Anodizer - Which Variac should I get

[btboone]

I only get mine from Reactive Metals, so I don't know about elsewhere. Maybe the raw materials could come from a scientific supply house?

 

[RUGUR]

I found what I was looking for. It turns out that there are many different terms that sellers on ebay use to describe variacs (variable transformer, power supply, staco, etc.) I wasn't finding the variac I needed because my search terms were too narrow. I ended up searching for "0-140" and that turned up three variacs that I had not seen before.
I ended up purchasing a Micronta 0-140V 500W 5AMP variac for $65. It's on it's way to me now. I am going to start gathering the other supplies I need.

 

[RUGUR]

I got everything I needed at Radioshack except for an amp meter. Cost about $50.
I'll post up some pictures here when I'm done.

 

[RUGUR]

Bruce

From what i read on Reactive metal studios - they wont ship outside USA -

any leads on canadian - international - the origional wholesale supplier ???

At the end of the catalog it says that they do ship internationally. I just placed my order with them

 

[RUGUR]

Here is a link to a post I made to an earlier thread, entitled "Don't waste your time like I did!", where I listed all the parts I used to make my anodizer. Mine machine works, but I concluded that I would have been better off buying that nice little unit from Circuit Specialists.

Now where's the fun in that?
I saw your advice and you're probaly right. But if I can get a couple extra colors with the home made power supply, it will be worth it to me. If I bought the cheap DC power supply, I would be wondering what I was missing out on.

 

[howiesatwork]

Be sure to post some pics of the results, Rob.
Shoot Alan Folts a email about how he gets all the colors done so well...

 

[btboone]

Another thing that's pretty cool is to mask off areas with vinyl decals or tape and anodize and remove the tape and anodize again at a lower voltage. Because anodizing is an electrical insulator, the lower voltage color won't affect the higher voltage color. Any mess ups can be polished off and done again. Here's some earrings done like that. Some nice effects can be done this way.

 

[RUGUR]

Howard-
I'll do that. Thanks

btboone-
Yes, I am dying to try out some special effects using masks. I’ve got access to a screen printing shop, vinyl plotter and laser engraver. So I’m all prepared to make some killer masks.

 

[RUGUR]

I got the anodizer running a couple weeks ago and just got a chance to take pictures. I'm going to modify it some more and improve it in the future. It's doing the trick now.
I found out that the green colors I wanted are at around 85-100V.