I was contacted by the Caswell Moderator and he did ask to see my method. I will type it up and email it to him. That will happen this weekend, but not tonight.
But back to your issues.
Electrical connections; you need a better way, my method may appear extreme but it's really not, considering that this connection is under constant attack by the anodizing process. As little as 1/2 an Ohm of contact resistance occuring here can completely hose your anodizing job.
Lose the bleach. I haven't had time to look this up yet (and it's been over 25 years since undergrad inorganic chemistry) But I think chlorine will attack aluminum and/or the anodic layer. Once the work has been sealed, what little dye remains on the surface can be rubbed off with a paper towel. After that none will come out. I think your test for sealing is actually distructive.
What are you using for a power source? This is one crucial piece you haven't mentioned. I'll assume it's a 12 V battery charger. If you just hook it up and let it rip the real high currents generated at startup are quite capable of damaging your connections right then and there (and several other bad things). Without a provision for current limiting at startup, the higher the rated current of the charger, the more likely connection damage. At least start on the 6V range if it has one, switch to 12V when the current has dropped to 5 A or less (less is better). A power resistor in series with the work is better, say 3 to 5 Ohms rated at 10 watts or higher will help a lot for a 6 -10 amp charger. If the charger is higher current, scale both the resistance and wattage accordingly. If the charger has a 6V range, use that too.
I'll have more information for you later.
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