Anodising titanium tig for power supply?

[outofthefire]

I've been making a few bits of titanium jewellery and colouring it with heat is a bit hit and miss. Colouring it with electricity is so accurate i've seen videos of people painting with it. It needs a variable dc power supply ideally from 0 to 120v. Most on ebay and amazon don't go anywhere near that high and ideally i'd like to avoid having more stuff in my workshop. So i've been wondering if I can use my tig welder on its arc setting, i'm guessing no because there's too much current, but i'll never know for sure if I don't ask

 

[hotponyshoes]

I did a fair bit of diy anodising on alloy.
I used a constant current power supply though.

I used titanium rods to hang the parts from and they would turn purple pretty much as soon as the power was turned on.
If you are happy with purple then a car battery or charger or any form of power supply would probably do the job.

I don't know about using a welder but I wouldn't want to risk using mine!

 

[outofthefire]

I did a fair bit of diy anodising on alloy.
I used a constant current power supply though.

I used titanium rods to hang the parts from and they would turn purple pretty much as soon as the power was turned on.
If you are happy with purple then a car battery or charger or any form of power supply would probably do the job.

I don't know about using a welder but I wouldn't want to risk using mine!

The different voltages give different colours that's how you can paint with it. This video shows it really good

 

[hotponyshoes]

A cheap stepper motor power supply might do the job. I have one here that only cost about 30quid. 60v, 5.5a, programabble via pc.

Or look out for a used lab /benchtop power supply. They normally only hit 30v or so though.
Think the big one I have goes higher but don't remember.

 

[Seano]

The different voltages give different colours that's how you can paint with it. This video shows it really good

[/QUOTE

I didn't realise it was that easy

 

[outofthefire]

I didn't realise it was that easy

So was I, it's just the best colours are at the upper end of the voltages.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Very clever process , sadly I have neither titanium nor a power source which packs such a punch .

I'm glad this was posted though, as I believe the single colour anodising process can be carried out on other metals like mild steel quite cheaply and easily using a 12V supply and low amps. I've meant to try that when I get one of those 'roundtoits'

 

[outofthefire]

Very clever process , sadly I have neither titanium nor a power source which packs such a punch .

I'm glad this was posted though, as I believe the single colour anodising process can be carried out on other metals like mild steel quite cheaply and easily using a 12V supply and low amps. I've meant to try that when I get one of those 'roundtoits'

I buy cheap off cuts of titanium off ebay just watch out for the grade, grade2 and 5 are the most common. I usually buy grade 5 because it is nearly impossible to bend without heat grade 2 is softer. I haven't seen it done on steel, i'll have to look. I usually colour everything with a gas torch but generally on steel I nearly always just get blue or gold, and on titanium it's usually gold blue and purple but it's hit and miss. I was a bit better with copper but nothing like these too

 

[slim_boy_fat]

"I was a bit better with copper but nothing like these too"

That's something I could experiment with since I have an oxy-turbo torch.