anodize aluminium

[Lawijt]

Hello friends,

I buy a premachined kit. The ECONOMY hit and miss engine from the engineers emporium.
I have already the "little wonder from those people and I must say...It is a beautifull engine. I can not build it from the castings. So that is why I buy a premachined kit.

My friend painted it professional at his work. But the thickness of the paint give pain in the head with building the engine together.

So , is it possible to anodise aluminium pieces & can it be done @ home.

Thanks already

Barry

 

[canadianhorsepower]

Hi LAWIJT

So , is it possible to anodise aluminium pieces & can it be done @ home.

Sure it can be done at home "Model Engineers Workshop" no 194 had a
grate article on this

here is a good video [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr-zd6StOOw[/ame]

and kits are available at CASWEL

 

[Jasonb]

I think your biggest problem will be the surfaces are cast and will have fettleing marks which won't give a good surface to annodise. Also the iron parts will still need to be painted.

J

 

[Lawijt]

Thanks Luc.
Jason , thanks for the reply. So you think that cast aluminium is not so good for anodizing??

Barry

 

[Jasonb]

Not as it will arrive to you. If you want to spend a lot of time fettling the castings and sanding/buffing them to an almost polished surface then you could get a reasonable look with the anodising. The home anodising is really only a stain so whatever is under it will show, hard anodising will cover more but thats not really a home job

Though personally I think it will look wrong.

If paint thickness was a problem the mating surfaces should have been masked so you would still be fixing metal to metal

 

[Lawijt]

You got it right Jason. I read about it. It is not difficult and I have all in the house for it. But you need a very good quality aluminium to do that work.
I have Sulfuric acid for my swimming pool & also a good power supply from 12V / max 50 amps.
But I will do not. Good masking & my friend wil do the paintjob.
I will try to make a good topic from the build. But Monday morning I have to go too the Clinic for a very difficult operation in my right shoulder. Than 3 months revalidation.
I will see what I can do with using only my left hand.

Barry

 

[RonGinger]

I did a bit of anodizing, in much smaller quantities that the video above. I used 2 gal buckets and about 1 gal of solution. I also used swimming pool acid instead of sulfuric. Sulfuric is a terror in the shop- its vapors will rust every thing in sight.