Hey, I work in an anodize shop and work with aluminum airplane parts. You mentioned using aluminum tig wire and said you can only use it once. You can etch your aluminum tig wire to remove the anodize finish. We use aluminum racks to hold the parts and dip them in boric sulfuric acid to get an anodize finish. 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. A point: the aluminum racks do wear out from the repeated etch/acid/anodize process. They get thin and flimsy.
Battery acid is 37% sulfuric acid, 63% water, in case anybody'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.
@daveklingler820 - I'm trying to dye a nylon belt with an aluminum belt all black..I can't take the buckle off..I bought rite black dye because of the belt but don't know what to do about the buckle..any ideas on this?
@@Jeremya74You can find aluminum blacking solution in small bottles that would be perfect for your application. Blacking aluminum is the one color I know of you don't have to go through a whole process, just clean the surface and brush on the solution. Black in seconds. Either online search or a local outdoors shop that sells gun accessories (stocked with barrel bluing etc). Not too expensive last I bought.
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.
When diluting acid, put the water in the container first. The reaction between water and acid generates heat. Slowly adding acid to water prevents the heat being generated too quickly, which can be dangerous.
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.
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!!
This is one of the best produced home HOWTO videos I have seen in a while. Clear imagery, clear audio, clearly explained, and especially the post-mortem / troubleshooting samples at the end.
yeah really like/enjoyed the no nonsense aproach of this video other than the previous seen look at me I struggled bla bla cliff hanger ... Instead i got a straight recipe and I tried this method combined with what i already knew and got great results... top!! thanks sensei!
Great vid! I did quite a lot of DIY anodizing a few years back. I know you're worried about surface finish but after I cleaned the parts and have them on the hanger... 15-20 seconds in lye solution, rinse, then a quick dunk into De-Ox/De-Smut, rinse and then into the anodize tank. That will ensure that you don't get surface irregularities. Also, invest in the Caswell anodizing dyes... They're UV tolerant and the color is ~4X deeper than with RIT. You might want to take a test part that's been anodized and dyed and lay it out in the sun for a few days... the RIT dye tends to fade. Lastly, make sure your power supply is set to hold voltage and not amperage. Doing so will allow you to see when you reach PAR (persistent anodic resistance). As the aluminum oxide grows so does the resistance. Lastly... Heating the bath won't help your anodizing, if anything it'll prevent you from achieving a good thick coating, in fact... the difference between regular type 2 anodize and hard anodize is that you chill the the bath to increase the thickness of the anodize. One way to tell if your anodize is thick enough is that the part will have a yellowish tint.
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.
I actually used to work at a professional anodizing shop, we use that green Scotch-Brite for everything sanding cleaning... You can even get the white pads that are little bit finer. We went through cases of the stuff.
Great post sir! Quick and to the point. I have been machining parts for RC cars for a while now and have not been able to find a clear cut video outlining the process. Now I have so I am super stoked!
WARNING- I forgot to mention its very important to always add acid to water when mixing your anodizing tank. Adding water to acid could cause the water to boil and splash back at you. In this video I sealed my parts using distilled water. This method is not ideal because it takes along time (30-60min) in boiling water. also some of the dye may soak out because of the extend time in the water. A better option is to use nickel acetate which will help plug the pores and seal the part much more quickly (10-30min).
A Lind then I question Cody's approach. There's a violent reaction either way but what do you want being violently splashed all around, a solution that's mostly water or a solution that's mostly acid?
Beautiful! I see how you analyzed the process and took the best bits from Giaco's video and a couple of the comments, along with some good tips and dyes from Caswell. Folks...this is the best home-brew anodizing video I've seen!
i can't say I'll ever be anodizing, but I love anodized parts on my bike and I've always been curious how this works. Awesome coverage of the basics and how to start! Thank you!
i literally came from a 80% lower milling video to this one with the same idea haha. If you do yours first let me know how it turns out if you use this method.
I think ShopBuilt rinsed with water after the baking soda dunk. Another degreaser is acetone which evaporates quickly. It will dissolve all organics which could block the dye transfer. The acid solution can be neutralized with baking soda. The baking soda rinse will help but you probably will need more. Get some pH paper and neutralize until pH = 7. The solution should not be a slurry. That would tend to be basic. pH paper will show this. Great video!
Your care for the environment is to be commended, but it is totally safe to neutralize sulfuric acid with sodium bicarbonate and then dump it down the drain. The remaining salt will be sodium sulfate, which is nontoxic.
Problem is the lead that is dissolved into the acid, which does not get neutralised with the acid, and which then is present in the sewer system and contaminates downstream. Small amounts no real worry ( especially as many places have lead present in the water already from either natural sources or lead pipes) but large amounts are a concern.
I don't think there would be enough leeched into the water from this process, there's not enough water there to be a concern anyway. If he lives in a city, the water treatment plant would get it out of there anyway, and if not there's for sure more lead in the local waters due to fishing weights.
My Motorbike batteries always came with the sulfuric acid in a separate capsule to be added before replacing the old battery. That seems fairly safe to use... obviously used battery acid may not be such a great idea o.O
55 years ago when I was 10 years old I got a anodizing/plating kit for Christmas. It came from a toy store. I copper plated nickels, and nickel plated pennies.
