Complicated things for a total anodizing newbie.

[taylorm]

I recently purchased an LCD anodizing kit from caswell, (it should be coming tomorrow.) I understand how fades and splashes are done, but how would i go about doing more complicated designs, such as logos and lettering. For example, doing Yellow letters on a black piece or black letters on a yellow piece. I would like to try stuff like this once i get familiar with anodizing in solid colors.

Should i use some kind of masking... um.... agent? If so, how would I apply it to make letters.

I also have a screen printing thing and an airbrush available to me.

What needs to be done to the anodizing dyes to make them usable for screen printing or airbrushing?

Last but not least, can dye sublimation printing be used for anodizing, by printing onto something and transfering it onto the aluminum?

[NeoMoses]

Originally Posted by taylorm

I recently purchased an LCD anodizing kit from caswell, (it should be coming tomorrow.) I understand how fades and splashes are done, but how would i go about doing more complicated designs, such as logos and lettering. For example, doing Yellow letters on a black piece or black letters on a yellow piece. I would like to try stuff like this once i get familiar with anodizing in solid colors.

Should i use some kind of masking... um.... agent? If so, how would I apply it to make letters.

I also have a screen printing thing and an airbrush available to me.

What needs to be done to the anodizing dyes to make them usable for screen printing or airbrushing?

Last but not least, can dye sublimation printing be used for anodizing, by printing onto something and transfering it onto the aluminum?

You must walk before you can run, grasshopper. First, I would get your kit set up and anodize at least seperate 5 batches to ensure you can get repeatable solid colors. While doing this, keep a very good journal, and log how much time it takes for the dye to reach full color depth. This will help you infinitely later on.

The only difference between a splash anodize and lettering would be the shape in which you apply your masking. If you want an easy way to do this, get a Roland Vinyl cutter and use it to mask off the area, then apply your masking agent. Remove the vinyl, dye as normal, and voila! Instant colored letters. You should be able to buy a decent vinyl cutter for under $600.

If you have an airbrush and screen printing available to you, use it and write some tutorials. I know others have used both methods with success, but I've never seen any good tutorials. There's a short section in the LCD ano instructions that talk about possible ways to accomplish this, so give it a read.

No clue on the dye-sub.

[lastone75]

for a dye sub printer what you can do is a preimitive form of what can be done with a vinyl cutter.

they sell vinyl sticker paper for certin dye sub printers. what you do is print out on the vinyl paper then cut out what you need to mask. stick it on what your annoing and mask the area and remove the vinyl.

this is a cheaper way if you already have a dye sub printer like an old alps dye sub printer.


also you can find printable sticker paper for ink jet printers. i'll see if i can find the link and post it.

the ones i have found are easy to remove. problem with some sticker papers are there perment once stuck on.