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I've had this article hanging around for some time, so I figured I'd post it, maybe someone here is brave enough to anodize their cylinder head covers? I don't remember where I originally got it from, but I made some changes to it myself, and so far so good! Supplies Needed: The first thing to do is to get the following things together: First on the list is the most expensive item: a 6 to 12 volt battery charger. They run from $45.00 to $110.00 depending on model, functions, etc. The next item, though not that expensive, will take some effort to find: battery electrolyte, a.k.a. sulfuric acid. This should be available at a battery wholesaler for about $2.00/gal. AutoZone sells it for $5.00, but it's only enough to fill a scoot battery. To make the negative ground, you will need some aluminum ground wire and aluminum-foil. The wire can be found at an electronics store for about $35/spool, and you should have the foil in the kitchen. If you happen to be out of foil, you can pick up some more at the store when you go to buy the last item for this project. No super-special chemicals or solutions necessary to make the colors; just plain-old fabric dye. (Something like Rit dye, for about $5.00.) Rit offers something like 30-40 different colors, so you have quite a number of choices for what color you want your parts to be. If you want to go hard-core, you can order anodizing dye online. An optional item is nitric acid: about $25.00/2.5 L. (This is used to clean parts prior to anodizing, but there are some cheaper alternatives. See end notes.) This is available at chemical supply stores. Should you not be able to find any, you can try to get on the good side of the high school science teacher. He may help you out since you only need a few ounces. Safety Precautions: There are a few precautions I want to go over to help keep you from blowing up the house or trashing the garage. First of all, do not mix or store your anodizing solution in a glass container. Something could happen to make it break, and most households are not equipped to deal with that kind of spill. You also don't want to knock over the container, so a stable, rubber bucket makes a good choice. You will also need to be certain that the part you want to color will fit in the container without sticking out of the solution, and without touching the negative ground in the bottom of the container. Any acid that you don't use, keep in what it came in, or an old plastic bottle, like a bleach bottle. You can also store your used solution this way for doing more parts later. (Make sure that there is absolutely no bleach left in the bottle. Acid and bleach make chlorine gas. Very bad. Don't breathe. Poisonous.) Safety also applies to the nitric acid, but in a different way. It is imperative that you label and keep track of this stuff, as it is a stronger acid than sulfuric, and more dangerous. The breakage/spill problem is not as likely since you won't have that much around. (Unless you bought more than a few ounces from the chem store.) The last note about the acids is to mix properly when adding acid and water. Always pour acid into water, never the other way, and do so slowly, being sure to mix in well. There is a reaction taking place and it releases a lot of energy. During the anodizing process, you will be running electricity through a weak acid solution. This creates hydrogen (just like charging a battery) which is very flammable. This stuff burns at the speed of thought when ignited, so do be careful. (Read as Remember the Hindenburg?) Make certain that there is some way to ventilate the project area, and DO NOT let any sources of ignition (NO SMOKING) near the project area. Other precautions you should take include safety glasses, rubber gloves, and maybe some sort of drop sheet under the area. Preparations: One of the most essential things you need to do in order to get even color over the whole part is to be sure that the part is absolutely clean. You want it free of all contaminates, from dirt to the oils in your skin. This is where the nitric acid and some rubber gloves will help. A solution of 1-2 ounces of nitric acid in a gallon of distilled water will allow you to clean the surface in preparation for the anodizing. Aluminum oxidizes very quickly when exposed to air, so the easiest way to keep it clean is to clean it just before you are ready to start working on the piece. (You should rinse the part with distilled water before you put it in the next acid solution.) Other options are carburetor or brakes cleaners, or other similar degreasers. Soap and water will work also, or cleaners like Simple Green. These are cheaper, a nitric acid wash is the best. (You decide, it's your money.) =) Make your negative ground with the aluminum wire and foil. Shape the end of the wire into a paddle shape and cover the round part with the foil. What you want to do is create a flat, round shape to sit on the bottom of the bucket, with a lead that comes up the side, and out of the bucket. You will clip the battery charger's negative lead to the wire that comes out of the bucket. When you are ready to start, you will want to mix up your immersion solution. In your rubber bucket, combine the sulfuric acid and water to come up with a solution that is about 30% water. (1 part water to 2 parts acid.) Place the paddle in the bucket and attach the negative lead. Then attach the positive lead to the part, making it an anode, and immerse it in the solution. (Remember that the two leads the paddle (cathode), and the part (anode) should not touch.) This is the best time to turn on the charger: once the part begins to fizz, leave it in there for about 10-15 minutes. After about this time the part should no longer conduct electricity. (You can also use an ohmmeter to check conductivity, but this is not needed.) Turn off and disconnect everything, and rinse the part in cold water. Don't use hot water! You'll find out why in the next section. A couple of notes: I have read some other procedures that say it is important that the copper lead from the charger does not enter the acid solution. The article says nothing about this, and shows a picture with the lead right in there. It may take some trial and error to find out if this is a problem. It wouldn't be a bad idea to get some scrap aluminum and play with it before you start anodizing your parts. You can check out the above, as well as pick the colors you like best. If you test out some colors, you'll also learn just how long or short you need to work with the color solution. Color: So now it doesn't conduct electricity, and is ready for color. It's been rinsed and