Successful Clear Anodizing

[telizotte]

Hello,

I am an engineer who always needs anodizing with one day turn around on small reowrks or new parst at the end of a project. So, I bought the Ano kit. I figured I would burden myself instead of my vendors.

What else do I need to be succesful with plating small aluminum parts?

What are the best settings to anodize 6061-T6 and Mic-6 consistantly?

Are there any other things I might need that are not in the kit?

Any help would be appreciated.

Best regards,
Todd

[sswee]

Have you setup yet?
What size tank do you plan?
Are you familiar with the 720 rule?
What kind of PS?

An RO water filter is a necessity if you don't have an endless supply of distilled water.

Learn the 720 rule and use it for good consistant results.

Most of the parts I do are 6061-T6. I've been in the machine shop most of my life but I am not familiar with Mic-6 or at least by that name. The best settings will depend on the finish your looking for and size of part in relation to size of PS.

Any info you need for good results, we got.

[Japperf]

RO filter?
Will it filter out sulphuric contamination for use in a post ano, wash bath?

[sswee]

Reverse osmosis water filter for mixing the tanks and for rinsing parts between steps. Used in place of distilled water.

[Japperf]

Our setup is away from a water source, so our rinse tanks will be reused after rinsing.
I'm a little afraid of acid contamination after a couple of runs in the tank, and with no means of unlimited fresh water supply.. what options to we have?

[mcaswell]

If you use a small sprayer filled with RO/distilled water, you can rinse the part off OVER the ano tank, letting the rinse water run back into the tank. This will also reduce having to continually top off the tank from losses due to evaporation etc.

[sswee]

The basic procedure I use is:

Initial rinse over the anodize tank with a small sprayer.
Dip in neutralizer tank (1/2 lb baking soda per gal of RO) and rinse.
Dip in rinse tank of RO/distilled water. At this step the parts can stay in the water of the rinse tank until ready to dye and/or seal.

Some use small garden sprayers that you pump up to pressurize. Care needs to be taken with these to make sure they are free of oil or assembly lube so you don't contaminate the work or your tanks.

[Sid03]

i would recommend the pressurized sprayers that you pressurize with air from a compressor instead of the pump up ones. I would also add some filters to the compressor. Then you have less worries of oils from the pump making their way into your ano line.