Anyone ever anodized their air tank?

[automeister]

Anyone ever anodized their air tank? I do not see this done very often but it is a cool way to tie everything together.

[zinger565]

I've seen a few aluminum CO2 tanks anno'd, never an HPA tank though.

[wthomas333]

I had a 20oz CO2 tank done earlier this year. They said it’s a bit more difficult to strip the paint off, but otherwise wasn’t a problem. I assume you could also do an aluminum HPA tank.

[DocsMachine]

It'll depend on the anodizer.

Early on, tanks came anodized- black, generally- but they were annoed from the factory. I still have a few like that. Later, they started coming painted- I don't honestly know if that was purely a cost-cutting measure (most likely) or a change in some regulations.

That said, yes, there have been plenty of players that had their tank match-anodized to the gun. You'd see siphon 20s match-anodized to splashed Mega-Zs, there was a VM-68 made specifically for one of the early promoters of the sport (Debra Dion-Krischke, I think?) that was annoed pink, with a matching 3.5 oz up front and a 20 out back, and a lot of automotive Nitrous Oxide tanks these days are supplied anodized.

BUT... I've also had anodizers over the years tell me they can't or won't do them. Some have said "it's not allowed", others say they simply don't want the liability, etc.

So generally speaking, I'm pretty sure you can have it done, but it'll be up to the individual anodizing shop if they'll actually do it.

Doc.

[OpusX]

I am highly entertaining throwing a 26ci in the batch for our FBM projects

[maggot]

I wouldn't be comfortable having an HPA tank done, but have had a few CO2s done over the years.

[automeister]

What are your concerns with having HPA done versus C02?

[maggot]

Almost 4x the amount of pressure in the tank. No room for error.

[Chuck E Ducky]

You could always Cerokote I’m going to have a 9ci done the same time I do a marker to match.

[DocsMachine]

Be careful with Cerakoting. Anything that needs to be baked on can damage the heat-treatment of the tank, weakening it dangerously.

Doc.

[Chuck E Ducky]

Isn’t that what ninja puts on there tanks? They apply cerokote it to plastic and rubber I’m sure it’s not hot enough to cause a heat treatment issue. What temp dose aluminum
get heat treated? (Approx 400*F that sound right)

Cerokote cures at 250*F for H series and 300*F for E series. I don’t think that’s hot enough to affect the heat treatment of the aluminum.