Lots of Questions

[rmcvitty]

Hey guys,
Pretty new to this, done a **** load of reading on these forums, done some anodizing with I guess decent results, but do have questions.

720 Calculater - If I only have a 3amp rectifier from Caswell, and change the 6 amp to 3 amp in the blue section, do I follow the numbers at the bottom (white section). I have been doing it that way, and seems to work, just checking.

On that note, if I get a larger rectifier, say, 6 amp or 12 amp, would that cut my ano times down for the same part?

Red dye- read that temp is important, I concur, get much better results @ 140 than 120, but still having problems. Question is can I use my pool PH strips to check the dye?

Streaking. The parts I am doing have many holes, some threaded. I made some threaded things to plug them holes (aluminum), because the first attempts streaked out of the holes. I have a spray bottle set on stream for in blind holes, around threaded holes etc. Then rinse the whole thing from a gallon jug. Then flip 180 and rinse again. Stlill streaking. It seams the more I rinse (distilled), the more streaking from those holes I get. That being said, I had three runs today. Read earlier that I don't have to dye right away, as long as I keep parts wet. Rinsed first two runs after ano, nuetralize, rinse, suspended in distilled till ready to dye with third run. Unthreaded holes - no streaks. Dyed first two runs, worst streaking ever. Took third run out of ano, no nuetralize, no rinse, dye red, very little streaks, looks best yet. Color is awsome. But still some streaking from threaded holes. More confusion as I have been through gallons of distilled water. When get up and going, I will get RO system in place, but it seems the more I rinse, the worse my results.

Everything I have is from Caswell (degreaser, de smutt, ano stuff, dyes, etc.) Barely into it, I realize I will need bigger tanks, power supply etc, but want to sorta know what I am doing befrore upgrading.

Sorry such a long post. Any anwers/suggestions greatly aprreciated. If too much to respond to here, call me at 715-781-2878 or 715-248-7626 (collect is fine) or e-mail rmcvitty@pressenter.com with a good time and phone # to call.

Thanks,
Roger

[sswee]

Welcome.
The 720 calculator is quick and easy. I use it all the time but it is good to understand what it is doing and how. The amperage you speak of is the current density(CD) for the run and nothing to do with the size of your PS. If the surface area of the part is small enough, a 3A PS will do a CD higher than 3 ASF provided it has the voltage to carry the load. Your run time is directly related to the CD used for the run. So short answer is a larger CD will cut your run time. The voltage rating of a PS determines the size of CD that can be run and the amperage rating will determine the size of part that can be run. If you need clarification or elaboration on any of this, just ask.

I don't believe the pool test strips would work on dye as they use color as an indication and the dye would not allow a true reading.

The streaking sounds like acid streaking but with the measures you've taken, have you considered the possibility of contamination before the anodize step. I've had spots and/or streaks from machine oil in the threads or pits. Some oils are very difficult to get off and out of the metal.

Your right in getting the process down with a smaller set up as the larger tanks can add more problems to the mix.

Let us know how it goes.
SS

[acidrain]

Good advise Sswee...
I'll add this: I read that you are spray rinsing and then pouring water on the part. I suggest spraying the holes out like you're doing, and in addition, completely dunk the parts in clean rinse water. Make sure there is no drag-over in the rinse tank, and when spray rinsing... let the water drain into the ano tank.
Then, in addition, spray rinse into your rinse tank before heading to the dye tank.
1) Quick spray rinse into the ano tank.
2) Agressive dunk rinse in a rinse tank.
3) Agressive spray rinse into the rinse tank.
As for color depth, PH is important (get a digital PH meter), but black and red are the two colors that really require a full 1mil ano thickness... 2 hrs at 6 amps per sq. ft.

[rmcvitty]

Gettin better. Decided to try taking the plugs out after spray rinse and hang parts on alum wire, dunk in rinse tank, then dye. Eliminated the streaking, but now the parts are 'banging' each other a little bit. And the wire likes to break, so then I have to fish for parts, and I ain't much for fishin. I will make some new hangers for dyeing step, or maybe try to put parts back on original hangers after dunking in rinse. 1 mil ano red does look much better than .75, but now I'm up to four hours ano time. Need more buckets, heaters, power, shop space, etc...Just like racing, never enough equipment. It started out so simple.............

