I made a thing (first ano attempt inside)

[Memornix]

A little while back I posted looking for someone willing to do a small ano project and didn't receive any responses so I figured, why not set myself up for home anodizing. What you see below is a Trilogy Sport body that has been hacked up on the mill and then built with mostly parts bin parts and a few new things. I am probably going to black out a few more bits and may redo the anodizing now that I have learned some lessons. She isn't quite done yet, but hope to have it shooting later in the week. Now for the pics:





As you can see, the anodizing isn't perfectly even as it was a little thin in spots. What I have learned is that I needed a little more acid in the anodizing bath and needed to let it sit in the bath a little longer. I did a few more test pieces after this body and got better results so I might strip this back down and think I can do a splash pattern with deeper coloring.

[autococker04]

That’s awesome! I was thinking about trying a home setup myself, but keep pushing it to the back burner.

[Memornix]

That’s awesome! I was thinking about trying a home setup myself, but keep pushing it to the back burner.

It seemed like alot to of stuff to pull together but in reality it wasn't that bad. Mainly alot of buckets and distilled water and a lead cathode. I already had a power supply and got the acid and lye I needed from ace hardware. Definitely time consuming for the first time getting everything setup just right though.

[autococker04]

What did you use as your power supply? I saw people using car jump starters but that has minimal adjustability

[NONOBLITUS]

Looks cool , I’ve wanted to give a go myself in the home anodizing world. Think this may push me into trying.

[Memornix]

What did you use as your power supply? I saw people using car jump starters but that has minimal adjustability

I used a lab DC power supply. I can adjust max voltage and amps. This isn't the one I used but something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/RoMech-30V-Power-Supply-Variable/dp/B081SKNHTV/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=lab%2Bpower%2Bsupply&qid=1609709250&sprefix=lab%2Bpower&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzTEk4MVhFSkJES1hQJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwOTU1MzIwMUg2MlVYU1RPMFYyTyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNzA0NTEzMVZWTDY4VkVMOEpJVyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX3Bob25lX3NlYXJjaF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl&th=1

The voltage capacity didn't seem super important since what I read was that you should stay below 15v but for larger pieces I needed 3-5amps.

[autococker04]

Nice, maybe I’ll give this a try some time. I have some projects that are getting a little pitted with time.

[Memornix]

This seems to be racking up the likes. I don't have time for the next 2-3 weeks, but I assume the collective would be interested in me doing a tutorial on this?

[Jordan]

Absolutely! My projects usually feel "unfinished" because I'll have raw aluminum after cutting, but the cost of pro anno jobs are daunting when the projects are worth much much less than the anno.

[Memornix]

Jordan, that is exactly why I went this route. Rumor has it that there is another trilogy on its way to me that will get milled for a feedneck mod. I will strip it afterwards and do a tutorial.

[Chuck E Ducky]

Not bad. Looks good I hear there is a lot of misinformation and trade secrets involved with anodizeing. Always wanted to try my hand at it. It’s kind of trial and error from what I understand.

[Memornix]

It seems to be trial and error and patience. I did the back block by itself first and got a really nice deep pink and it was perfect. Then I did the body and couldn't hardly get anything to stick. I ended up removing the ano from both and started over. What I discovered was larger pieces take alot more power (seems like a duh moment now) and if you want consistent color on 2 different sized pieces, do them at the same time.

For the second time, I bent some aluminum to fit securely in the bolt hole in the body and the back block so it was assembled like a cocker would be. After running both pieces through the process at the same time I got consistent color but needed even more power.

So, yeah, basically voodoo, trial and error and lessons learned. Also, it is painful waiting for the dye to soak in as much as you would like when all you want to do is pull it out and look at it at the thing you made.

[NONOBLITUS]

Did you really have to do a lot of prep prior like really cleaning and polishing it ? Does that make a difference in the outcome ?

[Memornix]

Did you really have to do a lot of prep prior like really cleaning and polishing it ? Does that make a difference in the outcome ?

Yes yes and yes. Whatever the finish is before ano will be the finish after ano. If it is matte, polished or has tiny little scratches, they will show up afterwards. I did my first run polished and it looked ok but I wanted more of a matte so it hit it with Scotch Brite which left very tiny scratches, more like grain lines that are still visible.

As for cleaning, I put on rubber gloves to eliminate body oils and scrubed it good with simple green then greased lighting, sprayed it distilled water then put it in a water/lye bath to chemically clean it. From there it was clean distilled water again then into the water/acid for ano.

Any oils left on the piece will result in no ano in that spot.

[moving_target]

Look forward to your tutorial. I have a few things that I may try this with...