6 ms·

What tools are needed to redo the anodized color? Is it doable at home?

by Tempest1981 5mo ago

buildsjets 5mo ago
How comfortable are you working with chromic acid and boric-sulfuric acid in your home?
- mmsc 5mo ago
  As long as it's not hydrofluoric acid...
  - wereHamster 5mo ago
    I bought a light HF acid (rust remover) so I can properly clean titanium parts before anodizing. Worked like a charm...
    - cultofmetatron 5mo ago
      just don't let any of it get on your skin. only takes a splash to land you in intensive care.
  - buildsjets 5mo ago
    I have an experiment at work that is generating gaseous hydroflouric acid at 800 degrees F. It's inside a triple containment system that takes a full day to set up and take apart, and we have all sorts of quality checks to validate that it is safe to access and has been fully titrated after the experiment has run. We accidentally ruined a very expensive ion chromatography machine a few weeks ago... Acid gasses are just no fun to work with.
jaggederest 5mo ago
To echo the sibling comment: approximately not, it's a strong acid bath which precludes operating electronics in it, and it's electrochemistry. People do home anodizing all the time, but colored home anodizing on electronics is very rare. The way to do it would be wrapping it in, say, a wet paper towel with your strong acid solution (but not sulfuric, because that would turn the paper into pure carbon foam) and running outside current from the laptop through the paper to a cathode, or vice versa.
- VorpalWay 5mo ago
  Wouldn't you want to completely disassemble the laptop first anyway, at which point the electronics would be disconnected from the metal parts anyway?
  - jaggederest 5mo ago
    You really can't fully disassemble current macbooks and put them back together without major tooling - the chassis is not just a wrapper, it's structural to the way they're interconnected, lots of glue and things like that.
    - falcor84 5mo ago
      Sounds almost like a turtle's exoskeleton
numpad0 5mo ago
You have to grind off the existing Al2O3 protective layer using sandpapers/sandblasters and/or power tools, then ultrasound + acetone wash the parts, then dump it into an acid bath while running electrical current through the pieces. Special dyes can be added for color. Then the pieces are boiled in regular water to further improve durability. The combination of the acid and electricity then boiling cause Al to form beehive shaped surface micropores, and dyes - actually inorganic, so pigments - gets electrically jammed into the pores. The whole outer surface become thick insulating layer of highly chemically resistant and mechanically rigid white/transparent Al2O3 once the process is complete. Voltage, current, waveform, temperature, solution acidity, etc etc affect colors and oxide thickness and shapes and sizes therefore aesthetics as well as durability. "Anodization" refers to this process of electro-acidic-heat formation of the oxide layer, not the coloring. The coloring powder is an extra. Technically it can be done in a garage, but spot and/or intact application might be difficult. Strict color matching against Apple made things would be impossible.
Tzk 5mo ago
Yes it’s doable at home, even with fairly primitive tools. You need several chemicals and (if you wish) colored dye. Anodizing works as follows: 1. Take the MacBook apart 2. Clean it 3. Chemical bath to remove old anodized layer 4. Clean it again 5. Chemical bath with power supply attached. applied voltage+current and duration will determine hardness and thickness of the anodized layer. 6. Clean it 7. Dye it. 8. Seal the dye in a hot water bath. It’s fairly straight forward to do.
- darkwater 5mo ago
  This made me smile because in my book this is at every effect impossible, especially if the goal is getting a functioning laptop at the end of the process. To be clear, it's impossible for me because I lack the knowledge, expertise and tooling to even think about doing it.
  - madaxe_again 5mo ago
    Nonsense, it just makes it more effort for you - nothing is impossible. Also, the way you acquire the knowledge, expertise and tooling is by screwing around with stuff where you have no idea what you’re doing.
    - larusso 5mo ago
      Depending on the field you want to gain knowledge it can mean: “famous last words” or “missing body parts”. Nothing against the spirit of learning and challenge one’s skills. But especially people on YouTube show of quite dangerous things and sell them as everybody can do it. My list here: Metal / Wood work on a lathe with off center or unbalanced pieces in a 3 jaw chuck. Playing around with lithium batteries to build bigger battery packs (DYI Perks did this and even though he mentions the dangers of doing that (fire or electric shock) it’s still inspires people to do the same in their living rooms. Then is playing with chemicals. Again I’m not saying don’t do it. But one should ease into things not just grab a random set of chemicals and disassemble a laptop and hook up a power supply etc by just following a list from the internet.
    - 5mo ago
grandinj 5mo ago
Just get some clear nailpolish and apply it with the included brush. Not as good but dead easy.

