Quote:
Originally Posted by James3245
What are the practical distinctions/trade-offs between anodizing and powder coating in FRC? Are they dependent on each other? Prep required? Turnaround time? Cost?
I'm thinking that we could go back to previous robots and spruce them up a bit for demo purposes/attracting new sponsors but our team has zero experience with adding color to metal parts.
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The practical difference is that anodizing impregnates dye into the outer oxide surface of the part while powder coating adds an enamel layer to the outside. Anodizing does not change the dimensions or weight of the part in any noticeable manner. Powder coating adds a few thousandths of enamel, so everything is slightly larger and heavier. Over an entire robot, the powder coating can add noticeable amount of weight.
Anodizing can only be done to aluminum and titanium. Powder coating can be done to anything that can survive up to 500F without melting (the parts are baked in an oven to sure them).
Both processes need the parts cleaned first to get any oils off the part, but all machine marks, scratches, etc. will still be visible in the final anodized part (so you may want to tumble/wire-brush the aluminum part first). Powder coating will hide minor surface blemishes.