Anodization for dummies

oregon

oregon

Joined
Jan 12, 2005
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http://www.popsci.com/popsci/how20/3f178ca927d05010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html

OK, I tried it: Anodize titanium with nine volt batteries, alligator clips and cola (phosphoric acid).

Used one, then two, then three and finally four 9v batteries. Used Safeway brand diet coke and finally CocaCola Classic. Painted with a brush/electrode, soaked papertowel covered by aluminum foil and electrode touched to drops of coke on handle. Could not obtain more than 8.6 DC volts from the various connections of the 9V batteries.

Results: sticky brown BM42 balisong. Zero anodization.

Probably should account myself a success for not exploding/melting one or more of the batteries, which became quite hot.

Has anyone gotten this technique to work for them? Would I be wasting my time and money if I tried a DC power source that provided up to 27 volts (3 x 9) and came with a circuit breaker and not a fuse?

Thank you kindly.

Best,

oregon
 
you're hooking the 9 volts in parallel? That is all plusses together and all minusus together?

I though you hooked them in series +-+- etc. also did you try switching the + or - to the brush?
 
DaveH said:
you're hooking the 9 volts in parallel? That is all plusses together and all minusus together?

I though you hooked them in series +-+- etc. also did you try switching the + or - to the brush?
Click to expand...

I started with serial battery connections: + - + -. Then I tried switching the painting electrode from minus polarity to positive. Then I tried parallel battery connections.

Best,

oregon
 
You hook up the jumper cables with alligator clips as follows using 9 volt or 6 volt or 12 volt batteries. Make five jumper cables with alligator clips on both ends. Tape your batteries down with duct tape on a table top.

One end of jumper number 1 to the negative terminal on battery number one.

the other end of that same #1 jumper to the positive terminal on battery number two

Jumper number 2 to the negative terminal on battery number two

jumper number 2 other end to the positive on battery number three.

Now you take two more jumpers. A negative and positve. You set those on the remaining terminals for your three batteries. The negative on the battery number three is for jumper number five

the positive on battery number one is for jumper number four

You soak the paper towel in diet coke or dishwashing soap. Then you clip the positive to the piece of work you want to color, place the rag soaked in the solution over the piece and color it using the negative touching the soaked towel all over rubbing it gently. It is wise to wear rubber gloves, especially if you get upwards of four or more batteries.

It is also wise to place tape between the two jumpers on each battery or they will inevitabley touch together causing one or more of the batteries to explode.

STR
 
NOTE: If you are using a rag soaked you clip the positive to the piece and touch the negative terminal to the towel sitting over the piece you are anodizing.

If dipping you clip the negative to a piece of scrap titanium in your glass or plastic jar filled with your solution. Then you use a hook or clip stuck in the alligator clip of the positive to attatch the piece you want to anodize to and you dip it not letting the alligator clip get into the solution. Why? the current in the solution will cause the alligator clip to corrode up. You don't want it in the current directly in the solution.

I make up my own little hook or fold over clip scraps for pieces of titanium to hold stuff I'm coloring. If you don't have that option you will have to flip the piece over and do half at a time clipping your alligator clip to the end you just anodized and redipping it to cover the whole piece..

Three 9V batteries will make the titanium blue/purple in color.

STR
 
Thank you STR.

Using your battery connection guidance I now have 26.33 DC volts!

Here I go.

Best,

oregon
 
Holy Jumping Hell!!:thumbup: :thumbup:

It works! Deep blue. OHHHHHH MYYYYYYY......:)

Excellent result. We have liftoff.;)

STR you are worth your weight in gold. You have 1/2 a beer coming.:cool:

Outstanding.:D

Pics to follow. Oh baby.:o

Best,

oregon
 
STR you are worth your weight in gold.
Click to expand...

Well, I must admit that is certainly better than being called an a$$, a whiner or a pedantic old fart! :D

STR
 
Anodizetitanium002.jpg


Anodizetitanium001.jpg


I put a dab of cola, using a small paint brush, on the digital indexing holes. Then I dipped the end of the alligator into the cola and "chased" a bead of cola around and around the chamfer for a few seconds until the color changed from yellow to blue to deep blue/purple.

