Electro-anodized Minute Machine

[OregonGrey]

I bought this gently-used Minute Machine off of @Scarface a while back with the intent of electro-anodizing it myself. Dissassembly was not without its hiccups. The circlips on the pushers are the tiniest I’ve ever seen! The tool I had for them was too large to get them off. The project was benched for over a month, until yesterday when I popped them off with some high-quality tweezers with the tips sanded down to needle points. The housings for the pushers and the crown are not titanium (and not removeable?), but they didn’t draw enough current away from the titanium case to affect the color noticeably. Higher voltages (>15V) might have been a different story. Overall, I’m very pleased with the results. Enjoy!

 

[double]

Looks good...nice work!

 

[OregonGrey]

Looks good...nice work!

Thanks!

 

[Nortika]

That looks amazing

 

[zwc0442]

I've done a couple as well and you're correct after about 20v or so the stainless inserts in the case draw too much current and affected the color.

 

[OregonGrey]

I've done a couple as well and you're correct after about 20v or so the stainless inserts in the case draw too much current and affected the color.

Oh, right on. I got a pretty wild result when I anodized my titanium case Gearbox. I’m pretty happy with that one, but wanted a much cleaner, uniform result for the MM.

What electrolyte solution do you use? I’ve always had a mixture of TSP and distilled water, but found out recently that it might etch the crystal.

 

[zwc0442]

I take the crystals out when doing it. Don't think it'll bother the sapphire but there is a coating on the inside of the crystal that is pretty delicate compared to the sapphire itself.

 

[Blockster]

Looks really good

 

[BigRabbit]

I bought this gently-used Minute Machine off of @Scarface a while back with the intent of electro-anodizing it myself. Dissassembly was not without its hiccups. The circlips on the pushers are the tiniest I’ve ever seen! The tool I had for them was too large to get them off. The project was benched for over a month, until yesterday when I popped them off with some high-quality tweezers with the tips sanded down to needle points. The housings for the pushers and the crown are not titanium (and not removeable?), but they didn’t draw enough current away from the titanium case to affect the color noticeably. Higher voltages (>15V) might have been a different story. Overall, I’m very pleased with the results. Enjoy!

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Awesome

 

[Oaklimus Prime]

Pretty sweet, love the color on that one!!!!