ground material

[rwizinsky]

I've been using the caswell plates for the ground for abit with good success, but I've run into a problem where I needed bigger plates because of the size of my part. It left lighter area's in one spot and I would guess that's because I didn't have a big enough ground. Can I use Titanium for a ground, or is it just 6061 alum and/or lead. If I use aluminum I don't have to strip it each time do I?




Russ
www.professorwiz.com

[Fibergeek]

By ground you mean cathode of course. Let's stick to the Industry standard terminology so that things don't get confused.

Titanium is a common cathode material in large industrial anodizing setups. It's not popular for small scale because of its cost and it's difficult to form, but it will certainly work.

Titanium will hardly crud up at all; aluminum or lead (you can use most any alloy) will accumulate sulfate deposits. You can minimize this by not leaving the cathode in the electrolyte when you aren't using it, and wiping of the deposits before they harden.