Won't take dye, need suggestions

[sswee]

Yes it's 140* for all the colors. The manual is like my setup. Always being upgraded. That part was probably not gotten to yet or missed.

Unless your dealing with a fresh machined part or one that has been blasted, sanded or polished out, they almost always have a coating or treatment to keep them from oxidizing. Just a thought.

SS

[PDX_Customs]

So next time we will try stripping it frist and see if that makes any difference, as well as trying another color. Also do you know what pH the anodize is supposed to be? Because I think the ratio of wate rto acid might be messed up.

Thanks

[sswee]

I'll have to go through my notes for the Ph but if you originally mixed it correctly you should just need to top off with distilled or RO water to maintain the correct level. The acid concentration shouldn't change. SS

[acidrain]

Yeah, 140F for all dyes. But still, usually there is at least some dying effect, even at lower temperatures. I does sound like connection problems. What about the aluminum connection wire... did it dye?

[PDX_Customs]

The aluminum wires were not put into the dye so I don't know if they would take it. We are running another run today so any last minute ideas would be great.

Thanks a lot

[PDX_Customs]

Great news! we ran another try today and we got a great dark black! The thing that we changed was stripping it first, even though they were raw pieces, there must have been something on them.

Thanks a lot for your help!

[fxstcguy98]

Raw aluminum will form a oxidized layer naturally. Anodizing is growing that oxidized layer in a controlled environment. As you know, you can't anodize over an anodized surface. Even peices that have been machined and left sitting around for a while should be stripped first just to make sure. Freshly blasted, machined or buffed parts should only need cleaning first, those would be the only exceptions.