Before doing this please check with your municipal waste water treatment, you state EPA and the fed EPA to see where you would end up if any of the waste went down the drain or buried in the back yard.
Man O Man, now you have me wondering what I can build from Aluminum that I can anodize with those cool colors. It is really hard to pick which one is nicer. Green is my favorite color, but that blue is beautiful too. I really enjoy your videos brother, and I always pick up useful information. One of the best channels on the net. (Whoever clicked the thumbs-down button should go smash their head against the wall.)
Thanks for giving your time and experimenting different ways to have that perfect Finnish, and sharing with us. Turned out great! Good job! Regards john
Good work man. On an industrial scale they have a few more steps and all the chemistry is tested in a lab on site (what I do for a living) glad to see a video with someone who knows what they're talking about! You wouldn't believe all the misinformation floating around out there.
You can neutralize the battery acid (typically sulfuric acid) with the baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). You can also use lye (sodium hydroxide), just be careful. Your best bet would be to dissolve it in water first and add it slowly since neutralizing a strong acid with a strong base will produce heat and can result in the solution popping/splattering. Also be careful dissolving the lye as it is an exothermic process that can produce enough heat to soft boil an egg.
Awesome tutorial! I really love guides by people who are not experts yet but have found what works. It seems much more attainable that way, for me anyway. Question: what do you do with the parts that have blemishes from the process? Can those be reprocessed somehow? Perhaps sanded down or otherwise prepared for redying?
Totally agree about etching. Redi mix drivers use acid to clean concrete off aluminum rims. Some don't flash and leave it on to long and it turns the aluminum black and pouris.
(Friendly heads up for folks trying this at home) Sanding down that lead flashing's coating for use as the cathode exposes you to lead particulates and can increase your risk of cancer so wearing a respirator mask is very highly recommended as well as cleaning up the resulting dust thoroughly to avoid further exposure down afterwards. Stay safe everyone!
I love your video! I always wanted to know how to do this. As for disposing of the dilute sulfuric acid solution, mix it with a mixture of sodium bicarbonate and lye solution. Add the baking soda solution slowly to the acid until it stops fizzing. What you are left with is just sodium sulfate which is completely harmless and can be dumped into the toilet without any problem. The reason you used a mixture of baking soda and lye is that the soda fizzing can be used to detect when all the acid is gone, while the lye is a far stronger base and will result in a lot less wasted chemical. Thus you can use a mixture of 10 parts lye to one part baking soda, or even 20 parts lye. CAUTION: The reaction can be quite vigorous. Take your time.
Great video & can't wait to try some. Just happened to have a salvaged adjustable power supply. Can adjust voltage & current. Thanks!! Doing plating too.
Actually, contact your waste water department about the waste dilute battery acid. I used to run a factory heat treating operation. We used HCl acid to split oil out of our wash water. The waste department approved us to dump directly in the waste stream. They actually liked the idea. You see, waste water in a city sewer system is very alkali due to all the soaps used for normal household cleaning. The treatment plant has to add acid to neutralize it before treating it so it doesn't kill all their bugs. Any acid you add just reduces how much they have to add. Again, check with your local waste department to verify these facts.
There are tons of cleaners that are acid based too that go into the water or storm water system. A bucket of diluted battery acid is nothing to worry about.
The Tap water pH where I live is between 7.5 and 8.2. Five gallons will dilute. I'd be more worried about my drain pipes getting cleaned from oil and corrosion. lol (sarcasm)
UGH. Now I want to get into machining just so I can anodize that green color! I know this isn't the only video on the topic, but I appreciated the "beginners view" on the process and potential hurdles!
Great video! Have always wanted to anodize aluminum parts. This may be the incentive I need to carry thru on that. Thanks. Like the blue, by the way. I'm red/green colorblind so the green looks like bronze to me. My color of choice will be black.
I like the Blue, but I agree with other commenters saying it looks like Kreg or even Rockler, so I'll side with the Green to differentiate it from that. You should do a special Limited Run of Mathias Green as well if he doesn't mind. lol.
"These parts have been in the boiling water for fifteen minutes"...lifts them out by hand and touches them :D Great information. I have some fab'ed aluminum parts that I want to anodize.
Diamond Lapping paste mixed with oil gives you the preferred surface finish/texture for good Anodising. Do it on a flat Marble surface, in a circular motion for best results at Home (Not many people have a rotary Lapping M/c'.) You don't need a lot of paste, but plenty of Oil. I was an Inspector, now retired for the Hydraulic, weapons handling & weapons firing systems for HM's Nuclear Submarines. Almost all of the Aluminium body parts were either, Anodised or Hard Anodised.
