Anodizing at home?

[BCJ]

In the past I have just cerakoted aluminum baffles in my form 1 cans. I think its time to have a go at anodizing the next one. It will be a micro can so the tube is aluminum and I won't b able to cerakote the inside.
Any tips or advice on home anodizing - I've just been checking YouTube videos.

[sub-sonic]

google "vader spade"

[curtistactical]

The anodizing kits for home will not give you a hard anodize, more of a decorative anodize that wont do much good inside a suppressor. If you really want to harden up the aluminum baffles get one of the electroless nickel kits from caswell, you can do it on your stove in the kitchen and the nickel hold up real nice to rimfires and handguns.

[BCJ]

Thanks

[Fulmen]

While not a "hardcoat" (type 3), decorative anodizing (type 2) isn't too shabby all things considered. It does provide a hard and chemically resistant coating, I've anodized quite a few parts and it holds up just fine inside a silencer. I've had a part on my boat, outside appr. 1 feet from water and constantly exposed to sun and salt water for 5 years now, still as black as the day I anodized it. The "stainless" screws that holds it turned brown within a year while the aluminum is still pristine.
A plain "dumb" 12V charger and 15% sulfuric acid (or sodium bisulphate) works just fine, 24V and a simple constant current regulator (from DX.com for instance) is better. There is a ton of information on the interwebs, just Google it and you'll find everything you need.

[wp6529]

Type II and type III anodize are equally hard as both build an aluminum oxide layer. Type III has a smaller pore size and is thus denser, but not harder, and it is also a thinker layer.

[Fulmen]

While both coatings are indeed aluminum oxide, and thus of the same hardness, the increased thickness and reduced porosity will give better wear/abrasion resistance for Type 3. You can also expect it to have better corrosion resistance. But it's not like type2 is glorified paint, it can be remarkably resistant to wear as well.

[BCJ]

I decided to give the anodizing a try. I figured type II would still be a big improvement over the raw aluminum. I used my 458 Socom integral as the guene pig. The blast baffle isn't shown since its stainless. This gun only sees subsonic use so I went with aluminum for weight while pig hunting. I'm happy with how they came out. I'm now working on doing the baffles for my 9mm integral AR but they are very carbon coated

The belled barrel was my way of making a screw on end cap on a small lathe.

[curtistactical]

Nice work, what grade of aluminum did you use?

[BCJ]

I used 6061