Chief Delphi - Is powder coating and annodizing worthwhile?

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Re: Is powder coating and annodizing worthwhile?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Retired Starman (Post 1063544)

For a team that's really organized, does good, honest design before starting construction, and can stick with the construction schedule, finishing metal is just another step in the process. It lets the judges know you are on top of things.

Either that or. . . Your robot looks like it was built by adults off in a shop somewhere else and wasn't really "kid-built". I saw one robot this year which was done by a veteran team. It had a beautiful anodized finish on parts that had been CNC fabricated. The robot looked great, until you saw the piece of unfinished 1 by 8 wood, held on with some rather ugly right-angle brackets, that was being used as the minibot deployment unit. It was painfully obvious which parts of the robot the kids had built and which had been done by mentors/sponsors.

There are other alternatives which are easy and good looking without having to send the parts out to the pros. One technique I use in my home shop is to bead blast (like sandblasting but with glass beads rather than sand). This removes mill marks, dirt, printing, etc. from the aluminum and leaves a satin finish. Since the satin finish on bare aluminum oxidizes quickly, I immediately spray the piece with a clear paint, either Krylon or Rustolium clear. This seals the surface, keeping the parts looking nice. They still have the aluminum metal look,

Students can easily finish aluminum like this. You might also want to experiment with paint or tinted clear lacquers after bead blasting. This can all be done by students, which is the real goal.

Dr. Bob

Our 2011 robot was manufactured by students, (with the exception of some raw bent sheet parts which were modified later,) and painted by students.

-Nick

Re: Is powder coating and annodizing worthwhile?

I don't think that Starman's post was meant to be accusatory. I'd guess that his comment that some robots "look like [they were] built by adults off in a shop somewhere else and [were]n't really 'kid-built'" is referring to fabrication (machining), which many teams do 'outsource.' And that isn't bad - in fact, I'd say it's something to aspire to, as it allows students to focus more on the design and problem solving aspects of the competition, rather than just drilling holes.
I for one am trying to find a sheet metal shop to sponsor our team, which would result in adults rather than students doing much of the machining.

Re: Is powder coating and annodizing worthwhile?

Quote:

Originally Posted by PAR_WIG1350 (Post 1063607)

According to the wikipedia article on anodizing, the dyes can be screen printed on to create patterns/designs/images. Has anybody experimented with this? it sounds cool.

Basically anodizing opens up the aluminum to accept the dye. You can screen print or digitally print dye sublimation inks and then transfer these into the aluminum like a regular anodizing dye.

Colors Inc here in Indy is a great sponsor of central Indiana Teams. They same day anodize parts for teams here. They also have the capability to print dye sub inks and transfer to AI parts.