Setting up my anodizing equipment again

Yesterday I finally set up my anodizing equipment.  My friend sent me this article about using pickle (sodium bisulfate) for the anodizing bath:
http://www.observationsblog.com/4/post/2011/10/anodizing-and-dying-aluminum-without-battery-acid.html

I was already planning to set up my anodizing stuff when I got the article and thought I would try it so I wouldn't need to find sulfuric acid.  But I didn't have enough pickle left so I just went ahead and got battery acid at an auto parts store instead.

The author of the article talks about how much safer pickle is than sulfuric acid.  Personally I have always hated pickle since I first started doing jewelry work in my apartment while I was at GIA.  I didn't have a crock pot to heat the pickle, so I put some in the microwave to heat it.  I guess some got in the microwave, and later when I heated some food it had sort of a pickle taste to it and it made me kind of sick. 

Maybe I'll try pickle next time I have to set up anodizing equipment.

more dye

Lately I have had some problems with my black anodizing dye. I hadn't been getting a real black, I was getting dark gray. With the last thing I tried to anodize black I made two attempts but couldn't get anything darker than a medium gray even after a 45 minute soak. So I ordered more black. The stupid black dye is like $30, while every other color is $10. Since I was already ordering I also decided to try a new color, brown. I just got the dyes in the mail today, so I haven't tried brown yet.

anodizing dyes

I finished my anodizing sample pieces last night and I took a photo of all the colors I have. All of these dyes are from www.caswellplating.com and these are the names they use for the colors.

Most of the colors are accurate on my calibrated monitor, but a few of them don't look so good in this photo.



1- Red Bordeaux (below) - I like this one if the piece is dyed as dark as possible. But I rarely use it on my work.



2- Violet DS + Red Bor. (1:1) - I mixed this color, I don't like it.

3- Violet DS + Red Bor. (2:1) - I don't like this one either.

4- Violet DS (below) - It's ok, but I rarely use it.



5- Violet - This is one of the new ones I got a couple weeks ago. I haven't used it on any of my work yet. I am not sure if I will, it's kind of strong.

6- Black - It's black. What more can I say?

7- Copper - Another new one. This is the orange I have been looking for. I haven't used it yet.

8- Orange 3A - I never liked this one much.

9- Golden Orange - A new one. It's better than orange 3A, although I don't know if I will use it on my work.

10- Yellow 4A - Another new one. This one is very interesting. It's a very light yellow, I have not used it yet, but I am considering it for this brooch. I will definitely use it on something.

11- Gray NLN - A new one. It's kind of like black, but not as... black. I didn't know what to expect with this one, but I was hoping it would be something other than watered down black. I could get this color with a quick dip in the black dye. Maybe that should have been obvious, but I figured if they are selling a separate dye it must be something I couldn't get with black. If you leave the piece in the dye long enough it is almost black. Interestingly, this isn't the only gray they sell.

12- Orange 3A + Blue 4A (2:1) - Another one I mixed. I didn't have yellow to mix with blue, so I wanted to see what kind of green I would get with orange and blue. It's an ugly color, I've never used it.

13- Electric Blue (below) - I like this one. I bought this after I already had fast blue, but two are too similar to each other, I didn't need both of them.



14- Fast Blue (2 photos below) - I like this one a lot. I used this on my teapot.
Both of these rings are fast blue.





15- Blue 4A (2 photos below) - This is my favorite blue right now.





16- Green SCG - This one is new. I like it but I have not used it on anything yet.

17- Green AEN (below) - This one is kind of difficult to get a good color. When the color comes out right, like with this brooch, I love it. When it doesn't come out right it's nothing special.



18- Blue 4A + Orange 3A (1:1) - I mixed this at the same time I mixed #12. I don't like it.

Lark anodizing book call for entries

Lark Books has plans to publish a how-to book on anodizing aluminum and is accepting images of anodized aluminum jewelry for the gallery section of the book. Needless to say I will be entering this one. Entries are due May 25, 2009. Submission info can be found here.

dye and ebony

It's been a week since I got the new dyes, but I haven't done more than one test piece of each of them. I want to test a couple of them again, but I think most of them are pretty good. I'll post photos sometime.

My carved ebony piece is coming out ok. I took this photo last week, the front still looks about the same, most of the work I have been doing lately has been on the back. The edges are kind of chipped , but that's not hard to fix. The problem I have been having is smoothing the wood. I'm trying some different things, but I'm not really sure what the best way is.

new dye

I got the new anodizing dyes today from Caswell Plating. I got green SCG, copper, yellow 4A, grey NLN, golden orange, and violet 3D. I am really hoping the green is good.


4 ounces of concentrate makes 2 gallons. I usually just mix 1/2 gallon unless I am anodizing something that needs more. They are mixed with distilled water. I didn't have enough water to mix one of the dyes. I will get some more water and start testing these dyes later today.

handpiece holder

I worked on the candlesticks some more tonight. I finished anodizing the triangular pieces. Tomorrow I will work on the square ones. I also worked on a hand piece holder for my PUK 2 welder.

Milling with my Sherline mill:

I am working on the base of the hand piece holder. I have the part super glued to the angle plate. The PUK 2 is the metal box in the background.

I really need to make some kind of enclosure for the mill to keep these chips from going every where like they do now.

So I finished milling the parts and went to anodize them. Both of the parts are made from different pieces of scrap aluminum, so I don't know what the alloys are. I anodized both pieces for the same amount of time, and used the same dye. The piece on the right I anodized first. The color was very light even though I left it in the dye for almost 10 minutes. The big square piece was in the dye for about 1 minute. I like the color of the bigger piece better. I will redo the smaller piece and try to get the color to match the larger piece by anodizing it longer.

anodized parts:

endless anodizing

The anodizing went bad for the first candlestick. I will have to re-anodize several of the parts, but I am sick of working on it right now, so I have moved on to the second candlestick. They are coming out better. And while I was anodizing one of the parts, I came up with a new theory as to why I was consistently getting blotches on the same part of the piece. The blotches were always at the top of the part around the edge, I think either the acid or the neutralizer was starting to dry on the aluminum and clog the pores before I put it in the dye. So I am trying to move a bit quicker now. I will see if that helps once I go back to re-anodizing the parts of the first candlestick. I am so sick of anodizing.

anodizing

Lately I have been working on a commission for 3 candlesticks. They are made of aluminum, stainless steel and sterling silver. I thought I would have them finished by Monday or Tuesday, but nothing is going well with the anodizing. I have 18 parts to anodize, but of the 10 or 12 attempts to anodize I only have two parts that anodized well. First I had trouble getting a good connection to the part, then I was getting blotchy coloring on the part, I thought the anodizing bath was contaminated. I changed the anodizing bath and the rinse. I still had the problem. The uneven color only happens at the top of the part near where it is connected, so last night I tried connecting it at two points and suspending it horizontally in stead of connecting it at one point and suspending it vertically. It worked better on the one part I did like that last night. The part was usable. So I tried again tonight on another part, but one of the connections came loose less than half way through. I finished anodizing like that, and got the usual blotches near the connection. I have another piece in right now, connected at two points. I'll see how it comes out in about 35 minutes.
I am so angry about this. I have never had this sort of problem with my tank before.

anodizing a candle stick part: