How to set constant current (cc)?

[joelellis]

Hello all,

I've been anodizing for some time now with varying levels of success. I wanted to improve upon my colors (dye penetration) so I bought a new power supply, as constant current seems to be the favorite. It certainly looks like it will do a better job than my battery charger, but...

How do I set it to constant current?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...:X:RTQ:US:1123

This is the one I purchased.

I imagine I can alter the voltage to maintain the current but this seems to defeat the purpose of my purchase.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Joel

[acidrain]

Carefully measure the entire surface area of your parts.
Use the 720 rule to calulate the amps (use .5mil for gold/light colors, .75mil for medium colors, 1mil for dark colors).
Turn your volts all the way up, and the amps all the way down (both knobs).
Slowly ramp up the amps to your target. One knob is course, and the other is fine adjustment.
When anodizing, keep the amps steady all the way through the job... the volts will do what they need to maintain the amps.
Take carefull notes of what the volts are doing throughout the run. It will give you hints should you run into problems (sudden rise in volts = loss of connection, etc).

[joelellis]

Thank you!

That worked perfectly.

I was expecting a switch to go between CC and CV. But I just cranked the voltage as you said and completely reduced the amperage and the P/S switched to CC. I then dialed it up and in.

In playing with it I realized that when I exceed what the power supply can put out current wise (likely due to the 18 or so volt limit in conjuction with the tank resistance: Ohm's law), it switches back over to CV.

I never thought to turn down the current knobs!

I know I've not posted much here, but I have done a lot of reading, and just wanted to say thanks again, acidrain. You are a great asset to this online community.

Cheers,

Joel

[acidrain]

you're welcome... drop by anytime