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Thread: Anodizing

  1. #1
    Insider PBSteve's Avatar
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    Anodizing

    Alright, this seems the appropriate sub to put this in. I'll start with an obligatory t(-_-t) to Machine but this article did bring up something I'm interested in:

    Quote Originally Posted by weerez935 View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Ford
    Early prototypes came out of anodizing looking just like everyone else’s gun, which for this gun wasn’t good enough for Machine Paintball. After some experimentation with different alloys, Mike decided to use 6065 Aluminum, which is slightly harder than 6061. The finish that anodized 6065 gives vs. 6061 is night and day, giving depth to the colors, and a very bright finish.
    Now I've heard conflicting reports about the veracity of this claim, but that's besides the point. I will admit the colors on the Vapor seem to pop a bit more than the average paintball gun, whether that's due to color/dye choice or the alloy, well, I have no clue.

    At any rate, do you guys know anything about anodizing? Is there a particular alloy or set of dyes you like as far as bringing out bright and bold colors, while maintaining all the good properties we like for paintball gun bodies and related equipment? Maybe I should just ask over on the Caswell forum...
    Last edited by PBSteve; 07-12-2012 at 10:40 AM.

  2. #2
    I know a little enough to be dangerous.

    Polishing, and chemical brightening are the biggest factors I have seen in making the colour pop.

    We have an anodizer, Mario, from FX anodizing amongst us. Hopefully we can get him in to this thread to give some more information.

  3. #3
    you could ask acid customs on caswell he is a very good annodizer and is willing to share

  4. #4
    Simon, when Kee goes into full production of a marker line, how do they get their products anodized?

    I've come to accept that anodizing is a fiddly business. How can a factory reliably churn out dozens/hundreds/thousands(?) of products a week without fear of wrecking a gun?

  5. #5
    Insider PBSteve's Avatar
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    It's not fiddly if you've got an appropriate system in place. If you're anodizing professionally, you control all the conditions in such a way as to get reliable, repeatable oxide layers.

    From what I understand a big key to reliable industrial scale anodizing is controlling the temperature of the acid bath, something a lot of paintball anodizers don't have proper equipment for.

  6. #6
    Wayne
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    I've noticed there has been a HUGE churn in smaller time ano guys recently. They come up, get crazy popular/buzy and then cave. It sucks because a lot of them do great work. They just have a hard time transitioning from occasional hobby jobs to massive free time consumption.

  7. #7
    What does the bath's temperature have to do it? Honest question here

  8. #8
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    Temperature control produces consistent pore size. Since al2o3 forms hexagonal pore structures, that's why it can trap dye. Thus, pore size affects the amount of dye trapped in the oxide layer, and how tightly and uniformly the dye will be held in the oxide.

    I used to make alumina catalysts to deposit platinum nanoparticles on. We actually used ice to keep the bath temp at 0ºC in order to minimize pore size, which maximizes the catalytic surface area of the alumina. With thin foils, you actually get the pores to connect from one surface to the other, which makes the whole piece extremely brittle, since it's now essentially an ultrathin ceramic.

  9. #9
    Well it depends what you want.

    The higher the temperature the faster the reaction and visa versa but that does not make for the best results.

    Generally you want between 70-100 depending on what you are doing. Some places get way to cold or too hot.

    For instance acid has custom made heaters/ filters/ coolers that keep the temperature consistent all year round so he can have lost of colors setup and minimize his cost as he has less baths to setup and buy dye for.

  10. #10
    And this is why I love Simonized. I've learned more here than anywhere else.

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