Really glad you went thorugh the entire process in depth. I bought everything I think I need this weekend. I will be trying my first attempt at anodizing very soon. Also excited to see your Nickel plating video as well. Nice job. Super helpful.

Awesome Dave, it was worth the wait. I can’t wait until the nickel plating video comes out because I have a few things that I want to nickel plate.

@TheMiniMachineShop

5 ай бұрын

If you want to watch early, I copied Clough42 it's very simple! Salt, vinegar, nickel strips and electricity.

Nice work Dave, I will have to give it a go one day.

@TheMiniMachineShop

5 ай бұрын

Do it! Fun and easy.

That stuff look pretty cool i all ways wanted to try it but never trusted myself. Ty Dave for some cool ideas !

@TheMiniMachineShop

5 ай бұрын

Any time!

Acetone along with certain other solvents you do not need gloves and it is BETTER without. Acetone flashes off fast and can dissolve some gloves or go through and trap between skin and glove.

@TheMiniMachineShop

4 ай бұрын

I still wouldn't touch after degreasing..

Any possibility you can show how to make an 80 tooth gear for the lathe? I'm just starting out machining and broke my plastic T80 gear on my Harbor Freight lathe. I can buy a gear but for some reason I'm stubborn and I'm fixated on making one. I've had 2 failed attempts on a cheap rotary table so I got a spin Indexer to try out but it only has the 35 hole plate with it

@TheMiniMachineShop

4 ай бұрын

All spindex are the same and have 35 hole plates you need to figure out how it works and the numbers on top are 1/10 degree increments. You will easily get what you need. I did a video on it search for Deez collaboration.

@TheMiniMachineShop

4 ай бұрын

The zero makes the 36th hole for 360 degrees.

@southatlantagaragedoors6515

4 ай бұрын

@@TheMiniMachineShop Yeah I've watched your vids on the 72 tooth gear. the problem I'm having is, I need to figure out how to get 4-1/2 degree increments on the spindexer. the 72 tooth gear is 5 degrees even. so my question is, do you know of a way to get 4-1/2 degree increments or is it even possible?

@TheMiniMachineShop

4 ай бұрын

The numbers on the spindes are 10th so start at zero then move to the 4 for 4 degrees the the pin shoud be in the 5 hole.If you email me i can do a private video.@@southatlantagaragedoors6515

Copper coated the key to home 55 years ago. It worned out piece by piece in a few years. Silver coating was too costly and never tried. Fun hooby.

@TheMiniMachineShop

5 ай бұрын

Nickel coating is easy and cheap. Distilled water and salt with a power supply. Did it simple. Cloug42 shows how.

@steveh8724

4 ай бұрын

@@TheMiniMachineShop Clough42

I would think if you want 10 parts to match good, do them all at once. If practical to do so. I never did it myself yet. Thanks Dave

So just some comments in case anyone wants to follow the process as described here. The second step used here is described as an acid bath, but it is actually a base bath. Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) is a strong base. When aluminum is placed in a sodium hydroxide solution, it is etched as the surface is chemically attacked. The process creates the dissolved salt called sodium tetrahydroxoaluminate and hydrogen gas (the bubbles). When aluminum is placed in an acid solution the surface is chemically attacked producing aluminum chloride and hydrogen gas. Hydrogen gas (H2) is flammable/explosive. For those who know about the Hindenburg Zeppelin, that was filled with hydrogen gas. So don't do this in a sealed container, don't do it around flames/sparks. The sodium hydroxide solution is caustic, can cause injury to the skin, eyes, and may damage clothing. So wear goggles and nitrile gloves. Be sure to wash you hands if you're exposed. These are the same precautions you would use with an actual acid bath (using sulfuric, muriatic, citric, or some other acid). Interestingly it turns out Aluminum is an amphoteric metal. This means that aluminum will react both with acids (low pH) and with bases (high pH). In both cases, the aluminum surface will bubble with hydrogen (H2) gas that is produced by the resulting chemical reactions. While most instructions (like all the ones I found except this one) for anodizing call for an acid bath, as Dave shows here, it is possible to use a base bath instead. I have no idea if this is a bad idea or a good one. Though it would be surprising if a base solution is better in any significant way because if it were, it would be recommended. I know a lot of us are bothered with overly conservative safety advice. But as a precaution please be advised that you will be working with caustic acid (or base) and generating flammable gas (H2) so better safe than sorry. The risk goes up if the scale of the anodizing containers is increased.