YellowJacket RV9

YellowJacket RV9

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I have seen several examples of people anodizing items such as brake pedals, etc, on the interior, that I think looked really cool. I had already primed my pedals but am thinking about re-doing and anodizing them, as well as possibly my slider side rails. Are there any other parts that people have anodized in various colors? Pics? Was thinking about a blue anodizing to go with gray interior paint.

Chris
 
For what it's worth, I had some 2024-T4 and 6061-T6 boat parts blue anodized and it faded after a few years of being out in the sun. If you're going to hangar the plane this might not be much of an issue.

It looked great at first, but no so much when it faded.

(I know that 20204-T4 isn't a normally-recommended material for boat parts, since it corrodes much easier than 6061, but after anodizing it held up quite well. It was rarely immersed. It was for a bowsprit attachment.)

Dave
 
Just check what material it is.

2024 doesn't necessarily anodise well due to its copper and manganese content - can burn.

The 60xx and 50xx series anodise well.

I had the slider rails hard anodised on the 8 - came out very well but not cheap.
 
I had all of my engine baffles anodized for $50. Looks nice and is holding up well.

Jim Berry
RV-10
 
mike newall said:
Just check what material it is. 2024 doesn't necessarily anodise well due to its copper and manganese content - can burn...
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I had some parts anodized at a local shop that does a lot of aerospace work, but called and talked to their tech people first. They had no trouble with 2024T3 Alclad, and the results were very good. Went with anodizing to gain corrosion protection where I did not want to add the thickness of a coat of primer, either on moving or close fitting parts.

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Kinda but better ...

When I had my plane painted at Gradys shop (Glo Custom) , I was going to have my rails on the 7 slider done in black. He had a buddy who was doing something like that who refinished old cameras with a black anodize process just like a old 35MM camera case. Long story short, I had them done in black and they turned out really really good. 300 hours later and they look exactly like they did three years ago. It's apparently fairly deep because I have no visible scratches showing.

It just so happened that it went with the paint job and really dresses the airplane up. I'm not sure how it would wear on the brake pedals but it is the best thing I can think of to do for the rails. Wish I had known to do the back slider rail in the center of the canopy as well.

I absolutely would do it again. Think it was about $100. Much better than polishing and trying to keep shiny.

Bill
 
There are two different types of anodize, it depends on your application which should be used. Type II is a hard anodize that penetrates the surface as well as builds up material. You can specify the amount of penetration and build up to a maximum of .002. Works well for wear surfaces and you can get it sealed with a ptfe coating. I believe it only comes in black. I used this on the slider rails on my 8. The colored anodize provides corrosion protection but will wear. I'm going to do my baffles in gold. Save your parts up and do them all at the same time, there is a minimum lot charge usually $60-80 and, in California! You will pay some environmental fees. The different alloys will turn out different colors even if they are done in the same lot.

Keep building!
 
I had my instrument panel anodized as well as some other interior parts. The results were not the best. I had riveted the radio stack support angles and the glove box door hinge prior to anodizing. The rivets bled a different color. Additionally the color of each part was somewhat different than others. I suspect there was a difference in the alloys that resulted in the color differences. Rivets and rivet holes result in the bleeding. Additionally anodizing must cover a very clean (no scratches) surface.

I like 90% or the results but the bad 10% made the effort and cost unacceptable.
 
David Paule said:
It looked great at first, but no so much when it faded.
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The color dyes used in the anodizing process are organic, and will fade when exposed to UV. The most durable color is black and that is if you allow them to anodize for a long time getting a deep penetration.
 
XOverZero said:
I had some parts anodized at a local shop that does a lot of aerospace work, but called and talked to their tech people first. They had no trouble with 2024T3 Alclad, and the results were very good. Went with anodizing to gain corrosion protection where I did not want to add the thickness of a coat of primer, either on moving or close fitting parts.
Click to expand...

John,
Could you pass along the name of that shop? PM would be OK. I'm toying with the idea of having my brake pedals done.
 
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