Coating Aluminium - Any Top Tips or Experience to Share?

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Does anyone have experience colouring Aluminium?

I am making several Aluminum boxes that hold electronics, buttons, SDI, OLED, etc. I have tried anodising with some results, but the depth of colour is variable between runs. It is tricky to be consistent with current/area, temperature, and dye strength. It is also an almighty effort - turns the kitchen into something from Breaking Bad. I am after a black and purple combination of colours.

I have tried using aluminium dye (from looking at the bottle, I assume it is some selenium-based chemical that reacts with cleaned (NaOH) aluminium to produce a black finish). However, this finish is not very robust.

I am about to try spray paint, which I have tried to avoid as I feel it will scratch/mark easily. I think I will need to take into account the paint layer when leaving a tolerance for fixing.

Does anyone have experience or ideas I could consider?

Cheers

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Powder coat. You will need to account for thickness of the coating, but it will likely be no more consequential than paint.

Also very cheap and easy, comes in a zillion colors, just grab an old toaster oven at goodwill and you’re off to the races.

I started powder coating with a cheap harbor freight gun for lead bullets probably around ten years ago (it provides a bearing surface so lead is not deposited in the rifling and is cleaner and less smoky than traditional wax) and have since then also used it for all sorts of other projects with success.

Youre right that consistent gone anodizing is a total pain. Ive been down that road too. Doing it isnt so hard… doing it and having it look the same sure is.

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