Alright folks, I've been designing and fabricating my anodizing line for over a year now. Much of the design was based on trial and error and much of it on the advice from respected people within the anodizing community.
What should you expect to see here? Don't expect to see an industrial scale anodizing line nor your typical backyard setup either. I was aiming for something in between...Bare in mind, I'm a 31 year old man with a wife and mortgage and I personally funded this operation. LoL...That should be enough said right there!
The objective of this post is provide ideas for those who are looking for ways (some typical and some not-so-typical) of building an anodizing line. Bare in mind that not everything that works under my conditions will neccassarily work under your conditions.
Havnig said that...On to the gravy.
First I want to discuss my tanks as they were my first obstical. I have always been a do-it-yourself kind of guy. Its not that I am cheap but I approach ever new challenge as a learning opportunity. Having said that, I opted to fabricate my own tanks. I had to first decide how large I wanted to make the tanks. Better is bigger - right? I suppose that holds true IF you can afford the chemical it will require to charge the tanks, not to mention the rest of the equipment must be of the same scale in order to produce a quality anodizing line. After weeks of research as to what material(s) would best work for me, I learned that polypropylene was the way to go. I purchased a plastic welder, some welding rod and obtained a few small scraps of 1/2" polypropylene to hone my skills on. It didn't tank long before I was producing strong welds. From there I ordered enough 1/2" polypropylene to weld up 12 35 gallon tanks.
As I was aiming for efficiency, I chose to insulate the heated tanks in order to keep the heat in and increase heat up times while decreasing heat loss. For this I chose styrofoam insulation.
I knew that my sealant tank was going to have to be made of something other than plastic. I knew the plastic would become unstable at the temperature that the sealant must be utilized at. More research showed me that 316 stainless steel was the material of choice. Being a journeyman Tool & Die Maker / Machinist I was no stranger to metal fabrication.
When it came time to insulate this tank, I found that the styrofoam would break down with the extreme temperature. As I result, I found that fiberglass insulation worked well. I then cased the entire tank and insulation with a 1/4" plywood box just to keep it neat and clean.
This is a 35 gallon, polypropylene tank which has been insulated.
This is a 35 gallon stainless steel tank which has been insulated and cased.
