Wanted: titanium anodizing tips

[duff_duffy]

Going to try doing a science experiment with my son, going to try anodizing his bike! It’s an old titanium Litespeed I just picked up for him. So, looking for any tips. I’m leaning towards anodizing a large panel in blue and then going back over and polishing his name into the panel or something else he may want. Then anodizing few tubes in changing colors. Just aiming for cool and fun project, the “finish” can look amateurish. My artistic abilities are next to zero, null, nada. I don’t have DC power supply but have heard lining up a few 9v batteries in series will work. Anyone ever try this or have any tips? Thanks all!

[shrimp123]

subscribed

[dgauthier]

(...) I’m leaning towards anodizing a large panel in blue and then going back over and polishing his name into the panel or something else he may want.(...)

I've never anodized titanium (where has my life gone?), but I can tell you *for sure* you don't want to go back in and polish afterwards. You've gotta mask the design on the tube before you anodize, then remove the masking afterwards. You're going to mask the ends of the panels right? That's when you put the name on as well.

[Louis]

https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-EASILY-Anodize-Titanium-at-Home-2-Methods/

Interesting - looks to me like doing something big like a bike frame would be challenging.

[Oo0cH]

https://cyclingtips.com/2018/10/masterclass-anodising-titanium-with-mooro-cycles/
I've had this bookmarked for a while. Now that i own a Ti frame, i'm hesitant to do it :eek:

[Hank Scorpio]

I looked into this a while back to anodize some king bottle cages. To get a broad range of colors you need a better voltage regulator than is sold in the amazon/eBay kits. Those seem to top out around 30V but you need ones that will reach 120v to get a better spectrum of colors. The regulator alone was approaching $300 so I skipped it. I have watched several YouTube videos where people have diy’d it using several batteries wired together. I don’t know if it is in series or parallel but you could try that. Most of the chemicals are readily available but the etching products that prepare the surface are fairly nasty from what I have read. There is a Facebook group as well if social media is your thing. They were very helpful to me and several members offered to anodize my cages for me. I have been too busy to take them up on their offers. Look into swab anodizing . That could be a lot of fun for a home project as well. Good luck!

Adding a recommended source for supplies

https://www.reactivemetals.com/anodizers-accessories?fbclid=IwAR2opWyw9udabDYgTkC02VcHhna_w FGaexLgrNHiWsqhXmTFBEomOfAERMs

[unterhausen]

I don't know if that instructables is really that great, but at least borax is relatively benign. The reason I have never anodized aluminum is the chemical waste issue