Texas Anodizing \ Aluminum work?

Anybody out there know of anyone who either does some (aluminum) anodizing, or does fairly inexpensive aluminum welding in the Earth area?

Would like to have some aluminum tubing anodized (any color is ok, just throw it in with a batch you're currently running)... also have a model rocket fincan that I'd like made.

Thanks in advance...

Mark

It's so easy to do your own anodizing, including the dyeing stage, and so cheap, it really isn't funny.

A 12 volt battery charger, a box of battery acid, a 5 gallon bucket, some baking soda (to neutralize the bath when you're done with it), a scrap of aluminum or two to donate aluminum to the bath, and some lead for a conductor, and you've got what you need.

Search for it online.

I've done it. It works. It'll cost you 20 bucks to get started if you have a car battery charger already.

CJ

Mark wrote:

There is a google group, dfw.forsale, that is great for local info. good luck.

There is a google group, dfw.forsale, that is great for local info as well as good deals. good luck.

Good idea... thanks.

|It's so easy to do your own anodizing, including the dyeing stage, |and so cheap, it really isn't funny. | |A 12 volt battery charger, a box of battery acid, a 5 gallon bucket, |some baking soda (to neutralize the bath when you're done with it), |a scrap of aluminum or two to donate aluminum to the bath, and some |lead for a conductor, and you've got what you need. | |Search for it online. | |I've done it. It works. It'll cost you 20 bucks to get started |if you have a car battery charger already.

I have an upcoming project that will involve a 24" x 100" piece of sheet metal, that I would like to anodize. Is it possible for a home-brew anodizing to get fairly uniform results on a larger area like this? Rex in Fort Worth

I would suspect you could feed it through a trough with cathodes (lead or stainless) on the bottom and surface of the acid tank, in this case your problem would be either moving it properly, slowly or in segments. The way I understand it, anodizing is complete when current drops down (like reforming an electrolytic capacitor), so that with a given voltage the anodizing will always be a certain thickness if allowed to complete. That said, if sufficient time is given to anodize each section, overlapping an un-anodized section with a little already-anodized surface shouldn't make any difference in quality.

Don't know about how well the out-of-solution end will survive though, if you want to dye it.

BTW, does anyone know if the new nonstick Reynold's Wrap is done something like this? That was my first impression as to what it is...

Tim

-- "I have misplaced my pants." - Homer Simpson | Electronics,

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