What tools are needed to redo the anodized color? Is it doable at home?

buildsjets 5mo ago

How comfortable are you working with chromic acid and boric-sulfuric acid in your home?

mmsc 5mo ago
As long as it's not hydrofluoric acid...
- wereHamster 5mo ago
  I bought a light HF acid (rust remover) so I can properly clean titanium parts before anodizing. Worked like a charm...
  - cultofmetatron 5mo ago
    just don't let any of it get on your skin. only takes a splash to land you in intensive care.
- buildsjets 5mo ago
  I have an experiment at work that is generating gaseous hydroflouric acid at 800 degrees F. It's inside a triple containment system that takes a full day to set up and take apart, and we have all sorts of quality checks to validate that it is safe to access and has been fully titrated after the experiment has run. We accidentally ruined a very expensive ion chromatography machine a few weeks ago... Acid gasses are just no fun to work with.

jaggederest 5mo ago

To echo the sibling comment: approximately not, it's a strong acid bath which precludes operating electronics in it, and it's electrochemistry. People do home anodizing all the time, but colored home anodizing on electronics is very rare. The way to do it would be wrapping it in, say, a wet paper towel with your strong acid solution (but not sulfuric, because that would turn the paper into pure carbon foam) and running outside current from the laptop through the paper to a cathode, or vice versa.

VorpalWay 5mo ago
Wouldn't you want to completely disassemble the laptop first anyway, at which point the electronics would be disconnected from the metal parts anyway?
- jaggederest 5mo ago
  You really can't fully disassemble current macbooks and put them back together without major tooling - the chassis is not just a wrapper, it's structural to the way they're interconnected, lots of glue and things like that.
  - falcor84 5mo ago
    Sounds almost like a turtle's exoskeleton

numpad0 5mo ago

You have to grind off the existing Al2O3 protective layer using sandpapers/sandblasters and/or power tools, then ultrasound + acetone wash the parts, then dump it into an acid bath while running electrical current through the pieces. Special dyes can be added for color. Then the pieces are boiled in regular water to further improve durability. The combination of the acid and electricity then boiling cause Al to form beehive shaped surface micropores, and dyes - actually inorganic, so pigments - gets electrically jammed into the pores. The whole outer surface become thick insulating layer of highly chemically resistant and mechanically rigid white/transparent Al2O3 once the process is complete. Voltage, current, waveform, temperature, solution acidity, etc etc affect colors and oxide thickness and shapes and sizes therefore aesthetics as well as durability. "Anodization" refers to this process of electro-acidic-heat formation of the oxide layer, not the coloring. The coloring powder is an extra. Technically it can be done in a garage, but spot and/or intact application might be difficult. Strict color matching against Apple made things would be impossible.

Tzk 5mo ago

Yes it’s doable at home, even with fairly primitive tools. You need several chemicals and (if you wish) colored dye. Anodizing works as follows: 1. Take the MacBook apart 2. Clean it 3. Chemical bath to remove old anodized layer 4. Clean it again 5. Chemical bath with power supply attached. applied voltage+current and duration will determine hardness and thickness of the anodized layer. 6. Clean it 7. Dye it. 8. Seal the dye in a hot water bath. It’s fairly straight forward to do.

darkwater 5mo ago
This made me smile because in my book this is at every effect impossible, especially if the goal is getting a functioning laptop at the end of the process. To be clear, it's impossible for me because I lack the knowledge, expertise and tooling to even think about doing it.
- madaxe_again 5mo ago
  Nonsense, it just makes it more effort for you - nothing is impossible. Also, the way you acquire the knowledge, expertise and tooling is by screwing around with stuff where you have no idea what you’re doing.
  - larusso 5mo ago
    Depending on the field you want to gain knowledge it can mean: “famous last words” or “missing body parts”. Nothing against the spirit of learning and challenge one’s skills. But especially people on YouTube show of quite dangerous things and sell them as everybody can do it. My list here: Metal / Wood work on a lathe with off center or unbalanced pieces in a 3 jaw chuck. Playing around with lithium batteries to build bigger battery packs (DYI Perks did this and even though he mentions the dangers of doing that (fire or electric shock) it’s still inspires people to do the same in their living rooms. Then is playing with chemicals. Again I’m not saying don’t do it. But one should ease into things not just grab a random set of chemicals and disassemble a laptop and hook up a power supply etc by just following a list from the internet.
  - 5mo ago

grandinj 5mo ago

Just get some clear nailpolish and apply it with the included brush. Not as good but dead easy.