If you have to explain to someone that they need to use PPE when dealing with acids, then you would probably need to explain what PPE is. It's like those signs that people print and stick up in the work lunchroom "Wash your own dishes" the sort of person that is too lazy to wash their dishes are usually the type that don't obey signs. Good video though. I have always been curious about doing your own anodizing. Not curious enough to actually do it, but curious enough to watch your video :0)
Several decades ago I am working in a custom automation engineering shop ,I suggest to the owner " why not have our machines color coded , when anodizing our parts . Black for base,red for moving parts ,blue for mounting and yellow for parts between red moving and blue mounts . It would add aesthetics and give us a " brand " look . My idea was scoffed at . A few years later I am at a new job and supervisor say's " I see from your resume that you worked for XYZ custom automation corp. , we .....have some of their machines here , lets look"......... so there they were ,red,blue ,yellow and black anodize finish . " Sharp looking machines ,eh " . Yeah ' sharp looking machines . dicks
Well done. Great tutorial. I'm anodizing professionally but it's always interesting to think about how you could do things, without the professional equipement. Just some thoughts from my side: So we are driving by voltage not by current - it's not the perfect way, but you don't have to care about your surface area. We should have about the same concentration of sulforicacid, so that would give you about 0.5um oxide layer per minute (@16V @Roomtemperature) - which in 'reallife' of course depends on various things, like alloy, Al concetration in the bath, etc.. To increase the hardness you could cool down your bath. But 'hard anodized' pieces are difficult to colour. On the other hand you can extend the anodization time (10-20um = 20-40min) to get deeper pores, which then can contain more dyes. Just some ideas. ;)
Blue looks amazing. Thanks for the video with your trouble shooting tips. With the aluminum you can strip by using etch but you need a dioxide bath for de-smutting. Best way to strip the aluminum is to use the dioxide bath. But the real intriguing part was that you found neutralizing the acid before dying was a good result. The shop that I work in uses to big rents tanks and I find out that we have a lot of drag out. So I think I'll borrow your tip of neutralizing using an alkaline soap. Thank you so much for your video.
I think it's an Americanism, I've heard other Americans pronounce cathode the same way. It's like the way they pronounce "Emu", most Americans pronounce it "E-moo"
@@darkknight145 Idk because this is my first time watching one of this guy's videos but he sounds Canadian. I've never heard anyone pronounce it -oid and I'm American.
@@darkknight145 It’s definitely not an Americanism. (Pro tip: 99% of the time, when a non-American suspects something is an Americanism, it’s not, but is just someone who got it wrong, and it is just as wrong in American English.)
Your waste disposal people may not want to take waste from a business. If it's a problem, baking soda and the drain is a perfectly acceptable alternative (better solution below.) The solution should contain only acid - the lead doesn't react with sulfuric acid (it used to be used as a container for it, believe it or not) and the aluminum ions that are produced in anodizing react immediately with hydroxide ions in the solution to produce aluminum oxide as the fundamental part of the anodizing reaction. Adding baking soda creates a solution of sodium sulfate, which is nontoxic and water soluble. At that point you just need to wash it down the drain with lots of water. A cheap alternative, if you're in limestone country, would be to just put a bunch of limestone gravel in the bucket and wait a week with occasional stirring. This will produce calcium sulfate, which is also nontoxic but only barely soluble in water. The liquid could go down the drain and the solids would be fine in the garbage. Calcium sulfate is gypsum - you'd essentially be making your own plaster/drywall.
Great video! Now I have to try that. I do some plating but I’ve stayed away from anodizing because it seemed too hazardous and a pain in the ass. Your parts look great too!!!
The other advantage to using titanium wire, is if contact is accidentally broken. If contact is broken, aluminum wire will anodize over and never reestablish contact as the aluminum oxide is an insulator. Also, your parts should be sealed in Nickel Acetate, not boiling water. It protects the color better.
Let me know if you have any other questions. I ran an anodizing business for a couple years. It sounds like you already found yourself the best online resource, the Caswell forum.
So it was after I took the process out on the patio, heating the dye and water, wearing gloves and a respirator, that I noticed the neighbor kids were having a birthday party. They were staring at me; all of them. I had lye, battery acid, an *ancient* battery charger, and a 5 gal. Lowe's bucket with an aquarium pump duct taped to the side. " Officer, this is not what it looks like... "
@@NoWr2Run Awful, needed more power. Restricted from that by virtue of a little incident in the basement with my micro H2 gen experiment. She was not impressed...
Jason at Caswell told me not to use Simple Green to clean the aluminum. Jason says that Simple Green leaves residue on the metal. Jason recommends using a solution of Dawn dishwashing liquid. Hope this helps.
I don't care so much about the color. That is always just personal preference. What really matters are the results, which are spectacular. The results come from the process which you went to painstaking detail, and you also showed results that were less than spectacular. It is always much easier to learn by watching the process and understanding where it can go wrong. The "manual" never shows that. Excellent video!
You can strip anno off by soaking it in lye. Liquid draino used to be an easy source but its been years since I've annoed and have heard they changed the formula so check.
Btw, hydrogen is totally non-toxic. You can breathe it with zero problems. It is dangerous due to flamibility concerns. When mixed with oxygen, it is the single most explosively energetic fuel known to mankind. Since it is lighter than air, it collects on your ceiling, near spark sources like lights and fans, and burns with a invisible flame as hot as a welding torch, or detonates explosively. The molecule is small, so it leaks between the atoms of most plastics, meaning you can't contain the gas with those materials. Outside is a good choice. You want to avoid anywhere above where the hydrogen can collect.
