question regarding preped parts

[-AAPB-Eric]

Id like to thank SSWEE, everything in a smaller tank (5gal) is working now!

Well, since Im just starting out, it takes me a while to do the anodizing process. I have broken it down to two days/parts. 1st is degreaser tank, strip the old anodized layer (paintball markers), clean, deox and buff.

Now, here is my question. how long can these parts be laying around? when will rust start to develop? these parts are wet and being air dryed and hanging around for around a week maybe two.

I have taken no chances with my first few anodizing batches, after this process I dunk my parts in a degreaser and then deox. I have noticed that my parts are slightly etched coming out of the deox, can I skip this step since I already did this prior to the buffing?

2nd thing is connection problems. I would be anodizing just fine and when I slightly ramp up my volts (which in turn ups the amps) I loose my connections. I have been using both 20g AL wire doubled up and ti wire. The ti wire is working well but where can I get firmer ti wire? Can the current of the agitator bump the parts and cause a lost connection? I am doing this at 9ASF, will listen to Caswell and try to do 6 ASF and see if that is a bit more gentle on my parts.

for fun, these 2 items on the left and middle have been anodized and was my first sucessful anodizing run.

[archimedes]

Congratulations!
The one part (maybe a paintball gun item?)
looks very trick. Those fades look very nice.

I will answer your Ti wire needs:
Look up Titanium Joe on the internet. Joe
has plenty of Titanium welding wire he can send you.
He has .062 I know, because I just purchased some.
He also has smaller diameters, so just inquire.

archi

[sswee]

The parts can sit a week or two without oxidizing much. The way I do parts like that is to clean, strip and buff out, then degrease and clean just before the run. If you buff out a part to a high shine, degrease and clean to pass a water break test, you can skip the deox step. The deox/desmut is for taking off natural oxidation and smut problematic materials. If the part is fresh machined or polished, it is usually unnecessary.

The higher CD's or a sudden surge in current will definitely test your connections. If ramping the current causes you to loose connection, then you don't have enough spring tension on the connections. I would try going to a 12g or 14g wire if it will work on your parts. It will carry current better, give you more contact surface to the part and hopefully much more spring tension to hold the part and connection. If you have a good connection to the part, the agitation should not effect it. When I do smaller parts, they dance in the flow of electrolyte.

Did you find out the main cause or causes to your problems or did you change too many things at once to know which had what effect?

SS

[-AAPB-Eric]

haha, well initially I got the book from Ron Newman. I used a mix of suggestions between Caswell's suggested and his.

Simply downgrading my tank to a 5gal tank and following the Caswell instructions made the difference. I did loose my connections on all my parts so far after 45min but thats due to me ramping up slightly the amps due to the amps dropping off slightly after time. Again, ill try the suggested 6ASF and not 9 till I get a better rack and more Ti wire. So far, looks like nothing detrmintal has occured from me 1/2 my anodizing time, took the colours and wont rub off (tried after 24h).

Ill check out that wire online store, hopefully they ship to Canada.

[sswee]

Sounds like you got it lined out. I went through the same thing at the beginning. I found 3 or 4 instructions on how to and had to figure out which one was the best. It's not easy when you have conflicting information. Keep us up on how it goes.
SS

[-AAPB-Eric]

will do, and again thank you!

Now, im ordering from that Ti Joe some grade 5 wire and thinking to save myself the hastle of lost connections and making a Ti rack.