ANODIZING EQUIPMENTS

Hello All,

I have a project that’s been eating my lunch for few weeks now. I’m trying to selective plate an area of aluminum (7075 alloy) using the EN process. I’m having to sand out a sandblasted surface to a slick finish. I can make the process work about 20% of the time. Biggest problem is poor adhesion of the nickel. I’m using the zincate of course, and Caswell suggested I use the De-Ox/De-smut as well. I get 0% results when using the de-ox before zincate. The zincate directions as I understand them are contradictory. I’ve found that if I let the zincate drip dry, the EN won’t adhere. Tape pulls it right off. So, after the second fresh bath I zincate for 15-30 seconds, rinse with distilled water then straight to the EN bath. Then cross my fingers. Two parts out of ten are perfect. The directions also state that as the zincate depletes more outgassing happens. I’ve read on this forum that I should see violent outgassing immediately. I see only a few bubbles, but I get a mostly uniform, dark, dull grey look after zincate-ing for the aforementioned time. What should I be looking for? I’d greatly appreciate specifics. I goin’ broke buyin’ chems and I’m about to be bald from pulling my hair out. BTW-when the plating fails, I get to do it all again. I’m removing the failed plating with duct tape, and the stubborn patches with a Roloc Scotchbrite pad, then sanding 220, 600, 1200 then cleaning, zincate, EN. I can see two distinct layers while removing the failed EN. First the nikel, then a darker layer. Once I get it looking white I begin sanding to remove scratches.

I am wanting to polish some aluminum tubing. I have read in several places here about using tripoli to cut through the crud to get a good finish. I have also read about using the brown and white compounds. My question is: Where do you guys buy this stuff? I have looked at Autozone, Advance Auto, O’Rielly, and NAPA. It seems none carry it. I have looked at their online catalog as well as visiting in person. They know of it and have said they get inquiries about it but they don’t carry it. Where do you find it?

I know you guys will know.

Love the 2.5 gallon small tank i have but i would love to step up to a 5 gallon container, how hard would it be??

I fellow whats a rod plated, any danger of plating magnesium at all???

Does anyone know of local places I may be able to check out to find iron phosphate? I know I can buy it online, but thought locally may be a place to go also. I called about 30 places yesterday (no exageration), including home centers and paint stores, and none of them have it. Local chemical companies don’t sell it either. Can I find it under a brand name of some sort, or am I asking about it in the wrong way? Thanks.

90% of the work i do is 7075 aluminum, and it usually comes out great. However, i am having an issue with one particular part. It has a greyish color to it and it seems to be overly pourous after anodizing. When i dye it and seal it, it tends to have a blotchy blackish tint and will dye REALLY dark if i leave it too long in the dye. This is only with these particular parts, which are made out of 4" diameter bar stock. The other parts are made out of .125" thick sheet, both 7075. I generally run both types of parts at the same time if they are the same color, and the parts made out of the .125" thick sheet come out perfect so this makes me think my setup must be ok. Agetation and temp are decent (about 70 degrees), and i run 6asf. I generally keep it at about .8-.9mil, and i reduce the time by 25% due to the alloy being 7075. I etch and desmut/deox. The parts that come out poorly are approximately 12sq inches. The parts that come out great are approximately 21-46sq inches. Again, i run both of these parts together in the same run, so i just find it weird that one part consistently comes out poorly and one always comes out great, and they’re both the same alloy.
If i was miscalculating my ASF or my setup was wrong, wouldnt everything have dissolution? My guess is the aluminum is the aluminum might be the variable that is giving me issues, but i cant figure out why.

I’ve searched for this and i cant seem to find any cut and dry answers for some reason. I would think it would be a common question, so maybe i’m not searching for the right words.
I went on vacation for a week, and i came back to some acid on the floor. apparently a hose clamp failed. There’s no way for me to know for sure how much of the mixture i lost to spillage or to water evaporation (we had a heat wave while i was gone, so it wouldnt be uncommon to loose a gallon of water just to evaporation). My question is how can i figure how much acid i need to add when i refill the tank? It’s not empty enough to justify dumping it and starting over.
I FINALLY had most of the anodizing coming out awesome, so i want to make sure i get this right.
Thanks in advance!
Dan

I am planning on coating my new jeep I6 header in Techline Black Satin, and I was wondering if there is any reason why I couldn’t coat my aluminum intake manifold as well.

Also, I am planning on using an empty windex bottle to apply it with, I don’t have any kind of spray gun, this is just a DIY project.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Hi, I’am new to this site and I have a Nickel plated pistol that I would like to remove the nickel plating from and then get it Blued.
What steps do I have to take to strip the nickel off? There is not a plater in this area
and I would like to do it myself.
any advice would be helpful-thanks

I’m a reelsmith – I build handmade fly fishing reels in brass, aluminum, nickel silver and other copper alloys. Until recently, I’ve done all my finishing by hand wet sanding up through 2500 grit and polishing by hand. I am just starting to use a buffing wheel and have a set of wheels and polishing compounds. Here’s my challenge – the parts I polish are .032" thick circles 3" in diameter and also rings 3" in diameter with a 2 1/2" hole. I do wear leather gloves and pay attention to the "safe zone" but I have a hard time getting a good polish on the machine – mostly because I don’t think I am holding the part most effectively. What is the best way to hold small parts like these to polish?

thanks!
Michael
The Eclectic Angler