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Anodize aluminum parts

I am A Quality Mgr. Our facility Machines aluminum aircraft parts. We would like to start up an Anodizing operation. We would like to know what is involved. Equipment needed (Etc). We Produce approx. 50 parts per day.

Joseph Marotta
- Boyertown, Pennsylvania, USA

Step one is to contact the state and local air quality and water quality folks. I would start with the local sewer department. If you are going to do chromic acid anodizing, it is going to be expensive and a lot of paperwork. You are probably looking at anywhere from $100,000 to $1,000,000 to set up this operation.

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida

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Hello Joseph!

What I'd do in your shoes is find a local anodizing shop that says they can handle the work that you describe to them, and then go visit them. There you'll see the range of baths- pretreatment, process, and post treatment- that will need to be done. After that you can decide if you want to build the line yourself, or have someone do the job for you. You should also strongly consider having the local guy do the work- with the investment in baths, chemicals, testing equipment, expertise, it may be worth it. Another thing I'd do is send the local anodizer some parts for a while, even if I decided to bring the process in house. That way your people will get used to what they should expect from the process.

Good luck!
Lee Gearhart
metallurgist - E. Aurora, New York