For the paintball guys...

[hvacman250]

Can you guys give me the run down on how to do the advanced ano techniques? Stuff like splashes, fades, acid washes, etc.

I think I've got solid colors downpat, just need to master it and buy a CC/CV PS when Caswell comes back in stock.

Thanks. You guys are an inspiration

[hvacman250]

Also, what do I use to mask off stuff? For example, a buddy wants his XSV Ego body dust white, but the XSV logo and milling gloss gold.

I know to polish the body, mask the XSV logo and milling, then beadblast, but what do I use to mask?

Same thing for masking inside of a barrel if I wanted to?

Thanks guys!

[destroyer125]

You cant really mask the inside of the barrel, if it has no ports you can cork it thru all the steps, otherwise just do it like you would every other part. For masks, you would need either a vinyl plotter, or a really good hand with some rubber cement. Aligning all the milling area's and cutting stickers for each one is near impossible, this is why you dont see stuff like that done.

My biggest suggestion is to buy a jar of rubber cement, ano some test parts, dye, let dry, and go nuts, then bleach, then seal, washing between most steps

[hvacman250]

I'm confused on the steps involved with multiple colors.

Say I anno'd the XSV Ego. When it comes out of the bath, I apply a mask to the "XSV" letters. Dye the body red. I want to dye the "XSV" letters gold.
If I peel off the mask, and dunk it in gold, won't the red change color due to gold dye?

Or do I dye red, then seal, then remove the mask.

Like I say, multiple colors confuse me.

[Z]

dye the whole peice gold, mask out what you want gold, dip the part in diluted bleach to take off the gold dye, rinse very well, dip in diluted sulfuric acid, rinse very well, dye red. Seal 5 mins, take mask off, seal the rest of the way.

[PBInferno]

Z got it exactly right here. Look at my pics in the anodizing gallery to see this technique used for a splash pattern.

[destroyer125]

Ano-rinse-Dye gold-Let completely dry-mask-Bleach-rinse-Dip in an isolated bucket of dilute sulfuric acid-Rince-dye new color-Rinse-Seal-Remove mask-clean off sticker residue-Seal more

[hvacman250]

Reviving a dead thread

This guy wants something tough. The milled out areas (the stars, Eclispe E, and XSV letters to be gloss gold, and the background body dust clear.

What I'm curious about is: once I have bleached the gold off, will I be back to a true clear? I experimented with a brown barrel, dipping in bleach for different amounts of time, and I could never get back to a clear. Lightest I could get was a light yellowy color. That was with brown though.

Any thoughts? Is this even do-able?

[acidrain]

Follow bleach with 1:3 battery acid/water, and it will be completely clear.
Yes, it's do-able.