Anybody anodizing aluminum at home?

[Rancid Crabtree]

Are there any members of this sight that have tackled anodizing aluminum at home? If so, are you willing to share your experience and techniques? I plan on taking on this task so I thought out would put out the request.

[skeet]

While I kinda like metal work..I don't want to get into anodizing. Seems like more work than necessary. On rifles and handguns with aluminum parts..I use a John Deere black paint stick to paint things like floorplats etc. Not as durable as anodizing..it is a LOT easier...and easily fixed. I have tried some of that stuff that Brownells has that has to be baked on..it's ok. Hope you try it. Love to read your posts.. I learn stuff and you do pretty good photographic work too.

[GoodOlBoy]

Yep I agree i read all of Rancid's stuff and I love it. Much like Skeet I use black spray on when working aluminum. Only difference is I tend to use heat resistant paint designed for bar-b-que grills. Talk about some tuff stuff.

Richard

[Rapier]

While I have not done it myself, I had it done in a helicopter repair shop on a Ruger Blackhawk pistol grip frame. A guy told me he could do it, so I gave him a frame and told him I wanted to see it. Because that was the first time anyone has ever told me it could be done and they could do it. About two weeks later he returned it, looking like new. Turns out the process for Ruger involves a specific cold temperature bath, like 67 degrees and absolutely requires that the steel locator pin be removed, plus no polishing can be done because of air bubbles inside the metal. The metal forms a thin solid coat on the inside of the moulds. The color must be completely removed by chemicals. The guy was kind of a squirrel and said he couldn't do any more frames. So the Ruger aluminum frames can be redone, you just need to figure it out.

He did tell me that most all aluminum baths are hot to warm, but not Ruger stuff. It might not help much but gives you a place to look for a start with Ruger stuff.
Ed