Anodizing at home

[Hammerbot]

Has anyone tried anodizing their aluminum parts at home?

From what I have read it isn't that complicated but the "Pros" claim that you can't get a good finish with out paying someone to do it. From what I found most companies have about a $200 minimum charge to some parts anodized.

If anyone has tried it please let me know how it turned out.

Here is a primer that I read that seemed to be the most straight forward way to go:

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

Also here is my CP that I just finished with the aluminum parts in the raw state. Picture them anodized electric blue and the box painted black...

Thanks

[rampy]

That's pretty cool... but may i inquire as to why you top mounted your 8ways/etc?

There ws some discussion regarding poweder coating at home.... previously...bu thaven't heard much about anadoizing at home... *Shrug* i imagine OSCAR's got some thoughts /insight =P

rampy

[CthulhuLuke]

"No officer, thats not a meth lab in my basement, its an anodizer setup."  That whole thing looks like one giant accident site.  I'd be like "Lye, sulfuric acid, mmmm"   Anyways, thats pretty awesome, if you got good enough at that anodization production, you could probably make yourself a few bucks and pay back that whole setup by making us BYOAC dudes some anodized stuff, pretty cool stuff I must say.  I'm very impressed about how far you went for that minor detail.
    -Chu

[OSCAR]

Yeah, I've had one of those anodizing kits for quite a while now. But I have never set it up.  You can see from the photos what an incredible hassle it would be and how much room it takes up just to do a few parts...

I can't give any comments on what kind of job they do compared to what you get from a finishing shop.

Hammerbot - Do you mean $200 US?  If so, that is an extremely high quote, you should do some more digging around.  Minimum charges apply for small batches, but you should be able to get them done for a lot less than that.

[pointdablame]

a friend of mine anodized his paintball gun barrel with some really nice results. I'm sorry I don't have much more info than that, but it definitely is possible to get nice results with these setups. He did say, however, that it was a huge pain in the ass, and he's not sure if he'd bother doing it again.

[microwrx]

I've done some anodizing at home.  It wasn't that hard but it takes a while and is a bit annoying to get right.  Wouldn't bother again and would just go for a pro.  Sorry don't have any pics.

[Hammerbot]

I guess I mounted the 8 ways on top because I didn't know any better... Seemed easy to mount that way but it does look "non-retro."

I called 3 shops around Detroit and 200$ was about the average.

I'll probably try to do it myself just to know how big a pain it is. If I work it right I may be able to get my work to pay for the setup... Gotta work the angles...

And I know there are too many buttons. Next time...

[microwrx]

Make sure if you do it yourself to do all the parts at once.  That way even if you don't get the exact color you want at least they'll all be the same.  Doing them seperately, especially if you've never done it before, is almost impossible to get identical color.

[Brax]

Here's a great source if you ever want to do home "plating". Some of the methods are very economical. I plan to rechrome a few pieces of my coindoor using their kits.

http://www.caswellplating.com/

[hooded_paladin]

I guess I mounted the 8 ways on top because I didn't know any better... Seemed easy to mount that way but it does look "non-retro."

that could look really good if you anodize those metal plates on them too... not exactly classic but electric blue anodizing isn't either.