[deadman]

I'm planning on doing a home anodizing on my DP F8. This is my first time trying to anodize something myself so to anyone who has done anodizing before could you please tell me what you think of my setup.

This is what I got:
5 gallon plastic bucket
Little over half a gallon of Battery acid (sulfuric acid) I can also get more if needed.
Aluminum welding wire to suspend pieces
4 aluminum plates 5x4 to be used as cathodes
Aluminum angle bar to hang the marker pieces (anode)
4 gallons of distilled water
10 Amp 8/12 volt battery charger
RIT dye
Hot plate to heat Dye bath as well as sealing bath of distilled water
Drain cleaner (I have already tested and found this to work great for removing previous ano. and cleaning parts)

I know it's not the best but I am just wondering if this will be adequate to ano. my marker.

What would you recommend as the acid to water ratio?

What do I do with the acid bath after I am finished? I heard that you add baking soda to neutralize it.

Also this is the wire I got to suspend the cathodes as well as the anode. Will it be too thin (will the acid bath eat through it?) or will it be ok?
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=prod...&lpage=none

This post has been edited by deadman: 18 July 2009 - 07:50 PM

[RealtorTommy]

Glad to see someone doing DIY projects.

First off remember never add water to acid or it can boil and blow up causing serious injuries or possible death. Always add the acid to water. Wear safety glasses and a face shield please.

As a licensed anno business owner I can't comment on the ratio you should mix as there is different levels of battery acid. Your underage and I'm not going to comment on how you should mix it. Please understand. If it's NAPA battery acid that's a 33% mix....please google search the ratio that should be used or another poster can help.

If you done with the acid contact you local garbage facility/dump and see if they have hazardous waste day to bring it in. Please don't dump it into a drain or on the ground.

RIT dye somethimes works and sometimes doesn't. Anodizing dye is the best


Your wire will be fine. Just do a quick clean up on it to remove any oils or coatings.

This post has been edited by RealtorTommy: 19 July 2009 - 11:26 AM

[Chace365]

for safety purposes i would highly recomend that you use the following;
safety glasses that are like swim goggles to prevent any splashing of acid.
long pants
long sleeve shirt
heavy duty pair of boots/shoes
and thick gloves that allow movement.
ive seen battery acid burns before. it aint pretty. just think of it this way. if battery acid can corrode and sometimes eat through metal, imagine what it could do to soft tissue?

[deadman]

Thanks for the input.
I got a set of old shop clothes I wear around my garage that I will use. I also have some heavy rubber gloves as well as safety goggles and a vapor respirator.
Glad to know the wire I have will work. I just finished taking the original ano off of all the parts and have used iron wool to polish them. Then I rinsed them in distilled water.
I also have my bucket all set up. I don't have time to do the ano today but tomorrow all I have to do is mix my solution and hang the parts in it.
I'll post pictures of my results tomorrow when I'm finished.

Also does anyone know a good way to polish the insides of the body like where the poppit goes. I was thinking about using a fine wire brush bit for a drill and running it down the inside, or just putting steel wool on a plastic rod.

[FireFrenzy]

As someone who has used highly concentrated acids as solvents (i´m talking doing chemical reactions in 100% sulpheric and phosphoric acid) i advise you to take EXTREME CARE, acid isnt your friend... it wont kill you or anything but keep lots and lots of paper towels handy to use to absorb spills (if you use the"cool" kind of acid they´ll turn black and disintegrate).

when mixxing or disposing of chemicals always mix a little as a test batch to see what-if anything- will happen... I once got covered in 98% sulpheric acid because i didn´t do this and let me tell you taking of rubber gloves in a hurry because there is acid eating into the skin of your neck (just looked like a really bad hickey) isnt something i recommend... Nor is following a french patent which forgets to mention the massive cloud of sulpheric acid which will come out of your reaction vessel...

Have fun with your little chemistry experiment FireFrenzy-BAs (maybe you can even get like class credit for it...)

EDIT: i think they make polishing thingies for dremels check the Tiberius arms forums there are alot of people there who have write ups of them polishing the insides of their guns for higher efficiency...

This post has been edited by FireFrenzy: 21 July 2009 - 06:37 AM

[Jaldrich]

fire frenzy, are you a chemist? My wife was in lab once and a guy spilled some kind of base or acid on his hand and she said his skin just dissapeared and a little red oozey hole just appeared on his hand.....lol wonder what concentrations they were dealing with.....lol.

Anyways be careful and post pictures !!!!!!! I want to see how your home setup works.

[Chace365]

it might be a good idea to keep kitty litter on hand as well to absorb chemical spills.

[deadman]

I just finished putting my marker together. The ano. didn't come out exactly the way I wanted, but I kinda expected that. One thing that I was very satisfied with was when I sealed the ano. with water the marker was left with a nice fade effect.

Anyways here are some pics. of the process as well as the final results. I will try and get some pictures of the marker in sunlight outside so you can see the fade effect more easily, I just have to wait for it to stop raining.

Parts prepped and ready:


Supplies:


Battery Charger:


Parts in acid solution:


Ano. in progress:


Parts being removed from ano.


Parts being rinsed off in distilled water:


Dye bath heating up:


Parts being placed in heated dye:


Parts soaking in Dye:


Quick check on progress:


Parts after sealing process:


Finished results:




Me:


I did have more protection on. I was in the process of taking it off.

