Is powder coating and annodizing worthwhile?

[dtengineering]

For small parts you can do the anodizing in your own shop... just borrow a bit of sulphuric acid from the Chem lab. There are really good instructions on line for setting up your own anodizing line.

I've never felt it wise to paint or powder coat, however, just in the event that you ever need to make an emergency repair using a welder. With bare aluminum your surface prep is pretty minimal... the paint or powder coat would just be one more layer to be cleaned off. Not bad if you've got a power wire wheel, but we don't pack those to our pit area.

Often, however, we would polish exposed aluminum parts, and cover the unpolished parts with painted polycarbonate that could be removed quickly and easily. There was usually at least one student on the team who really excelled at "making things shiny".

Then we realized that we were being silly making robots out of aluminum and switched to wood, where a couple quick coats of lacquer and a bit of sanding take it from looking cheap to looking awesome... but there's another thread about that!

Jason