Jim C Roberts wrote:

Greetings all,

I have a guy wanting me to custom build some parts for his show
truck. These parts will be aluminium, mostly flat or at worst will
have to have some mounting studs welded on or a little bit of roll put
into them. No bending, so I believe 6061 will fit the bill here,
correct?
Now for the big question, what all can be done with anodizing? Not
talking about a home brew kit, I will need to farm this out just
wondering who can do what? I have checked out a few web sites that
seemed to promise a whole lot, I believe one even mentioned screen
printing the anodize on. Seems a bit far fetched, anyone seen/heard
of this?

As usual, thanks in advance for any and all help in this matter,
feel free to e-mail me directly or post to the NG with
answers/criticism.

Jim C Roberts

I pretty much agree with Harold's reply. Welding *will* show up, and not
in a way desired for show. If the welding can be done "backside" and the
pieces are thick enough that the front is not affected, maybe it will look
okay. Maybe. Try some samples first, I'm thinking it would be worth the
investment. Minimum charges for anodize are usually about $60-$75. Most
machine shops I know, including myself, once having found a plater that
does good work consistantly, stick with that plater. I can relate a couple
horror stories that cost ME money when coerced by a @#%#&*% purchasing
agent to use a plater of his reccomendation. Never again, unless it is a
required source and parts are bought off in advance.
To find a good plater, ask around at local machine shops, if any are still
open(sick joke). The anodizer I have used for several years does some real
nice work. I routinely have had them do orders in the thousands and had
them ship direct to my customer, never any problem, zero rejects. I've
seen some heatsinks for amplifiers in different "neon" looking colors that
they did. Real pretty. If at all possible, go to the prospective shop and
ask to see some of their work. If they do take pride in their workmanship,
they won't mind showing some to you. If they are hesitant, I would
hesitate to use their service.
email me with plating as subject if you want info, but I am in calif and
suspect you are a fair distance east.

michael