I know it doesn't look all that good, but for my first time trying anodizing with a homebrew setup, I am quite pleased.

[Jaldrich]

thats really interesting, and deffinetly not bad for a first time anno try.

Any of you gurus on here know how many times you can strip and retry an anno before you start causing harm to the marker?

[Tucan9999]

Jaldrich, on Jul 21 2009, 09:48 PM, said:

thats really interesting, and deffinetly not bad for a first time anno try.

Any of you gurus on here know how many times you can strip and retry an anno before you start causing harm to the marker?

I think you can safely do 5 after the stock 1

[FireFrenzy]

Yeah i´m getting my masters ASAP atm... But acid isnt as scary as people seem to think it is, sure kings water and ¨nitration acid¨(not sure if thats the correct translation) are something you want to be carefull with but its pretty safe to work with.

Now Bases those are nasty...

[Ajak]

i think you shoulld have left it in the dye a little bit longer but nice job... ive always wanted to try anno and do some local work but that wont happen for awhile and maybe when im done making my project ion uber light ill send it to you for anno practice?

This post has been edited by Ajak: 22 July 2009 - 04:49 PM

[Chace365]

If you were to try to get a deeper, darker purple... would you just add a small bit of black RIT dye? I like purple but it seems too light for my taste. But I gotta give you a big for that home anno job.

[fieldblazer]

*whistles softly* I want it.... Nice work!

[deadman]

Chace365, on Jul 22 2009, 06:13 PM, said:

If you were to try to get a deeper, darker purple... would you just add a small bit of black RIT dye? I like purple but it seems too light for my taste. But I gotta give you a big for that home anno job.

The RIT dye I bought was the stuff that comes as a liquid. I put that into a pot and added a little water to get the volume I needed. I left the marker in the dye for about an hour and a half. I think the reason it didn't turn out darker was because I heated the dye up too much and prematurely sealed the marker before putting it in the final water bath. That's the only reason I can think of for the dye not turning darker. By all means I would have been more happy with a darker shade but I don't really feel like stripping the ano off and re-doing everything. Beside I have already disposed of almost all the materials I used. Either way it was a interesting experiment to try, I had been meaning to do this for a long time because I was worried that it was out of my league.

If you want to try a fun experimental, and don't mind if your result are a bit off then it's a blast. Looking back though at how much I spent though (being as I had absolutely no supplies) I prolly could have gone through a professional company for better results. It was an interesting experiment nonetheless.

Here is a rough cost for my materials:

4 gal. distilled water - 4.00
2 bottles RIT dye - 8.00
Hot plate - 20.00
Battery acid - 17.00
Bucket - 4.00
Aluminum wire - 10.00
Paint can - 5.00
Total - $68

Luckily one thing I did have was a battery charger. If you don't have one it can cost you $50 and up (I have also read that you can use a PC power supply).
Most professional companies are around $100 for a single color ano. plus you pay for shipping. Although you will also get much better results through a professional company.
If your bored and have a marker to screw around with then this is an interesting experimental to try.

This post has been edited by deadman: 23 July 2009 - 09:58 PM

[Ajak]

you should do a quick write up on the process you used so that lazy people like me dont have to search lol

[deadman]

Ajak, on Jul 23 2009, 11:04 PM, said:

you should do a quick write up on the process you used so that lazy people like me dont have to search lol

I could do that. It will have to wait to tomorrow though cuz I got to get up early and need some sleep.

[spydervents]

That is impressive. you wont see me doin that to my f8 haha

[Tucan9999]

I actually like that purple better than some purple I've seen.

[Chace365]

deadman, on Jul 23 2009, 10:57 PM, said:

Chace365, on Jul 22 2009, 06:13 PM, said:

If you were to try to get a deeper, darker purple... would you just add a small bit of black RIT dye? I like purple but it seems too light for my taste. But I gotta give you a big for that home anno job.

The RIT dye I bought was the stuff that comes as a liquid. I put that into a pot and added a little water to get the volume I needed. I left the marker in the dye for about an hour and a half. I think the reason it didn't turn out darker was because I heated the dye up too much and prematurely sealed the marker before putting it in the final water bath. That's the only reason I can think of for the dye not turning darker. By all means I would have been more happy with a darker shade but I don't really feel like stripping the ano off and re-doing everything. Beside I have already disposed of almost all the materials I used. Either way it was a interesting experiment to try, I had been meaning to do this for a long time because I was worried that it was out of my league.

If you want to try a fun experimental, and don't mind if your result are a bit off then it's a blast. Looking back though at how much I spent though (being as I had absolutely no supplies) I prolly could have gone through a professional company for better results. It was an interesting experiment nonetheless.

Here is a rough cost for my materials:

4 gal. distilled water - 4.00
2 bottles RIT dye - 8.00
Hot plate - 20.00
Battery acid - 17.00
Bucket - 4.00
Aluminum wire - 10.00
Paint can - 5.00
Total - $68

Luckily one thing I did have was a battery charger. If you don't have one it can cost you $50 and up (I have also read that you can use a PC power supply).
Most professional companies are around $100 for a single color ano. plus you pay for shipping. Although you will also get much better results through a professional company.
If your bored and have a marker to screw around with then this is an interesting experimental to try.

what im scared of is ruining my marker. i mean i was thinking of annoing my promaster a dark purple, or the alternative would be a really dark jungle green.