waits eagerly to change to a new look. Don't wait too long to do the color, due to that oxidizing thing again. You want to mix up a strong solution of dye and water, in a container that can be heated. The solution needs to be at low heat, such as on the stove, so bread and cake pans work well. Again, you need something that will fit the whole part, but it's okay if it touches the bottom this time. I would recommend turning parts every few minutes just to make sure that you get all-over color. Inform your mom or wife that the pan can (and will be) washed out. It is important that the heat be low enough. If the solution gets too hot, you will seal the surface, and it will no longer take any color. (See, told you to rinse it in cold water!) Leave it in the dye until the part is slightly darker than you want it. The next step is to seal the surface of the metal in clean, boiling water. This will leech a bit of color from it, thus the slightly darker color in the previous step. End Notes: Also, this process is for aluminum. I don't know how, or if, it will work on other metals. (I doubt it.) Anodizing works great on billet, not so well on castings. If it was forged or machined, it should have the density to take color through this process. Something to consider when looking for a charger, is how many amperes it puts out. Without getting into any mumbo-jumbo, anodizing relies on 10 to 40 amperes per square foot. For small brackets and such, this is no problem. The larger parts however, may need the higher levels of amperes. The other note about part size, has to do with how long you leave it in the solution. Above it said 10-15 minutes, but that is for a smaller part. The larger parts may not only need higher amperes, but more time as well. I would recommend an ohmmeter, but again, I have one already. So there you have it. Quick, fairly easy, and not too expensive. If you don't have the charger, then your first anodizing session could cost as much as sending your parts out to be done. But, then you can do it again for much less. Or do your buddies stuff. Or talk them into chipping in on a setup for all of you to use. We all know ways to help make things cheaper. And the stupid statement required to cover myself... If you try this and something gets messed up, or someone gets hurt, you are on your own. Deal with it, you can't blame it on anyone else.
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Me think i got a lot of work to do , all 5 need new batterys , 1 takes 3 batterys and 2 of them take 5 A friend of mine imported 25 of them and 10 of them had bad batterys in them , the 1st time he tried to charge them , they burned up the chargers , the China company will not take them back or send more batterys , so after a year he gave 7 of them to me . I rewired 1 of them to use acid walmart batterys , Marsha claimed it to ride around town I am working on 1 now , but now i need to get all of them done to sell for the 2nd gen fund or do's anybody want to trade 6 Elec. scooters for a 2nd gen ?
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I just received my battery that I ordered from RJ ATV in Spring Hill,Florida and upon opening it and admiring it I am told that there is no ACID in the battery and No ACID in the shipment---What a RIPOFF!----what do I do now---do the auto parts stores sell the acid?
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I ordered a Battery from RJ ATV in Spring Hill,Florida to replace the dying one in my 1989 Venture---upon opening the box I am told per the instructions that there is no ACID in the battery and no ACID in the box!-WTH???!!----What now?---do the auto parts stores carry the acid??---
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Started my day off real good, got all leathered out, gonna ride into Town to give Gunboat a hand and the Green Beast turned over 2 times and that was it..so off with the seat, put the tester on the battery and it showed 12.2V but that was not enough to crank her, put it the charger and it would never reach a full charge, so it was off on a hunt to buy a new one, all I could find was one that you have to add the acid and charge your self, this says that there are plates in it that absorb 100% of the acid so that it will be spill proof, any one heard of that? any way, gonna wait till tomorrow to put it back in the beast and see how it does..
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hi all just wanted to let everyone know i received my replacement oddesy battery. kathy at the warranty division, she took care of me with my battery issue. thanks again jack for your support. i guess i'll leave that $173.00 cdn lead acid battery in the '99 rsv for now. again thanks to squidley,darrel,gamber,bigbob,lowell,rocket and any others i may have missed. had fun at the '08 international rally, meet a bunch of great people. best reguards don c.
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To have your handle bar risers acid dipped and then professionally polished..............Check this out ................. cost $60.00
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Hello, I have a 1990 Venture Royale (1300 CC) in which I am installing a new battery. The old battery was of acid type and a sensor used to dip in the acid through one of the openings of the battery. The new battery that I am installing is of dry type and there is nowhere for this sensor to go. Hence the computer believes that the battery is out of acid and the battery warning signal is flickering on the computerized display. Moreover the red warning light is also flickering. My question is: Is there a way to deactivate this battery warning signal? Thank you very much. Maurice. mhasson@stat.tamu.edu
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Hi Guys, I bought this '87 Royale to fix up lass may an d only got about half done before winter came. I want it for this season so I am tackling the body again. but... I went to take the battery out to get a new one. Last year I always had to put a charger on it to play with the carbs and such. Well, when I took it out, it was completely dry. So me thinks, maybe if I put acid in it may work, at least well enough to work on it, and if not I'll get a new one. So, I had an old car battery sitting here to take back to the store whenever I get a new battery. I drilled small holes in the bottom of each cell, one at a time and put the acid in a peanut butter jar and filled up each cell on the bike battery. I now have it on a 2 amp charger, to see what will happen. What do ya think, did I waste my time or could I save it? I have no idea how old it is , since it came with the bike. It says Powerline Y50-N8L-A on it D
