Gentlemen:
Sorry my reply is delayed, but other priorities intervened. Thanks to everyone, for all your advice.
I've run another test (
photos here), and as usual, Murphy was there. The finish came out blemish free this time, but now the color is off. Two steps forward, one back!
I changed my procedures to comply with everyones recommendations. The piece was kept thoroughly wet at all times. Electrolyte temp was 72º at the start, and had risen to 75-76º at the end. Voltage ramped up as expected, rather quickly at first, continually slowing over time. It peaked at 11.2v this time, at about 70-72 minutes, and began slowly dropping. At 75 minutes voltage was down to 11.0v, so I figured PAR had been reached, and pulled the part out.
As you can see from the photos, the blemish problem is gone, but the dye didn't take nearly as well as the first attempt. So I'm guessing the temperature difference caused this. Since I prefer the deeper color of the first test, next time I'll drop the current to try and get the deeper color back.
M_D, what a great looking piece of fabrication! What color blue did you use on those parts? That’s just about the color I’m chasing after.
Thanks everyone!