Anodizing Magnesium Or Aluminum At Home?

After you get all the latest and greatest gizmos wired in and your flux capacitor is running at full speed you’ll want something a little better than a can of Red Krylon for the old girl.
Maybe one of you might want to try something a little different.

http://www.rapidfirepaintball.ca/Anodizing.htm
http://www.docsmachine.com/tech/anod.html
http://www.focuser.com/atm/anodize/anodize.html
http://www.mini-lathe.com/Anodizing/anodizing_aluminum.htm
http://www.defelsko.com/applications/anodizing/Anodizing.htm

I’m building a small tank for hard anodizing some parts I made and found that this DIY anodizing would also work on our magnesium Toughbook cases and thought I would share.
Jim

 

I was thinking of doing that a while ago, but wasn't sure how magnesium would turn out.

A word of warning though, make sure you have the surface very nice looking (No stains, no leftover paint, no heavy scratches, etc), because when they anodise, it'll highlight the daylights out of those inperfections. Also, it'll dull the finish a little, so the more polished it is when it's anodised, the shinier it'll be when you pull it out.

I sent some parts out a while ago to get done (Shoulda just bought a battery charger, woulda only been $40 more to do it myself!), and was kicking myself for leaving scratches and nicks in them.

 

This is a cool idea... But you have to think about the mismatch on parts that aren't aluminum or magnesium. The hinge cover is steel. I think the latch and the handle is some sort of pot metal and not magnesium or aluminum. (I could be wrong here.) But it does sound like a cool idea. I wonder if there is a way to match the steel parts as well.

 

I wonder if we could powdercoat these parts?

 

Modly

I knew you would like this one with Acid plus Voltage and the possibility of a hydrogen cloud that will burn at the speed of thought what could be more fun.
Magnesium as well as other grades of aluminum than the standard 6061 that we are used to seeing will anodize with good results but usually are a bit grayer. You are correct that this process will magnify the surface you are coating but this could also be the cool part if you work with it a little like maybe polish the whole lid then tape off some flames and bead blast or just use scotch bright to dull the surface and have a two tone flame job on your lid anyway just a thought.
Remember its ok to drop your beer and run if things start going wrong with this one.

Toughbook

I was actually thinking of you when I posted this with your “Ultimate Toughbook”.
What would be cooler than an all flat black (good enough for Johnny Cash good enough for me) special edition hard anodized better than any “RED” top model for a limited time only kinda thing?
Anyway you could anodize all the bitts that work and just paint the parts that don’t or even paint contrasting colors to the anodizing and make it look like this was your plan the whole time.
With surface hardness reaching a 60c this could be just more bait for your hook.

Gravitar

Yes you can powder coat at home as well but the cost is much higher than this AIMHO doesn’t look nearly as cool. All you need for this is some sulfuric acid AKA battery acid available at your auto parts store and a battery charger or just remove the battery from the Astro Van and use it.
Easy and cheep and if you want a little color Rit Dye.
I posted a link to DuraCoat and I think this would be a better alternative for the home doityourselfer to powder coat. http://www.houtsenterprises.net/dur_chart.html

Jim