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bryan henderson
10-18-2008, 9:32 PM
Hello Creekers

I am experimenting with anodizing companies to try and find out the best type of aluminum to use for black anodizing. If anyone has good or bad companies or any other info that they can share on this topic would be greatly appreciated. I am having issues with some parts not giving the same brightness of white afterwards.

Bryan Henderson

Mike Null
10-19-2008, 7:40 AM
Bryan

I've done a lot of marking of anodized materials and I can tell you that consistency is a problem.

It was so bad with one of my customers he switched to powder coat to get more uniformity.

Dave Johnson29
10-19-2008, 9:07 AM
If anyone has good or bad companies or any other info that they can share on this topic would be greatly appreciated. I am having issues with some parts not giving the same brightness of white afterwards.


Hy Bryan,

Black is probably the hardest color to get right. Can you use any alloy you like or is there a specific requirement?

I have had best results using 6061/6063 but it is quite hard and does not bend well but machines very well. I was testing a few days back and I am getting a clean consistent white that white on rice would envy.

What kind of surface finish? If you can get away with a nice matte appearance have the anodizer leave it in the etch solution longer. If there are tapped holes it will loosen threads a little so they need to be careful just how long they leave it in.

I have not had anodizing done for about 5 years but the people I used with great success back then was

Applied Anodizing
622 Charcott Ave.
Unit D
San Jose, CA 95131
Ph: 408-435-9191
Fax: 408-435-1077

Not sure if they are still there or not but their quality was excellent with great care taken in racking parts, a critical piece in the pursuit of good color.

Thad Nickoley
10-19-2008, 9:27 AM
Try Chewbarka (sp) i dont have his info on me right now. i an sure you can find it here or on e-bay under dog tags.

Scott Shepherd
10-19-2008, 9:52 AM
Where are you located? People who doing anodizing are all over the place. If you are looking for consistent results, go talk to someone who anodizes, locally, if they are there. If they understand what you are doing, and what you expect, they can give you good consistent results.

Also, your source material can't change. You can't be using the cheapest aluminum available one time and then something else the next. It's all a process and it's all controlled, so if you aren't getting consistent results, it's because something has changed, i.e. material, or manufacturer of material.

I also agree, 6061 anodizes excellent.

Anyone who does it for a living and cares, will keep their tanks clean, so it's just a matter of everything always being the same. If you're buying the product already cut from a catalog, then my guess is that it's an alloy problem. They are probably using aluminum from China, where they tend to put all kinds of impurities into their metals. So this batch will almost never be the same as the next batch.

Get some brand name aluminum, take it to a local plater and you'll have good results time after time, is my opinion.