do-it-yourself anodizing?

grnamin

grnamin

Joined
Oct 6, 1998
Messages
2,269
Does any company sell small home anodizing kits? I'd like to try to anodize my Sebenza a dark blue color.

-Greg
 
Yes! I've been doing some digging on this myself (I want to do some custom anodizing).

Anyway, the company that sell complete kits as well as how to books is called Caswell - electroplating in miniture. They have a web site if I'm not mistaken (you'll have to look for it, though).

I've only got their Canadian catalog.
Ph. (905) 985-8627
Fx. (905) 985-2145

Hope this helps.

Darren
 
I got an reply back from Caswell. They said that their anodizing kit consists of a standard sulfuric acid bath. Will that work with titanium?

-Greg
 
As far as I know, Reactive Metals in AZ sells all kinds stuff for anodizing and a nice anodizing machine. 602-634-3434. I got mine from them many years ago but am pretty sure they are still in business.
 
I just started anodizing titanium and you don't use an acid bath. Titanium is anodized with a current and electrolyte (I use Diet Coke). All you need is a variable DC power supply and a bucket of Diet Coke. You achieve the different colors by using more voltage at a given current...no dyes required.

jj
 
Reactive Metals sells the kit for $385 (ouch!). Anyone know where an affordable DC power supply can be had cheap? Blade ran an article on anodizing and I would build my own if I could find a power supply. I believe variable from about 20-70 volts @ 3 watts should suffice.

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It's only a mistake if you fail to learn from it!
 
Blademan (or anyone), do you know anything more than "20-70 volts @ 3 watts"? I pulled out my electrical engineering textbook, and came up with a supply that will deliver 20-70 Volts (+/- 1 Volt ripple), 0.15 Amps (3 Watts @ 20 Volts) from 110V 60Hz AC (US wall outlet). Anyone know if this will work for anodizing, or if the supply has to be more stable? If so, does anyone want to host the image so that it can be posted here?

--JB

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e_utopia@hotmail.com
 
I've never done any anodizing myself but from what i have read you will need a higher voltage (up to 220) to get the darker colors like the deep blues and such-and the higher the amperage the faster you will reach the desired color-low amps will work but will take longer- reactive metals sells an anodizer but it is quite expensive http://reactivemetals.com/rmsmini.htm http://reactivemetals.com/data/d_usingmetals.html


[This message has been edited by Belstain (edited 03-27-2000).]
 
Yes, the Reactive Metals unit is just too expensive. I'll check out the nearest Radio Shack. They might have something cheaper. I don't plan to spend for than $90 on an anodizing machine.

-Greg
 
Here's my basic kit.

20 qt. stainless stock pot for a cathode bath instead of a cathode plate hung in a standard bath of some sort. $36 at Wally World.

120VAC/10A variable transformer found at an electronics swap meet. I've had it forever, I think it was $40.

Home made rectifier bridge to convert AC to DC. Cost was ~$20 in parts total.

I use TSP in my bath, but Coke works well. I've found that adding some Captain Morgan to my Coke and drinking that helps me relax while mixing the TSP.

Assorted wires/jigs/fixtures to hang the parts in the bath while anodizing.


I had the clip and front scale of my Sebenza blued for a while, it looked pretty cool, but eventually wore off and I simply haven't gotten around to re-bead blasting and re-anodizing it again. I've done a number of smaller parts and hardware for a bunch of mountain bike and road bike weenie friends of mine. My favorite color is that rich, deep "20V Blue" that you hear about (though mine seems to hit a bit higher, around 24-26V).

It's really not a hard process, but paying the cost for the parts commercially can be tough to choke down. I also sometimes think that the high cost of commercial kits make the process seem more complicated or "high-tech" than it really is. The last time I looked, the Reactive Metals website has a good explaination of anodizing titanium, or a web search should come up with more info.


If someone decides to blue their Sebenza, make very certain that you use a masking material to cover the detent ball on the lock leaf. The detent ball is made from a material other than titanium and could be adversely affected by the coloring process.
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Don LeHue

Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings...they did it by killing all those who opposed them.

[This message has been edited by DonL (edited 03-27-2000).]
 
Well here are some results of the anodization process. I told Greg (I think it was him) about this project and said I would post a picture. It is a BM 330 with gold anodization on the liners. I got tired of the black scales and just finished the cocobolo scales last night. The entire process took about 2.5 hours total. I also added bronze washers, replacing the nylon washers that come with the knife.

CustomBM330.jpg


Well, what do you think?

jj

[This message has been edited by jeffj (edited 04-06-2000).]
 
If Benchmade made them that way, I'd have owned one by now. A great job, and a beautiful knife, sir!

I may have to look at one of those now...

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Don LeHue

Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings...they did it by killing all those who opposed them.
 
Nice work, Jeff. How did you keep tabs of the color changes while the material was dipped in Diet Coke?

-Greg
 
I had already predetermined the settings for various colors through experimentation. So, I just set the knob and presto!

jj
 
Send the pic directly to BM! That looks a lot more like a Gentleman's tactical than the stock version. Nice job.

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It's only a mistake if you fail to learn from it!
 
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