Hoping to see more of your Ti annodizing adventures and hoping you get what you're after!

Any updated shots of the frame with stuff on it?

*smeagolvoice* We neeeeds it.



find me one of those too !
I have parts in degreaser while I'm having a coffee!

Seatpost: size and budget? 200 euros? I got lucky and paid about 120 euros for mine. I believe standard length is 350 mm so anything shorter than that has been cut or a special order. Last I talked to Schmolke in person, he charges 1 to 1.50 euro per mm depending on standard tubing or TLO tubing :eek:
 
Ti anodizing is a bit different that aluminium anodizing. The proces is called plasma APQ, it is like a ceramic coat and it is hard ... titanium traditional anodixing is not the best for MTB parts.

Nice project. Details is what we love 😊 👍
 
Ti anodizing is a bit different that aluminium anodizing. The proces is called plasma APQ, it is like a ceramic coat and it is hard ... titanium traditional anodixing is not the best for MTB parts.

Nice project. Details is what we love 😊 👍
Thanks for chiming in! Not only different, but aluminum is much more time and material intensive. Regarding longevity or structural integrity to anodizing titanium, I suppose I'll learn the hard way or not. The etching process is done at the sub-micron level, so I am inclined to think the parts will be fine.
 
Titanium anodizing update:

The titanium etching was a total success, IMO! Parts were submerged for 20 minutes in degreaser. Parts were then washed with hot soap and water, rinsed, then rinsed again in distilled water. I then did a double-water bath with a fluctuating temp of 63 to 65 degrees C and submersion for 10 minutes for the bolts and cogs. The stem was submerged for 15 minutes. The stem created a sort of scale on its surface and I was worried I may have had botched the process, but this scale came off under the tap.

With my Amazon purchased power supply I tested the leads using my Fluke T5-600 multimeter to see if the displayed voltage was accurate. The power supply is dead-nuts on point. However, with looking at peoples sample anodization voltages found online, I suggest using these for general examples as there are slight variances in alloys yielding different results at the same voltage of your power supply. Always start at a lower voltage and when you're about where you want your color, increase at half-volt increments until you get what you want.

The parts in the photos with no color are aluminum. Still, I threw them in the etch and cleaned them for aluminum anodization I'll be doing in the near future. The Cycle Dynamics cogs came out pretty cool. Before anodization I could tell they were going to turn out a bit spotty by how light refracted off the surfaces. The stem...holy shit. The stem came out so fricking awesome! I hooked up the leads to both ends of the stem, set the voltage to 92V @ 3 amps (green coloring) turned on the power supply and let it rip until I hit an area close to 3DV. Killed the power and am left with this cool multi hue purple and blue coloring. Outfrickingstanding. :cool:

The hot etching was the key. Though, this process significantly increased prep time by a few orders of magnitude.

Degreasing:
3O1F4717.JPG

Double Bath @ 63 to 65 degrees C:
3O1F4718.JPG
3O1F4719.JPG

Parts in etchant:
3O1F4720.JPG 3O1F4722.JPG
 
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Wow, that stem colour is stunning!
Thank you, sir.

This thread is awesome. Good to see all these mad experimental skills taking place in the kitchen! 💪😎


100% agree. Amazing effect and love the sprockets too. No doubt they'll look better in the flesh! 👏
I am glad some of you are enjoying. All of this anodizing is full on first-timer experimenting. I wish some of you could see these parts in person, in sun light. The camera doesn't capture the vibrance. Maybe I'll do a five-exposure bracket photo of the stem tomorrow in some flat lighting 🙃

At any rate, thanks for the kind words.
 
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