Forgot to ask you how can i buy one of your stops? And do you sell the rail setup, or do i use a generic track? Also, is there some type of marker on it to stop it accurately time after time with no hassle? Any info would be great. Thanks
Not for sale yet as because i'm going from getting all the parts made locally to making everything in my shop. hopefully soon. will work with generic track. yes there is a curser. Thanks for the support!!
ShopBuilt contact me grant.l.mara808@gmail.com Could u andodize my dirt bike radiator guards covor gold ? I can send u photo it both could fit in 5 gal bucket no problem
Maybe an old vid but worth to say .this is one of the best results I have seen on RUclips And with good information. And to say I'm just starting out with doing Anodising and this information is just great. Thank you very much for sharing. Question. Do you use the dye neet or is it diluted and if so what ratio I have bought black Rit dye
Been working on bronze coating plastic parts from my 3D printer ... get my stuff from Caswell also. They are only a few miles from my location in ny. Nice job.
Hey, I work in an anodize shop and work with aluminum airplane parts. You mentioned using aluminum tig wire and said you can only use it once. You can etch your aluminum tig wire to remove the anodize finish. We use aluminum racks to hold the parts and dip them in boric sulfuric acid to get an anodize finish. 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.
A point: the aluminum racks do wear out from the repeated etch/acid/anodize process. They get thin and flimsy.
Battery acid is 37% sulfuric acid, 63% water, in case anybody'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.
@daveklingler820 - I'm trying to dye a nylon belt with an aluminum belt all black..I can't take the buckle off..I bought rite black dye because of the belt but don't know what to do about the buckle..any ideas on this?
@@Jeremya74You can find aluminum blacking solution in small bottles that would be perfect for your application. Blacking aluminum is the one color I know of you don't have to go through a whole process, just clean the surface and brush on the solution. Black in seconds. Either online search or a local outdoors shop that sells gun accessories (stocked with barrel bluing etc). Not too expensive last I bought.
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.
Seems like a great use case for 3D printing. You could design custom work holding jigs
@@SamChaneyProductions my first thought as well. I’m going to design a variety of pins and put it on Thingiverse.
When diluting acid, put the water in the container first. The reaction between water and acid generates heat. Slowly adding acid to water prevents the heat being generated too quickly, which can be dangerous.
doc Winters, my 7th grade chemistry teacher taught us all to think "A to W." Always.
AAA - Always Add Acid (to water)
This is known as an exothermic reaction. And it can blind you literally if the acid is strong enough and there are impurities in the H2O
Another reason to add acid to water is that any splash initially will be water, not acid. But glad someone pointed out the AAA or A to W principle.
Thank you. great vid. Short and to the point, no rambling, I cant stand people waffling on about nonsense.
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.
I start on Monday at a place that does that on a larger line and a smaller line. Have anything I should know before I start
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!!
This is one of the best produced home HOWTO videos I have seen in a while. Clear imagery, clear audio, clearly explained, and especially the post-mortem / troubleshooting samples at the end.
yeah really like/enjoyed the no nonsense aproach of this video other than the previous seen look at me I struggled bla bla cliff hanger ...
Instead i got a straight recipe and I tried this method combined with what i already knew and got great results...
top!!
thanks sensei!
Agreed!! Through and clear instructions for sure!!
I'm a machinist and was just curious on the whole process of anodizing. Very informative and well put together. Thanks!
Great vid! I did quite a lot of DIY anodizing a few years back. I know you're worried about surface finish but after I cleaned the parts and have them on the hanger... 15-20 seconds in lye solution, rinse, then a quick dunk into De-Ox/De-Smut, rinse and then into the anodize tank. That will ensure that you don't get surface irregularities. Also, invest in the Caswell anodizing dyes... They're UV tolerant and the color is ~4X deeper than with RIT. You might want to take a test part that's been anodized and dyed and lay it out in the sun for a few days... the RIT dye tends to fade. Lastly, make sure your power supply is set to hold voltage and not amperage. Doing so will allow you to see when you reach PAR (persistent anodic resistance). As the aluminum oxide grows so does the resistance. Lastly... Heating the bath won't help your anodizing, if anything it'll prevent you from achieving a good thick coating, in fact... the difference between regular type 2 anodize and hard anodize is that you chill the the bath to increase the thickness of the anodize. One way to tell if your anodize is thick enough is that the part will have a yellowish tint.
Quite the girth on that man sized manicotti you just stretched his sphincter cramming knowledge and experience in the process, balls deep 😳
Just saying --impressive
Publisher holds your hanging inside-out pocket when you walk around
@@j.ballsdeep420 LOL. Thanks BTW.
Aluminum oxide has no color difference between regular aluminum
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.
How and when would I add the RIT dye?
I actually used to work at a professional anodizing shop, we use that green Scotch-Brite for everything sanding cleaning... You can even get the white pads that are little bit finer. We went through cases of the stuff.
Love the white ones.
If you see this although 4 years later, could you reply as I have a few questions I need help with
Agree, green. It's just different. Didn't think I would enjoy this video as much as I did. super cool process!
Thanks!
Same here 3x3!
