I need to anodize a number of parts and would like to have the option of a few colors, but at $25-30 for 2oz-4oz, it's getting rather expensive if
doing a number of colors. I'm wondering if anyone anodizes aluminum and know of a good dye - or possibly if there is some compound that works or can
be made fairly easily.
I'd really like to be able to do a lot of colors if possible but that is currently price prohibitive for the amount of parts I'll be doing. Fulmen - 27-10-2020 at 12:36
IIRC some textile dyes (Rit?) can be used, google should find this for you. valeg96 - 27-10-2020 at 13:29
There's a video, in Italian, of a guy with a lot of workshop tutorials. In his aluminium anodization video he uses inkjet printer liquid dyes. He
keeps note of the brand and the proportions to make them reproducible, and claims they work very well.
Blue inkjet dyes should be phthalocyanine based, so pretty harmelss but persistent as hell.macckone - 27-10-2020 at 13:34
Anodizing leaves a rough surface that makes dying easy.
It also forms a tougher protective layer on the aluminum.
Any colorfast dye will probably work.
Rit is easy to get in the USA.
Many paints can also be used with a dip and rinse technique.bobm4360 - 27-10-2020 at 21:20
Most of the DIY anodizers in the home machining/model engine building community use RIT.RogueRose - 29-10-2020 at 15:35
IIRC some textile dyes (Rit?) can be used, google should find this for you.
Yeah that is what is noted on A LOT of internet sites - but if you look at the reviews of the results after a few months to a year - the dye
supposedly fades A LOT - especially when exposed to UV light. Now IDK if this is due to people using too weak a concentration, or if it is inherent
in the dye that is use. I had been planning on using this until I read some machining forums and there were LOTS of posts warning people to avoid
this for long term use. RogueRose - 29-10-2020 at 15:39
Anodizing leaves a rough surface that makes dying easy.
It also forms a tougher protective layer on the aluminum.
Any colorfast dye will probably work.
Rit is easy to get in the USA.
Many paints can also be used with a dip and rinse technique.
As I said in the above post - many - if not most How To's - suggest RIT - but in many of the Knife, gun, computer parts, electronics, car part forums
they say it just doens't last as it fades relatively quickly as compared to "professional" dies. But I also read that Caswell dyes (meant for
anodizing) doesn't work as well as RIT - so I'm just kind of lost here as to what the truth is.
It seems like one of those Internet things where you get both sides of the story and you come away not really knowing anything more than when you
started researching it..
[Edited on 10-29-2020 by RogueRose]rockyit98 - 30-10-2020 at 01:26
after e Phosphoric acid a light rinse and dunk it in to a FeCl3 Bath. some people have tried black coffee IDK. macckone - 30-10-2020 at 07:39
RogueRose,
There are three factors in the fastness of anodizing dyes.
One is wear
Two is dye fading
Three is dye fastness
One is dependent on the anodizing as well as the dye thickness
Two is mostly a UV light issue, metallic dyes are going to be more permanent than organic.
Three has so many factors that it would require a whole book.
