Hi Tony (Moss), Just thought I'd let you know that I'm underway with some anodising experiments (better than Xmas shopping, anyway!).
By following your instructions, I've succeeded in getting a nice yellow finish on a 10x10cm square of "aluminium". It's clearly an alloy of some sort, but I don't know its origin. I was limited by the fact that it was pulling 6 amps at only 8V - the max current of my homemade power supply and the output transistor was getting too hot to touch, so I ended the run after only 15 minutes. By halving the size of the cathode (originally 2 pieces 150 x 150 mm of aly alloy, one on either side of my icecream tub bath, I've got the current down to 3 1/2 amps and the voltage up to 14 V, so this should be better. I know where I can lay my hands on a 40 A regulated supply that I made for someone years ago, so I shouldn't be limited there in the long run. Ony partial success on the masking front so far. I've made your spray paint technique work but I'm limited in the shapes I can produce in it to lines and simple masking tape cut-outs. Etch-resist pen applied after the caustic soda step floated off after a couple of minutes in the sulphuric acid, so I'll need to keep experimenting. You weren't kidding when you said you need good ventilation, were you! Thanks for your guidance - hours of endless fun to come before I get to an actual dial, I think. Best regards, John ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ Dr J R Davis Flowton, UK 52.08N, 1.043E email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
