to get some scrap aluminum and play with it before you start anodizing your paintgunÀ Às parts. You can check out the above, as well as pick the colors you like best. If you test out some colors, youÀ Àll also learn just how long or short you need to work with the color solution.

Color:
So now it doesn't conduct electricity, and is ready for color. It's been rinsed and waits eagerly to change to a new look. Don't wait too long to do the color, due to that oxidizing thing again. You want to mix up a strong solution of dye and water, in a container that can be heated. The solution needs to be at low heat, such as on the stove, so bread and cake pans work well. Again, you need something that will fit the whole part, but it's okay if it touches the bottom this time. I would recommend turning parts every few minutes just to make sure that you get all-over color. Inform your mom or wife that the pan can (and will be) washed out. It is important that the heat be low enough. If the solution gets too hot, you will seal the surface, and it will no longer take any color. (See, told you to rinse it in cold water!) Leave it in the dye until the part is slightly darker than you want it. The next step is to seal the surface of the metal in clean, boiling water. This will leech a bit of color from it, thus the slightly darker color in the previous step.

End Notes:
It is important to realize that the process described above will yield only one color on your part. At this time, I haven't found out how to do any of the splash type of anodizing. (That's okay though, it looks really ugly anyways.) =) Should anyone happen to figure it out, I suggest you submit it to Warpig so they can put it up for others who like it.

Also, this process is for aluminum. I don't know how, or if, it will work on other metals. (I doubt it.) Anodizing only works well on rock metal like bar or sheet stock, as opposed to castings. If it was forged or machined, it should have the density to take color through this process. I figure this shouldn't be too big a problem with the guns, but just thought I should let you know about it.

Something to consider when looking for a charger, is how many amperes it puts out. Without getting into any mumbo-jumbo, anodizing relies on 10 to 40 amperes per square foot. For small brackets and such, this is no problem. The larger parts in a gun however, may need the higher levels of amperes. The other note about part size, has to do with how long you leave it in the solution. Above it said 10-15 minutes, but that is for a smaller part. The larger parts may not only need higher amperes, but more time as well. I would recommend an ohmmeter, but again, I have one already.

So there you have it. Quick, fairly easy, and not too expensive. If you don't have the charger, then your first anodizing session could cost as much as sending your gun out to be done. But, then you can do it again for much less. Or do your buddies stuff. Or talk them into chipping in on a setup for all of you to use. We all know ways to help make things cheaper.

And the stupid statement required to cover myself... If you try this and something gets messed up, or someone gets hurt, you are on your own. Deal with it, you can't blame it on anyone else.



Here is a link to purchase anodizing dyes and such http://www.focuser.com/anodize.html

sulfuric acid can be purchased in varying intensities from a jewelry supply store but i suppose you're gonna want something pretty weak.

You an also get sulfuric acid at Napa. It's battery acid. I think places like Murrays and Autozone carry it also. Shouldn't be that hard to find.