Anodization Kit:

Radio Shack items: 5 9V batteries for $10 (item 2300875) + 10 pack jumper leads $5.19 (item 2781156).

Safeway items: 1 can diet cola from vending machine $.35.

Total: $15.54

I only did the holes on one side of one handle. I can easily remove the coloring with "Autosol" metal polish and return the titanium to its original finish. Prior to anodization I polished the finger bevels and cleaned them well.

I can't thank STR enough for his generousity with his intellectual property. A leading candidate for forum person of the year in my book.

Best,

oregon
 
Nice work there Oregon; and yeah STR is the man, he has my vote too.
I have been wanting to try this on my BM42, and now I feel I can do it thanks to your pic of the setup you used. Did you use all five, or just the three batteries shown? I might try 2 first to see how light of a shade of blue it turns.
 
Anodizetitanium008.jpg


Thank you kindly for the compliment Tanto. I owe it all to, your friend and mine, STR.

I went ahead and did all the chamfers. I used three batteries consistently for all the digital referencing bevels.

I take the small brush and dab 4 small drops of cola around the chamfer, dip the alligator clip (negative one) and put the end of the clip into the champher hole, without touching the metal. One droplet forms which adhears to the electrode and the bevel hole surface and I race that droplet around about 20 complete circles. I occassionally touch the electrode to the metal without obvious problems of any sort.

I am so completely tickled by the results that I can't begin to tell you how good this all feels. Good fun.

You must show pics of your work.

Best,

oregon
 
oregon, that looks good. I've always wondered how that was done. STR is a wealth of info on these here forums.:thumbup: AND he takes the time to reply.
 
I have been curious about this process for a while.

Will it work on large galvanized washers? Son in law made up some boxes for washer pitching and just spray painted them, but the paint chips off pretty fast.

would need 3 of one color and 3 of another color.
 
well done and very cool oregon!

hmmm, I might have to but somethign Ti to try this on. :thumbup:
 
Keep in mind that its important to realize that as the batteries drain the color will not remain consistant. Also, here is a scrap piece of titanium I made up rather quickly showing the voltage number associated with the color you should get with that DC current.

I hope you are wearing gloves. Also, the higher the voltage the more likely the clip will spark when touching to the bare metal the way you did this project which can shock the batteries into popping apart on you or at the least make them very hot to the touch. Once you get up to more than three batteries you can actually leave burn marks on the metal if you are not careful because it is similar to spot welding in what happens when you touch the clip to the bare metal piece you are anodizing.

Using a soaked paper towel helps to insulate this but it won't completely prevent it if it dries out where you are holding the alligator clip. I'd recommend using the dip method if you go much more in the number of batteries in series to prevent the two surfaces coming into contact with each other.

STR
 
I'm going to throw one more post out there as a warning to any of you guys playing with these batteries in series. Keep in mind that when dealing with DC you can really mess yourself up if you are not careful. 9x6 is 54 and 54 volts is enough to potentially stop your heart if you shock yourself so I'd stop after five batteries personally but if you must just take the proper precautions.

If you enjoy doing this and find it fun enough to want to repeat it on other projects go to http://www.circuitspecialists.com and get you one of their little DC power units. I have and use regularly the CSI12001X and recommend it highly. I've used it for all my handmade knife and pocket clip projects and its a lot less work than setting up batteries all the time and cheaper in the long run. Those 9v batteries are expensive.

You can also visit reactive metals dot com and check out their kit including this very same machine along with what you will need to get started. This is probably a better way to go than just buying the machine by itself actually. I am pretty sure you will have more invested if you buy the machine and then the supplies.

http://www.reactivemetals.com/Pages/rmsmini.htm
 
Anodizetitanium011.jpg


Terrific information STR, thank you. You are all right.

Uhhhhh...I want a DC power supply. Now where did I put that Christmas wish list?

Last pic (diagonal stripe): Used blue painter's tape to mask off original finish. Painted the target area with beads of cola and hovered the negative electrode around using the cohesive nature of the cola without touching the metal directly. Then used the tape to mask off the newly anodized area so that I could polish evenly where the anodization leaked under the tape. Don't know when to quit.

Happy knife pimping:)

oregon
 
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