Thanks again for the help. It's nice not to be totally alone when experimenting. Looks like I'm getting there, but sure there will be more questions soon enough!

Thanks
Roger

[acidrain]

4 hrs ano time? Are you anodizing at only 3 amps/sq.ft.? If so, that is too low. Maybe you meant 4 hrs to ano complete with dye, seal, etc.
As for banging parts... yeah... don't want that!

[rmcvitty]

No, 4 hours in ano tank, plus cleaning, dyeing, etc. Only have 3amp power supply from Caswell. When I ordered kit, I asked about size of power supply I needed, and was told the 3 amp would be good. What I didn't realize at the time was I would have to do all the associated parts with the main part so the color matches good. On this particular part, that took my sqaure inches from 68.65 to 154.4, really increasing the time. It seems to be working fine, just takes a while. At least I can do other stuff while in ano tank. If I had a dime for every time I try to save a few $$ only to turn around and upgrade my parts / equipment.....You would think I'd learn! I will be getting more power as soon as I can.

Question about RO water filter. Do they need pressure to work? I don't have running water in my shop during winter months. I can hook a hose up temporaryily, but need to unhook and bring it in when done with it. What I am thinking is put a 55 gallon drum near the cieling, fill from hose, then plumb that into RO filter and fill jugs as needed. Otherwise I will put filter in house, and carry jugs to shop.

Thanks
Roger

[luminous]

Yes, they need pressure, and plenty of it. Ideal for most of them seems to be at least 45-70psi. At low pressures both output quantity and water quality suffer dramatically. Our H2O pressure here is only 30psi and an RO filter was useless at that pressure. I bought a booster pump to run the RO filter and it's at 65 psi now and cranks out plenty of good water.

You mention no water in winter months. Does it freeze there?
Cold water temperatures also slow down the filtration process (quite noticeably) and requires even higher pressure to get the same flow as warmer water. A good booster pump is worth it's weight in gold. I think I paid about $50 for mine.

steve

[rmcvitty]

Yep, it freezes here. They normally are walking on the lakes Thanksgiving weekend. I wasn't smart enough to bury waterline deep enough when I built the shop, then again, 8 years ago I never figured I would be doing this type of thing out here. But life changes.....So if I have a drum at room temp (shop is heated all winter), plumb in a booster pump then the filter, should be good to go? Gotta be better than buying gallon jugs of water in town. Where do I find a booster pump?

Taking acidrains advice and ordering the mastech 10 amp power supply. I'll take some pics on my next run and put them on here also.

Thanks,
Roger

[luminous]

Yeah, room temperature water from a barrel and a booster pump and you should be good to go. The pump I got looks sort of like this one, but I know I didn't pay that much for it.
http://www.h2odistributors.com/cdp-6800.asp
The pump itself has a label that claims it's a "PJV 6010".

It's been a while ago, don't remember where I got it. Perhaps Caswell sells a booster to go with their RO unit now? (hint hint Caswell)

Remember that in addition to the "product water" that you will keep, the filter also produces waste water at about A 5:1 ratio. For every gallon of good water you get, you will use about (at least) 5 gallons of water, and the remainder goes out the discharge line along with many of the contaminants that were removed from your "good" water. So a 55 gallon drum of water will likely yield less than 10 gallons of filtered water.
Higher pressures and warmer temperatures make the filtration more efficient and improve the good water to waste water ratio. But even at it's best, it's a rather wasteful process...

Waste water from mine goes to a 55 gallon plastic barrel that ties into the irrigation for my fruit trees, so it's not really "wasted".

steve

[rmcvitty]

Thanks for info on pump. With that much waste, I may be better off putting the filter in the house and 'recruting' the kids to carry jugs......oh wait.... can barely get em to take out the trash! I wonder if it will produce water fast enough to keep the hose from freezing on a 'warm' day (high twentys)? As for the waste water, I guess I'll have a skating rink out back. To bad there ain't a way to use it in the house, or put it back in the well, cause it's not contaminated or anything, right? Uncle Sam would have a fit. Looking at a 100 gallon per day unit. Don't know that I need that much, but, reffering to earlier post about saving $$ and then upgrading to bigger right away, figure I may as well get it and be done. Starting to think powder coating would have the way to go on these parts, but where's the adventure in that?

Thanks,
Roger