Trying to anodize Tannery 80% AR15 lower forging

[yama660r]

Here is my situation, I have tried anodizing using black rit dye and the black caswell dye. The rit dye came out an olive drab color, and the caswell dye came out a dark gray color. Obviously the dye is not the problem, so I'll explain my setup. I'm using 50%/50% battery acid to tap water. I'm using a sheet of lead as my carthode. Smaller battery container as my tank. I have a variable power control with max 10amp/30volt set at 3.0 amps, the voltage raised up and peaked at around 18volts for 60 minutes. I followed all the instructions dye mixture (I used distilled water), cleaning process (before the anodizing, and before the dye bath). The manual I subscribed to is really informative but lack certain specifics. Here are my questions. What is the GP plate made of? Should I use aluminum? What is the average amperes/volts set at? How long do I leave it in the anodizing tank? Any suggestions will really help and appreciated. As I wait for help, I'm going to start over following the manual line by line. I all else fails, I'll order the kit. Thanks again.

[mcaswell]

Please post a problem report in our support section.

[Tim Wiltse]

yama,

First thing don't use tap water, city water or well water may have things in it that you don't want in your acid bath. Next set the power to 12 volts. The process will only pull what amps it needs. I wonder why it hit 18 volts!!! How big of a part are you working on? Sounds like the piece was to big or something. I have yet run a part for more than 50 min. My black parts using Caswell dye have come out black as night. Do you know what base alloy yours parts are? GP stands for general purpose plate.

Just my 2cents,
Tim

[yama660r]

Tim,

Since my last post, I set up almost exactly to the directions from the Caswell manual. I used distilled water for everything except the rinsing process following the netrualizing process. 12.6-13.6 volts, 6-7 ampheres was drawn for 60 minutes. Still I get the same Gray color.

The total square footage is .58 sq. ft. What type of alloy it contains, I'll have to do some research on that. Although I read in one forum, a fellow did the same Tannery casting/forging, he reported that his workpiece came out black. I noticed one thing in his process was that after he rinsed the the workpiece, he put it in the dye, then he let it heat up to 140-150 degrees. What I did was I heated my dye to 140 degrees then I put my piece in and let it sit 10 to 15 minutes. Could that be what I'm doing wrong? Should I put it in the dye, then let it rise to 140-150 degrees? I really don't know what other possible process to change or alter. Most of the AR-15 Lower Receivers manufactured are Anodized, so I know it can be done. Thanks for all the Insights and Knowledge.

Yama

[mcaswell]

We asked that you please post a problem report on PRS. We're here to help you, but not in a public forum.

[erogers]

I had a discussion with my anodizer recently concering cast aluminum. He said that depending on the alloy, it could be impossible to anodize and or color properly. There are good castings and there are bad castings.
And even if you have the same exact product as your friend, the parts may not of come from the same supplier, or they may have canged the grade to lower the cost.