ShopBuilt - How to Anodize Aluminum!

Comments · 1.8K

• GE

  @geraldflorence1220 · 6 years ago (edited)

  Hey, I work in an anodize shop and work with aluminum airplane parts. &nbsp;You mentioned using aluminum tig wire and said you can only use it once. &nbsp;You can etch your aluminum tig wire to remove the anodize finish. &nbsp;We use aluminum racks to hold the parts and dip them in boric sulfuric acid to get an anodize finish. &nbsp;Of course the racks get anodized as well so we just etch them in lye and then dip them in a weak acid wash to get rid of the dark etched coating left from the lye.<br><br><br>A point: &nbsp;the aluminum racks do wear out from the repeated etch/acid/anodize process. &nbsp;They get thin and flimsy.

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• DA

  @daveklingler820 · 7 years ago (edited)

  Battery acid is 37% sulfuric acid, 63% water, in case anybody&apos;s wondering, so by diluting it 3:1, you end up with about 9% sulfuric acid. You could also buy undiluted sulfuric acid if you wanted, and dilute it 11-1. Also, aluminum anodization is just creating a very thin layer of aluminum oxide, which is a hard ceramic, on the surface. Then you dye that thin layer.

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• KJ

  @kjamison5951 · 8 years ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8oesBi7_II&amp;t=480">8:00</a> The supervisor dashes in to make sure Health &amp; Safety is being observed and asking for kibble.

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• DA

  @daveayerstdavies · 8 years ago

  Back when I used to work in a plating lab, we had a collection of small plastic tapered pins that we used to connect wires to parts. Wedge in a straight wire into a hole with a plastic pin and it ensures a good neat connection and is really quick to do which is important when you are anodising hundreds of small parts all at once.

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• KE

  @keithharding8645 · 4 years ago

  When diluting acid, put the water in the container first. The reaction between water and acid generates heat. &nbsp;Slowly adding acid to water prevents the heat being generated too quickly, which can be dangerous.

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• RY

  @rynoalberts · 2 years ago

  Thank you. great vid. Short and to the point, no rambling, I cant stand people waffling on about nonsense.

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• WA

  @WatchMeDIYIt · 8 years ago

  I don&apos;t think I&apos;ll ever anodize something, but this was really cool info!

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• LI

  @Link-0207 · 4 years ago

  I&apos;m a machinist and was just curious on the whole process of anodizing. Very informative and well put together. Thanks!

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• DY

  @dylanjacobson3112 · 4 years ago

  For not being a professional, the commitment to learning and teaching this process is amazing.. I had no idea that t-shirt dye was the homeowners version and I have that for sure.. on top of showing and explaining how things went wrong too.. deff can put this on the jack of the trade list at least.. superb job, much appreciated!!

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• FR

  @fredsmith1672 · 6 years ago

  Im a level 2 plater, anodizer, eloctroplate, electropolish, and passivater. Love seeing people enjoying these processes at home! I had the joy of doing this on a large scale with 1000 gallon tanks of acid and cyanide.

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• TJ

  @tjohnson4062 · 6 years ago

  Good video couple of things I noticed. Using aluminum in place of lead for anode will both decrease time and power used in process as well as you get better results with the rit dye...(better conductor by about 8x) The pink hue your pinking up is actually the result of lead be deposited into the effluent. An aluminum piece of 18gauge plate or about the size of a license plate will have your setup purring.

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• AT

  @atlasmarr5230 · 2 weeks ago

  These look fantastic. Best examples I&apos;ve seen yet of the videos I&apos;ve been watching.