Yesterday wasn't a productive day but not for lack of effort.
Kurplop's kollision with unkontrollable kaos kulminating in kataclysmic katastrophes kombined with kurious konsequences, kalls into kwestion kurplop's kredentials for kompleting keyboard. Kapeesh?Yesterday wasn't a productive day for Planet 6.
It began early as I tried applying the mask to etch logo onto keyboard shell. Earlier tests with thick aluminum failed, probably because of the mass absorbing too much heat which prevented the toner from melting and transfering to the aluminum. So I preheated the shell in the oven to 350º with clothes iron ready to seal the deal.
Earlier experiences with transferring toner has taught me a few valuable lessons.
1. Thoroughly soak paper before removing or some of the toner may adhere to the paper.
2. The iron has barely enough heat to do the job, even with thinner projects, so don't scrimp on ironing time.
3. Apply generous pressure. After heating, I use the iron's edge to burnish the paper.
4. If you use tape to locate paper, keep it far enough away from artwork to allow iron to make good contact with transfer.
So what could go wrong?
I'm not sure, but it did.
Several attempts, and the results weren't much better than this one. I think that the combination of dealing with the preheated part and the compound curves multiplied the difficulty factor. Resolved to get this thing anodized that day, I choose to just not etch P6 on the shell.
Now to the shop where new 6 gallon buckets, fresh distilled water, and battery acid are waiting alongside my surplus anodizing supplies and equipment.
After re-sandblasting the area I prepped for the logo earlier, I carefully cleaned, degreased, and de-smutted the parts in appropriate solutions and at the correct temperatures. I prepped the anodizing tank, hooked up the power supply and set the constant current to 5.5 amps. Being careful not to touch the parts, I dipped the parts into the tank, dividing the pieces into 4 different groups to avoid overcrowding the tank.
I was confused when after 2 hours, the voltage only rose to about 10 from approximately 5. I thought that in the past it rose a quite a bit higher to maintain the current flow as the anodizing process increased resistance. It just seemed to stop at around 10. I removed the pieces after 2.5+ hours because I've read that after a certain time the anodizing process stops but the sulfuric acid continues to corrode. According to the 720 formula, given the surface area and amperage, it should have been complete after 130 minutes.
When I finally dipped the work in the dye, I was disappointed to find that it didn't take. None of the 4 batches took the dye. But why?
So, after about 18 hours of time on it yesterday, all I have is a pile of pieces which aren't black and may or may not be anodized and a bunch of questions about what went wrong. The possible culprits may be old supplies; most of the chemicals and the dye are from when I did the AlumaPlop. Could they have gone bad? I was careful not to contaminate any of the solutions and sealed the containers. I wondered if I didn't have a good electrical connection to the pieces or that my acid solution wasn't properly conducting electricity, but the cathode was bubbling aggressively enough to suggest otherwise– this was also supported by the readings on the rectifier. I also waited about 1 to 2 hours between de-smutting and anodizing, but I don't think that could cause the issue either. One final possibility is that the aluminum alloy I used doesn't anodize well but it was 6061 which is pretty reliable. The aluminum wire bonding the pieces wouldn't take dye either.
I welcome any thoughts on the matter. I don't want to waste a lot more time stripping and re-doing it again to end up with the same results.
On the positive side, while I'm scratching my head on the anodizing problem I may try the etching process again.