Anodisation / My DT CW

Hi everyone,
I've been working on my DT coursework, and I was wondering if anyone could share their experiences with anodisation of Aluminium. My design is a torch, following a simiilar design to the Kryton barrel (but less pretty ).



The reflector and lens were stuck in using sillicone sealant to see if it fitted well and would be waterproof.



What I'd like to know is the following:

What's the best material to use when masking areas for anodisation? I've been advised that vaseline might work, but does anyone have anything better to suggest? I have a test piece so there's little risk of permanent damage to my good pieces. I need to mask the threads and current/heat-carrying areas of the body, notably the inside of the tail-cap, top of the head piece, and threaded sections for body.

Is it worth removing my reflector and lens before anodising? Will the sillicone stand up to the boiling treatment and acid? I have more of both, so no issue if it wouldn't.

I will be using Ocean Blue Dylon dye, a clothes dye sold over here, and sealing with boiling water/steam. Unless people think it looks better undyed, of course?

If anyone likes it enough feel free to reproduce my design, it can be retrofitted onto an existing Kryton, the O.D. is the same. Circuit is designed for an MC-E, if anyone wants a full build-log, schematics etc, I'll make it available after the project has been completed, marked, moderated and confirmed with exam board, otherwise it could put me in a bad position.

Special thanks to Kenom for the advice you gave me (several months ago on IRC, you might not remember) and I welcome any comments or suggestions.


More pics can follow if anyone is interested?

Also, Groove with tritium and GITD o-rings are also an option, opinions?

Ask Dark_horse, he could definitely tell you. He makes and sells anodized heatsinks. Here's a thread he started: http://laserpointerforums.com/f48/sneak-peak-dark-horse-labs-32910.html

You might get a quicker response through the store: Contact Us

I'm not sure about vaseline, but I'm 99% sure it's not going to hold up well. Yes it's a greasy thing but it's just not going to hold up in an acid bath. Your bath doesn't need to be BOILING, but it does need to be above room temp. Also for good even coating a bubbler setup of some kind to agitate the bath is needed. I've only done a few runs of anodizing myself so havn't got a WHOLE LOT of experience, but I do know one that that works well for a mask is rubber cement. Allow it to dry COMPLETELY.

Here is a link to the method I use... LCD (low current density) anodizing.
http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/lcd_ano.pdf

Another masking agent is Caswell Inc. - Mast It Masking Agent Caswell plating has websites for australia and for Europe as well. so you needn't order from the U.S. version and wait for them to ship to your neck of the planet.

And as always feel free to drop by laserchat anytime to discuss anything.
Ken

I've glued everything in now, so I'm going to keep it as polished, but anodise a "test piece" to prove the concept, then discuss that in my evaluation instead. I've got another couple of projects possibly using aluminium though, so I have no doubt that information will be very useful indeed. Thanks!

randomlugia said:

Ask Dark_horse, he could definitely tell you. He makes and sells anodized heatsinks. Here's a thread he started: http://laserpointerforums.com/f48/sneak-peak-dark-horse-labs-32910.html

You might get a quicker response through the store: Contact Us

Click to expand...

Dark Horse had to tear down his shop (at least temporarily). He's not making or shipping these products. If he is slow to respond, be patient.

Peace,
dave

You may also want to consider anodizing the whole piece, then removing the anodize from the parts you want using little bit of Lye, water, and a Q-tip or small brush. External threads are a lot easier to do because you can simply set the Lye/water level to the height you desire using a small container.

It only takes a small amount, less than a teaspoon, to completely remove the anodizing from a 2D maglite. Just make sure you do it in a well ventilated area if you try it.