Great post sir! Quick and to the point. I have been machining parts for RC cars for a while now and have not been able to find a clear cut video outlining the process. Now I have so I am super stoked!
WARNING- I forgot to mention its very important to always add acid to water when mixing your anodizing tank. Adding water to acid could cause the water to boil and splash back at you.
In this video I sealed my parts using distilled water. This method is not ideal because it takes along time (30-60min) in boiling water. also some of the dye may soak out because of the extend time in the water. A better option is to use nickel acetate which will help plug the pores and seal the part much more quickly (10-30min).
Good advice, altho you should be ok with battery acid as it's already diluted with water :)
ShopBuilt hydrogen extremely explosive. May be best to do it outside.
cody's lab already busted that myth there is no diffrence if you add acid to water
A Lind try it and see.
A Lind then I question Cody's approach. There's a violent reaction either way but what do you want being violently splashed all around, a solution that's mostly water or a solution that's mostly acid?
Why ask a pro on youtube when you can ask a random guy on youtube.
Quality content
Beautiful! I see how you analyzed the process and took the best bits from Giaco's video and a couple of the comments, along with some good tips and dyes from Caswell.
Folks...this is the best home-brew anodizing video I've seen!
Agreed
i can't say I'll ever be anodizing, but I love anodized parts on my bike and I've always been curious how this works. Awesome coverage of the basics and how to start! Thank you!
Thought the same thinking of anodized stem for the tube.
Also, furies are weird af: Easily the weirdest kink
I don't think I'll ever anodize something, but this was really cool info!
You never know when you'll need to anodize something;)
ShopBuilt I do this at work everyday I’m trynna learn more I need that raise 😂
@@jonathanvalencia606 let's link up. I want to make custom paintball markers for cheap. Dog bowls. Whatever sells :)
Do you remember the old James Bond movie "Never Say Never?"
I'm going to attempt anodizing a milled lower receiver.
i literally came from a 80% lower milling video to this one with the same idea haha. If you do yours first let me know how it turns out if you use this method.
I did as well, any update?
@@apmechanic7704 Same here. I want to anodize the part of the AR lower that was machined to give a nicer appearance.
You mean your "friends" lower receiver that you heard about through a relative ?
@@slipknnnot Yes, that's what I 'really' meant to say. Thanks.
Those look AWESOME! Really proud of having helped you starting if this is the result!!!
thanks for your video, it really did help break the fear.
Agreed.
Who are you? You didn't help me. Grab a quarter and call you mom collect. What a banana!
I think ShopBuilt rinsed with water after the baking soda dunk. Another degreaser is acetone which evaporates quickly. It will dissolve all organics which could block the dye transfer. The acid solution can be neutralized with baking soda. The baking soda rinse will help but you probably will need more. Get some pH paper and neutralize until pH = 7. The solution should not be a slurry. That would tend to be basic. pH paper will show this. Great video!
Your care for the environment is to be commended, but it is totally safe to neutralize sulfuric acid with sodium bicarbonate and then dump it down the drain. The remaining salt will be sodium sulfate, which is nontoxic.
Problem is the lead that is dissolved into the acid, which does not get neutralised with the acid, and which then is present in the sewer system and contaminates downstream. Small amounts no real worry ( especially as many places have lead present in the water already from either natural sources or lead pipes) but large amounts are a concern.
I don't think there would be enough leeched into the water from this process, there's not enough water there to be a concern anyway. If he lives in a city, the water treatment plant would get it out of there anyway, and if not there's for sure more lead in the local waters due to fishing weights.
Thats the reason why i wouldn t recommend using sulfuric Acid from batteries, just buy diluted sulfuric acid and then theres no problem.
My gravel driveway works great for getting rid of acid. Limestone gravel.
My Motorbike batteries always came with the sulfuric acid in a separate capsule to be added before replacing the old battery. That seems fairly safe to use... obviously used battery acid may not be such a great idea o.O
55 years ago when I was 10 years old I got a anodizing/plating kit for Christmas. It came from a toy store. I copper plated nickels, and nickel plated pennies.
I remember playing with Mercury in science class with our bare hands, LOL.
BLUE !! Red would look pretty cool too !
Need a red one, need a red one, need a red one, oh and yellow:)
Repeatability is everything... You nailed it. Love the colors.
today is a good day to dye
And the day is not over yet.
Spoken like a true Klingon!
What are you waiting for? Do it.
When you know the reason why
Or dye trying.
Before doing this please check with your municipal waste water treatment, you state EPA and the fed EPA to see where you would end up if any of the waste went down the drain or buried in the back yard.
Mate that was a great how to video. Watched a lot of anodizing videos and yours is one of the best. thanks. Now it's off to the shed and get cracking.
My daughter and I really like the blue color!!!! We enjoyed watching!
Man O Man, now you have me wondering what I can build from Aluminum that I can anodize with those cool colors.
It is really hard to pick which one is nicer. Green is my favorite color, but that blue is beautiful too.
I really enjoy your videos brother, and I always pick up useful information.
One of the best channels on the net.
(Whoever clicked the thumbs-down button should go smash their head against the wall.)
