Anodizing

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Kaos_Drem

Gawd
Joined
Oct 16, 2004
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So i currently have a lian li G70 full tower case that is anodized black, but i want to change the color to Cobalt Blue. I realize that the chemical process for anodizing is quite harsh and i am going to let a local place take care of it.

My question is this. Can a case that has already been anodized be anodized a different color, and what effect will the color have on the new color? IE will my cobalt blue case be a darker shade because it was originally black?

If this is achievable it will be the beginning of a decently hefty project log that i am going to start, i just want to get the semantics out of the way first.
 
Im pretty sure they have a dip to get rid of the old color. My friend used to do this on paintball guns.
 
they probably just run the sander over it take it back to bare metal, etch and spray

probably come back a glossy blue, rather than a flat mat black you probably already have
 
Yeah. It's possible to reannodize aluminum. First the company will have to strip the existing ano. The current color will have no effect on the next color. The only thing you'll have to worry about is after stripping a piece of metal multiple times it's possible that tolerances can be lost.

The process is different for every company, but the reputable companies I've delt with will use some sort of solution (essentially Lye with some other chemical additives to keep it from being too aggressive and pitting the underlying metal) that will strip the original anodizing. Although sanding it down does work, it's MUCH easier to just drop the parts into a strong bath and let it do the work instead :D

Anodizing is possible to do at home, but if you're only planning to do one case you might as well send off and have someone else do it as the required equipment to do it *right* can be fairly expensive and there is a learning curve when doing it.

The finish will end up being whatever it was after the piece was stripped. The company you're going through probably offers multiple finishes. If you want a gloss finish they're going to have to polish the case which can be a lot of work. I've heard of chemical polishing agents but I don't have first hand experience with those so I'm not sure how effective those are.

Personally, I prefer a nice matte finish which is easily achieved with a bead blaster (or possibly some sort of chemical etch).

I'm considering having this done to my next case as the ano on my current LL case is pretty weak.
 
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