Anodizing Titanium

[BenChiew]

here are some high polish anodized pieces:

These are nice.

 

[wquiles]

Bump to a very awesome and informative thread

 

[tino_ale]

This is my 365nm UV Mule, glass bead blasted then anodized to a slightly purplish deep blue.

This is a "champagne" pink I am pretty happy with for any girly gift

And this is the best blue I could get so far

 

[Cityus]

These are nice.

these are beautiful, how did you do the swirls?!

 

[theslippyslug]

 

[Eric242]

That´s a nice looking Haiku :thumbsup:

Eric

 

[Vernon]

This is my 365nm UV Mule, glass bead blasted then anodized to a slightly purplish deep blue.

This is beautiful!!!

 

[ChibiM]

Just reviving an old thread.
I did it with about 10 pieces of 9volt batteries..in combination with Pepsi Diet coke.
I got the idea from Guy at MBI, and it was fun to work with.
next I would like to try different supplies, so the colors will be brighter etc.. mine came out rather dull

Love the idea though...

 

[wquiles]

mine came out rather dull

Looks very neat. Now, I thought the secret to it not looking dull was the amount of polish before starting and perhaps also the pre-etching? I seem to recall there is a special pre-etching solution that makes the end product look even nicer?

 

[RobinGonzo]

Just reviving an old thread.
I did it with about 10 pieces of 9volt batteries..in combination with Pepsi Diet coke.
I got the idea from Guy at MBI, and it was fun to work with.
next I would like to try different supplies, so the colors will be brighter etc.. mine came out rather dull

Love the idea though...

Could you please explain this a bit more detailed? Sounds interesting and easy to do

 

[ChibiM]

Could you please explain this a bit more detailed? Sounds interesting and easy to do

Sure.. I just made a new thread.. please take a look here: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...ium-on-a-budget-(paint)&p=4574862#post4574862

 

[RedLED]

For small batch pieces like clips, screws, beads and our single cell lights how much water vs. say, TSP in powder form.

I would think that 3 cups or a quart to a table spoon of TSP would make for a strong solution as an electrolyte and then add the amount of 9V batteries. At least this could be a starting place to go from.

When I do my tests, I want to measure the exact amounts so that in the future if I want to touch up the piece to the same color or match another piece to it, I will be able to get back to that point.

 

[F89]

For small batch pieces like clips, screws, beads and our single cell lights how much water vs. say, TSP in powder form.

I would think that 3 cups or a quart to a table spoon of TSP would make for a strong solution as an electrolyte and then add the amount of 9V batteries. At least this could be a starting place to go from.

When I do my tests, I want to measure the exact amounts so that in the future if I want to touch up the piece to the same color or match another piece to it, I will be able to get back to that point.

Probably not a bad idea to use a measured solution for the bath but noting the voltage would definitely be important.
I love the look of my McGizmo lights in the raw and haven't been able to bring myself to anodise one, I have however done it to all my dark sucks clips in bright sapphire blue and bronze. I've also experimented with various other colours like purple, gold, two-tone and rainbow but prefer solid single colours.
The clips took a much nicer anodising after being polished rather that the original stone wash finish. My anodising bath was quite small and the solution probably pretty strong (a heap of bi-carb soda) but it worked well, the voltage being the key to colour.

 

[RedLED]

Probably not a bad idea to use a measured solution for the bath but noting the voltage would definitely be important.
I love the look of my McGizmo lights in the raw and haven't been able to bring myself to anodise one, I have however done it to all my dark sucks clips in bright sapphire blue and bronze. I've also experimented with various other colours like purple, gold, two-tone and rainbow but prefer solid single colours.
The clips took a much nicer anodising after being polished rather that the original stone wash finish. My anodising bath was quite small and the solution probably pretty strong (a heap of bi-carb soda) but it worked well, the voltage being the key to colour.

Thanks for the reply, I do measure the batteries voltage, but is was not worded clear in my post above . I have been keeping track of everything I do all the way thru the experiment.

How much water vs bi carb soda did you use and then your voltage for the different colors, and do you know the difference between Bi carb soda and TSP? I know TSP is a de greaser that is banned in all dish washing solutions, which cause them to be less effective, Isn't Bi carb soda what people in old movies used for hang overs? I am no chemist.

I also like the solid single colors, but may want to to some light fades, or at least have practiced them. Can you tell us the colors you got in relation to the voltage?

Thanks for the help. I really am liking what people are doing to personalize their lights these days.

All in all, this is a fun thing to do to our small Ti parts, I too, have not wanted to do the entire light, but I may change my mind in that and do at least one. I love the production finish that you get on a McGizmo on from McGiz.

Best,

NR

 

[F89]

No worries RedLed.
I can definitely recommend using bi-carbonated soda as it's not a heinous chemical and can be bought from the baking section of supermarkets. It probably has various uses in the old school as you mentioned, other than for baking I've seen it used it people's cupboards and fridges as an odour eater of sorts.
As far as measurements I wasn't quite as precise as you are aiming for, I use a small plastic bottle of about 100ml with a pretty decent pile of bi-carb on a tea spoon for my bath with an aluminium carabiner as my cathode and 9V batteries to the anode.
Colour to voltage wise I can't quite remember (I think the nice bronzey colour was one or two batteries and the sapphire with three or four?) but there are charts to be found on Google (and probably CPF) which give an idea of colours at different voltages. I recommend starting with one battery and letting it fizzle in the solution until it reaches maximum colour per voltage and add batteries as you go until you get the desired colour remembering you can't go back to a colour formed at a lower voltage once a colour formed at a greater voltage is applied.
Using 9V batteries in series isn't too precise but you can get a good range of colours (I had a ten pack to play with). Start with a clip and if you don't like the colour you end up with you can always go a higher voltage colour or rub it back with some Brasso and a rag then start again with a nice freshly polished surface.
Have fun with it.

 

[RedLED]

Thanks F89, I think all of this sounds like fun.

 

[lunas]

i have done a bit of anodization lately i experimented with; just tap water, tap water with sea salt, borax with tap water. The borax and tap water worked best with the tap water being the slowest and most difficult to get the color i wanted. I have been using different cathode and hanging materials too using titanium as the hanging wire worked much better than a copper hook which worked much better than steel. Each time the same copper cathode was used.
Note about copper it degrades quickly in this manner and gets covered in scale.

For bigger pieces a more stable voltage supply and higher amperage might do better than daisy chaining 9v batteries i am tempted to try series parallel with 6 total 9v it should bump the amperage to around 600-1000mAh

Also bath advise don't use salt it left white spots on the titanium piece they were difficult to remove.

 

[Mountainman323]

Here's my contribution
I love blue , all anodized with TSP and distilled water 24-26vdc . A couple with the torch

 

[Mountainman323]

Also did these

pocket clip

just a little on my 007

 

[Dirty wage guy]

Very nice work Sir! Never realized how big those Striders are! Damn, that thing is huge!