Come on man don't use solid colors paint it on sassy cooler 👌 use them all you should see my fly reels
Thanks for giving your time and experimenting different ways to have that perfect Finnish, and sharing with us. Turned out great! Good job! Regards john
I like how you should some of your trouble shooting pieces at the end. That will help a lot! Very well done
hope you are doing well and can't wait to hear form you again as your channel was one of my favorites god bless brother take care
Really cool. I love that blue! Well done :)
Good work man. On an industrial scale they have a few more steps and all the chemistry is tested in a lab on site (what I do for a living) glad to see a video with someone who knows what they're talking about! You wouldn't believe all the misinformation floating around out there.
I do this as a job. Nice job man. The tanks I use are literally 6ft by 12ft full of 10% sulphuric acid.
Amazing video bro! Best results I’ve seen so far
8:00 The supervisor dashes in to make sure Health & Safety is being observed and asking for kibble.
Personally I think any color of anodized aluminum looks good. I'm glad I learned something today, Thanks
You can neutralize the battery acid (typically sulfuric acid) with the baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). You can also use lye (sodium hydroxide), just be careful. Your best bet would be to dissolve it in water first and add it slowly since neutralizing a strong acid with a strong base will produce heat and can result in the solution popping/splattering. Also be careful dissolving the lye as it is an exothermic process that can produce enough heat to soft boil an egg.
I have just discovered this channel and I am amazed by the depth of skill and attention to detail. I am looking forward to be a regular here.
Wow, what an interesting process. Never would have guessed how this was done. Great information.
I cannot be indifferent,they are both impressive colors. A job well done Sir……..High Five!
Awesome tutorial! I really love guides by people who are not experts yet but have found what works. It seems much more attainable that way, for me anyway.
Question: what do you do with the parts that have blemishes from the process? Can those be reprocessed somehow? Perhaps sanded down or otherwise prepared for redying?
Totally agree about etching. Redi mix drivers use acid to clean concrete off aluminum rims. Some don't flash and leave it on to long and it turns the aluminum black and pouris.
that green is freaking amazing
engineer here - big thumbs up for all the safety tips in this video! your parts came out looking really good too haha
(Friendly heads up for folks trying this at home) Sanding down that lead flashing's coating for use as the cathode exposes you to lead particulates and can increase your risk of cancer so wearing a respirator mask is very highly recommended as well as cleaning up the resulting dust thoroughly to avoid further exposure down afterwards. Stay safe everyone!
Plus always wear gloves when handling lead - lead can transfer through your skin into your bloodstream...
are you aware the material used for toothpaste tubes in the 60s 70s?
"stay safe everyone" God how I despise self proclaimed SAFETY PUSSIES like you ! ............I bet you wear protective gloves to wipe your ass !!
he didnt say sand the lead down, the sanding was only if you choose to use aluminum as the cathode.
@@alexmarkgz5939 Yes, fools rush in where Angels fear to tread! Idiot!
I love your video! I always wanted to know how to do this.
As for disposing of the dilute sulfuric acid solution, mix it with a mixture of sodium bicarbonate and lye solution. Add the baking soda solution slowly to the acid until it stops fizzing. What you are left with is just sodium sulfate which is completely harmless and can be dumped into the toilet without any problem. The reason you used a mixture of baking soda and lye is that the soda fizzing can be used to detect when all the acid is gone, while the lye is a far stronger base and will result in a lot less wasted chemical. Thus you can use a mixture of 10 parts lye to one part baking soda, or even 20 parts lye.
CAUTION: The reaction can be quite vigorous. Take your time.
Etching greatly increases the surface area and makes anodized parts far more scratch resistant
Great video & can't wait to try some. Just happened to have a salvaged adjustable power supply.
Can adjust voltage & current. Thanks!! Doing plating too.
Actually, contact your waste water department about the waste dilute battery acid. I used to run a factory heat treating operation. We used HCl acid to split oil out of our wash water. The waste department approved us to dump directly in the waste stream. They actually liked the idea. You see, waste water in a city sewer system is very alkali due to all the soaps used for normal household cleaning. The treatment plant has to add acid to neutralize it before treating it so it doesn't kill all their bugs. Any acid you add just reduces how much they have to add. Again, check with your local waste department to verify these facts.
Interesting, I'll look into that, thanks.
There are tons of cleaners that are acid based too that go into the water or storm water system. A bucket of diluted battery acid is nothing to worry about.
Consider that the acid here is most likely sulphuric although not specified and further it most likely contains heavy metal contamination.
The Tap water pH where I live is between 7.5 and 8.2. Five gallons will dilute. I'd be more worried about my drain pipes getting cleaned from oil and corrosion. lol (sarcasm)
Just check the pH to see if it close to the tap water in your area if you plan to dump after neutralizing (VMF)
GREAT FINISH on those. you produced a smoother finish than I've seen on some purchased parts.
Super informative! If I ever wanted to try this, you definitely took a lot of the mystery out of it. Thanks!
UGH. Now I want to get into machining just so I can anodize that green color! I know this isn't the only video on the topic, but I appreciated the "beginners view" on the process and potential hurdles!
Great video! Have always wanted to anodize aluminum parts. This may be the incentive I need to carry thru on that. Thanks. Like the blue, by the way. I'm red/green colorblind so the green looks like bronze to me. My color of choice will be black.
Thanks so much! This was the very first video I've ever watched on anodizing and will definitely be trying it in my shop!
I like the Blue, but I agree with other commenters saying it looks like Kreg or even Rockler, so I'll side with the Green to differentiate it from that. You should do a special Limited Run of Mathias Green as well if he doesn't mind. lol.
Blue... but the Green one is nice to
Very informative, however this video made it clear I have no desire to anodize at home. Thank you and keep up the great work!
"These parts have been in the boiling water for fifteen minutes"...lifts them out by hand and touches them :D
Great information. I have some fab'ed aluminum parts that I want to anodize.
They are aluminum...
Diamond Lapping paste mixed with oil gives you the preferred surface finish/texture for good Anodising. Do it on a flat Marble surface, in a circular motion for best results at Home (Not many people have a rotary Lapping M/c'.) You don't need a lot of paste, but plenty of Oil. I was an Inspector, now retired for the Hydraulic, weapons handling & weapons firing systems for HM's Nuclear Submarines. Almost all of the Aluminium body parts were either, Anodised or Hard Anodised.
Ryan! You ok??? We need a ShopBuilt fix! Don't make us beg, man! :)
DANG!! Those parts look really good! You've put in a lot of work to get the process down to excellent results. Thanks for the video.
If you have to explain to someone that they need to use PPE when dealing with acids, then you would probably need to explain what PPE is. It's like those signs that people print and stick up in the work lunchroom "Wash your own dishes" the sort of person that is too lazy to wash their dishes are usually the type that don't obey signs. Good video though. I have always been curious about doing your own anodizing. Not curious enough to actually do it, but curious enough to watch your video :0)
I've wondered how the anodizing process was done. Thanks for showing us !
Several decades ago I am working in a custom automation engineering shop ,I suggest to the owner " why not have our machines color coded , when anodizing our parts . Black for base,red for moving parts ,blue for mounting and yellow for parts between red moving and blue mounts . It would add aesthetics and give us a " brand " look . My idea was scoffed at . A few years later I am at a new job and supervisor say's " I see from your resume that you worked for XYZ custom automation corp. , we .....have some of their machines here , lets look"......... so there they were ,red,blue ,yellow and black anodize finish . " Sharp looking machines ,eh " . Yeah ' sharp looking machines . dicks
Smart greedy dicks too. Somebody else took credit for your idea and probably got a nice bonus $$$$
I have to vote for the green. Good video, well explained process and troubleshooting tips. Well done, thank you.
Well done. Great tutorial. I'm anodizing professionally but it's always interesting to think about how you could do things, without the professional equipement.
Just some thoughts from my side: So we are driving by voltage not by current - it's not the perfect way, but you don't have to care about your surface area. We should have about the same concentration of sulforicacid, so that would give you about 0.5um oxide layer per minute (@16V @Roomtemperature) - which in 'reallife' of course depends on various things, like alloy, Al concetration in the bath, etc..
To increase the hardness you could cool down your bath. But 'hard anodized' pieces are difficult to colour. On the other hand you can extend the anodization time (10-20um = 20-40min) to get deeper pores, which then can contain more dyes.
Just some ideas. ;)
Awesome thanks for the extra info!
Hi Dominik if i have a piece with 74 inc2 how much current i have to apply?
Awesome info. I would definitely want to scale that up for production runs.
Where have you gone???????
Love the video man. We get a lot of stuff anodised by professionals but its still great o see the process and understand it. Great work!
Where the hell have you gone!!!!!????
Blue looks amazing. Thanks for the video with your trouble shooting tips. With the aluminum you can strip by using etch but you need a dioxide bath for de-smutting. Best way to strip the aluminum is to use the dioxide bath. But the real intriguing part was that you found neutralizing the acid before dying was a good result. The shop that I work in uses to big rents tanks and I find out that we have a lot of drag out. So I think I'll borrow your tip of neutralizing using an alkaline soap. Thank you so much for your video.
Nice vid, thanks. But where did you get the "oids"? Anode and cathode. No "i"s
:-p
That bothered me, but then again "battery acid" did as well. Ehh whatever, I make up or butcher words all the time.
I think it's an Americanism, I've heard other Americans pronounce cathode the same way. It's like the way they pronounce "Emu", most Americans pronounce it "E-moo"
@@darkknight145 Idk because this is my first time watching one of this guy's videos but he sounds Canadian. I've never heard anyone pronounce it -oid and I'm American.
@@darkknight145 It’s definitely not an Americanism. (Pro tip: 99% of the time, when a non-American suspects something is an Americanism, it’s not, but is just someone who got it wrong, and it is just as wrong in American English.)
@@tookitogo GOD talks like we talk.
I enjoy the passion you put in to it . Very committed to all the process, excellent video .
Your waste disposal people may not want to take waste from a business. If it's a problem, baking soda and the drain is a perfectly acceptable alternative (better solution below.) The solution should contain only acid - the lead doesn't react with sulfuric acid (it used to be used as a container for it, believe it or not) and the aluminum ions that are produced in anodizing react immediately with hydroxide ions in the solution to produce aluminum oxide as the fundamental part of the anodizing reaction.
