Hard Coat Aluminum Anodizing: Where?

[Scott Harris]

Can anyone recommend a good shop where I can get my rail anodized for a reasonable price?

Thanks!

 

[jonbearman]

Any local plating shop worth there salt can do this easily.

 

[stebbins243]

Look into a group hard coating. Most places charge per batch, meaning that it doesnt matter if its 2 parts or 100, if they fit the batch size they get done for the same price. The place my shop sends to charges about 500 for our teflon hardcoat. Again thats the batch price. Sucks when its a few small parts. If you can find a few people willing to go in on it then it helps. Also anodizing and hard coating are two differant things. Anodizing is a coloration of the aluminum, hardcoating is applied. most good hardcoats will be .0015 of penatration and .0015 buildup. Keep that in mind as well, in a bore itll shrink by .003. You also get what you pay for. We were using a cheaper guy and the parts would come back coatd like shit. And surface finish plays a big part in hardcoating color. Hardcoat will most always be black. If its sandblasted itll come back an uneven grey. I personally like a brushed look. Scotchbrite does the job nicely.

 

[Steve Blair]

Any local plating shop worth there salt can do this easily.

[br]
Sorry to disagree, Jon, but it is not quite as easy as you state. Type III Hard Anodizing is usually done under MIL-A-8625 for Aluminum and must be performed accurately to meet those requirements. The softer, Type II Anodizing, sometimes using color, can also be performed under MIL-A-8625 but is often done to somewhat casual commercial standards. If you need a hard wear coat, make sure your vendor performs fully qualified work. I can highly recommend Tiodize in Huntington Beach, CA, a pioneer in many metal coating processes. [br]
http://www.tiodize.com/

 

[normmatzen]

And, the soft, colorization coating is called Alodyne and is not an oxidizing bath. it also allows good electrical connections.