Titanium Anodizing Tutorial

santos

Elite Cafe Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2006
Messages
360
Location
France
I’ve just finish two little pendants for my dentist and her assistant . They provide me lots of diamond and carbide burs and I want to give them a little present.


Under the scope :




I’ve been inspired by Utamaro’s wooden prints ( Ukiyo-e) I found them in the Boston MFA a great source for models . You can zoom and get an incredible definition of every print . Boston MFA

Thanks for viewing


Jean
 

santos

Elite Cafe Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2006
Messages
360
Location
France
Thank you all for your nice comments:)

I’m happy you like this kind of engraving

Gracias tambien Guillermo y Antonio. Halagos de artistas como vosotros me enorgullecen:)


Arnaud , I don’t know exactly what is a Rodinette , I suppose it’s an electrolytic bath for gold plating ?
I don’t think it would work because of the value of voltage.
For anodizing titanium , you need a direct current power supply as you can find in electronic labs . The voltage to anodize is very high and dangerous and you may have shock hazard .
You can only use the kind of power supply shown in this site :

http://www.medawebs.com/knives/tutorials/anodizing.htm

I will show you the process I’m using for selective anodizing :

First I had classically cut the pattern with a push graver
Then I put a mask in the parts that haven’t to be anodized with the same colour
Here I’m using fingenails varnish but the varnish used for acid etching works also very well.



In this example ( the little prince) I have put the varnish around the planets , the hair and the clothes . The face and arms that will rest at the Titanium natural colour, are masked.



While the varnish is drying I prepare the electrolyte : I mix 1gr of ammoniumsulfat in 10 ml of water .I’ve read the electrolyte can also be Cola but I’ve never try it.



The tool for anodizing is a toothpick, I’ve wrapped a telephonic wire at 5 mm from the tip .The copper of the wire is insulated by a plastic sheath to prevent short-circuits if touching the plate. The wood is porous and will retain some electrolyte when the toothpick is soaked in it



You have then to choose the value of voltage corresponding to the colour you want to obtain .
I have a probe plate of titanium , you can see that the blue of the planet needs 30 volts and the yellow of the sun and stars approximately 65V .



You can set this value on your power supply . The positive wire is connected to the plate and the negative wire to the toothpick




Here I’m anodizing , it’s like using a marker . The colour will appear very quickly. As you can see the plate is insulated from the vise by means of leather and I wear rubber gloves.



After anodizing I remove the varnish with acetone



Here are the first colours obtained : red and yellow . Then I will continue with lower voltages.
The first colours wouldn’t be affected by these lower voltages , so I don’t need to put a mask on the first anodized areas.



Here I’m going to bath the entire plate in the electrolyte to do the blue of sky . The wire - is connected to a titanium plate and the wire + is connected to the pendant. You can notice I’m not wearing gloves because the voltage for blue is only 30 Volts.




You can erase errors on little areas where the colours have smeared . I’m using a toothpick turning slowly with 1µ diamond compound on the tip .




Voilà, here’s the result . as you can see , it’s nothing difficult . You have only to be careful when using electric current and only use a professional power supply . These are insulated from mains and protected against short-circuits .




I’ve not still explored all the possibilities of TI anodization . It’s really funny to do it . And if you don’t like the colour you can erase all with sand paper, polish again the plate, and try another one . Here’s my work in progress, a knife for my son with Saint Exupéry theme. I’m not satisfied with the blue of the sky and the red of the fox and have to erase it . I’ll soon show you the finished knife.


I expect you have enjoyed it, thanks for reading


Jean
 

santos

Elite Cafe Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2006
Messages
360
Location
France
Hi Arnaud,
Tell us what is the range of voltage output on your rhodinette .

Hi Kevin , thank you . It’s not exactly the moon but an asteroid , B 612 if I remember.:)

Hi Steve,

I have inlayed gold into a practice plate with the same scene . Then I’ve anodized it without problem . Gold colour is not altered by anodization.
I was using Titanium grade 2; It’s quite soft and for me it was not really easy to inlay something into it.
Here’s is the result, I’ve inlayed the stars, the hair and the sun. The sun was too sanded and you can see TI between the wires . This process took me much more time than anodizing.
 

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