Adding baking soda creates a solution of sodium sulfate, which is nontoxic and water soluble. At that point you just need to wash it down the drain with lots of water. A cheap alternative, if you're in limestone country, would be to just put a bunch of limestone gravel in the bucket and wait a week with occasional stirring. This will produce calcium sulfate, which is also nontoxic but only barely soluble in water. The liquid could go down the drain and the solids would be fine in the garbage. Calcium sulfate is gypsum - you'd essentially be making your own plaster/drywall.
Were I live the auto parts stores can take it and recycle it for free. Same with used oil..) Be environmentally smart and be safe
Nice shop. I like the bench around the perimeter.
Dude, are you still making videos?
Great video! Now I have to try that. I do some plating but I’ve stayed away from anodizing because it seemed too hazardous and a pain in the ass. Your parts look great too!!!
wish you’d get back to producing RUclips vids .. take care .. hope all is well
The blue definitely looks better to me. Thanks for letting us know how to do this.
The other advantage to using titanium wire, is if contact is accidentally broken. If contact is broken, aluminum wire will anodize over and never reestablish contact as the aluminum oxide is an insulator. Also, your parts should be sealed in Nickel Acetate, not boiling water. It protects the color better.
Let me know if you have any other questions. I ran an anodizing business for a couple years. It sounds like you already found yourself the best online resource, the Caswell forum.
The Noob Woodworker i
hello colleague
Boiling water works well. It’s also much safer.
For what he is doing, I really wouldn't suggest nickel acetate , stick to hot water , the hotter the better!
So it was after I took the process out on the patio, heating the dye and water, wearing gloves and a respirator, that I noticed the neighbor kids were having a birthday party. They were staring at me; all of them. I had lye, battery acid, an *ancient* battery charger, and a 5 gal. Lowe's bucket with an aquarium pump duct taped to the side. " Officer, this is not what it looks like... "
LMAO. HOW DID THE PARTS COME OUT ?
@@NoWr2Run Awful, needed more power. Restricted from that by virtue of a little incident in the basement with my micro H2 gen experiment. She was not impressed...
Excellent, excellent video. Clear, with fine production values and very good information. Thank you.
@shopbuilt. Where'd you go man?
Yeah - everything ok?
Jason at Caswell told me not to use Simple Green to clean the aluminum. Jason says that Simple Green leaves residue on the metal. Jason recommends using a solution of Dawn dishwashing liquid. Hope this helps.
Hope all is well. We haven't seen you in a minute
I don't care so much about the color. That is always just personal preference. What really matters are the results, which are spectacular. The results come from the process which you went to painstaking detail, and you also showed results that were less than spectacular. It is always much easier to learn by watching the process and understanding where it can go wrong. The "manual" never shows that. Excellent video!
You can take the aluminium TIG rod over to a bench vice, clamp it, then use an angle grinder to take the oxide coating off so you can use it again.
You can strip anno off by soaking it in lye. Liquid draino used to be an easy source but its been years since I've annoed and have heard they changed the formula so check.
Maybe just reverse the polarity of the electrical source.
Really good video, a really good presentation and I like the troubleshooting bit at the end.
That said... that greed is hideous. I'd go with the blue!
Btw, hydrogen is totally non-toxic. You can breathe it with zero problems. It is dangerous due to flamibility concerns.
When mixed with oxygen, it is the single most explosively energetic fuel known to mankind. Since it is lighter than air, it collects on your ceiling, near spark sources like lights and fans, and burns with a invisible flame as hot as a welding torch, or detonates explosively. The molecule is small, so it leaks between the atoms of most plastics, meaning you can't contain the gas with those materials. Outside is a good choice. You want to avoid anywhere above where the hydrogen can collect.
Many projects on the bench, but I would like to try this. Good introduction.
What's an "anoid" ? 1:37 (anode - "oh" sound)
That's how you say it in Canadian ...!
The green's a beautiful olive colour. Thank you for the amazing information.👍
Blue! But..... I would love to have a red one
I really miss your videos. My favourite for some years
Forgot to ask you how can i buy one of your stops? And do you sell the rail setup, or do i use a generic track? Also, is there some type of marker on it to stop it accurately time after time with no hassle? Any info would be great. Thanks
Not for sale yet as because i'm going from getting all the parts made locally to making everything in my shop. hopefully soon. will work with generic track. yes there is a curser. Thanks for the support!!
ShopBuilt contact me grant.l.mara808@gmail.com
Could u andodize my dirt bike radiator guards covor gold ? I can send u photo it both could fit in 5 gal bucket no problem
ShopBuilt if i send u parts can u anodize it ? Ill pay lmk bro thank u
Maybe an old vid but worth to say .this is one of the best results I have seen on RUclips
And with good information. And to say I'm just starting out with doing Anodising and this information is just great.
Thank you very much for sharing.
Question. Do you use the dye neet or is it diluted and if so what ratio
I have bought black Rit dye
Been working on bronze coating plastic parts from my 3D printer ... get my stuff from Caswell also. They are only a few miles from my location in ny. Nice job.