Category Archives: Process

Electrolytic Coloring

Posted on August 24, 2012 by dave49

My anodized aluminum reel parts have mostly been undyed, that is, clear anodize. I did try out some dyes (23 April 2012) and even produced a reel with black end plates (9 May 2012). Other than black, I did not … Continue reading →

Posted in Anodizing/Plating | 4 Comments

Water Cooled Cathode

Posted on August 22, 2012 by dave49

When anodizing, power is dissipated in the cell and heats the water/acid electrolyte. The heat has two components, electrical resistance heating of the anode’s barrier layer and heat of formation of the oxide film. For example, if the anode area … Continue reading →

Posted in Anodizing/Plating | 5 Comments

Aluminum Finishing

Posted on August 21, 2012 by dave49

By now I have made enough reel parts of aluminum to have established a routine procedure for finishing. My goal is to arrive at a finish that is uniform but not highly reflective. If the aluminum is shiny before anodizing, … Continue reading →

Posted in Abrading, Frame | Leave a comment

Power Fibers Article on Anodizing

Posted on July 30, 2012 by dave49

The July 2012 issue of Power Fibers contains an article that I wrote on anodizing. For the next 3 months, you can download the issue and read the article here. Much of the material is a re-hash of posts on … Continue reading →

Posted in Anodizing/Plating, Articles | Leave a comment

Front End Ring

Posted on July 12, 2012 by dave49

Since my new reel design has a fixed spindle, it requires a front end ring instead of a full front end plate. Here is the sequence of steps to produce a thin end ring for a raised pillar reel. Starting … Continue reading →

Posted in Milling, Ring, Turning, Work Holding | Leave a comment

ER16 Collet Set

Posted on July 6, 2012 by dave49

You can center round stock in a 4 jaw chuck, but it takes some time to get the jaws adjusted to center. This is the attraction of collets; if you have the right size collet, the work is centered with … Continue reading →

Posted in Turning, Work Holding | Leave a comment

Simple Pot Chuck

Posted on May 30, 2012 by dave49

After making a tool the hard way, one has extra appreciation when finding a simple way. My last post to this blog was about a pot chuck for my Sherline lathe that used the Morse taper of the lathe headstock … Continue reading →

Posted in Fixtures, Turning, Work Holding | 2 Comments

Pot Chuck

Posted on May 28, 2012 by dave49

For a new reel design, I want a bronze washer of about 3/4 inch OD, ID to pass a #10 screw, and 0.031 thickness. It is part of a thrust bearing; how can I get a close thickness tolerance and … Continue reading →

Posted in Fixtures, Turning | Leave a comment

Dyed End Plates

Posted on May 9, 2012 by dave49

Having dyed some scrap metal parts (this blog, 23 April 2012), I moved on to some machined reel parts. On my first attempt, the result was not satisfactory. There were small but obvious flaws, like this spot on the rear … Continue reading →

Posted in Anodizing/Plating, End Plate, My Reels | 3 Comments

Anodize Dye Samples

Posted on April 23, 2012 by dave49

I finally got around to trying some anodize dyes. Dyeing is an extra step in between anodizing and sealing. First, I did a normal anodization to obtain a 0.001 inch thick coating. Conditions to achieve this are discussed in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Anodizing/Plating | 1 Comment