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Charlottesville, Virginia - Is this anyone here? By the way, I can make those red ASV thumb adjusters orange for you...

im about 90 miles away, near Richmond

You work there? I was there on, uh, "business" last night.

Now I'm curious... how do you make the red adjusters orange?
DIY anodization?

He already has bert, about a year ago

Thanks guys!

I checked the site Zen used for his supplies. Orange dye and sealant would cost me $78.00 (and after passing through Belgian customs that'll probably total to rougly $110).
Thats a bit much just to anodize a pair of lever adjusters...

SO... if anyone has some more info on the type of dye (brand, colour code,...) maybe I can find it locally.

Use drain cleaner to remove the red anodised coating; keep a close eye on them because the process is slow at first then goes fast. Polish the adjusters and degrease them in acetone. I got my sulphuric acid at the auto parts store - battery acid. Mix acid into water at the recommended ratio. I used aluminium MIG welding wire to suspend the pieces in the acid bath. Attach the adjusters and the cathode (I used a piece of 6061 aluminium), and hook it up to a battery charger; start at about 2 amps; too much amperage will result in pitting. It will take approximately 45-60 minutes to anodize the adjusters; you'll know they're done when they take on a slightly yellow grey matte finish. Rinse in HOT water and immediately place in the hot dye until you get to the color intensity you're after. I don't know about boiling them to seal the surface, but it can't hurt. If you don't pit the pieces by leaving them in the drain cleaner too long, it'll take a couple of hours.

This is the guide I used and seemed to work all right





I got some scrap overhead power line from the local electricity supplier to use as an anode and make sure you use a fresh piece everytime as the anode also anodises and no longer conducts electricity ( can be cleaned off though). Dye should not be hotter than 50C and the item should then be boiled in distilled water for 30 mins.

Plain anodising without dye also looks good and stops corrosion and hardens the surface of items. I did my heel guards probably 8 months ago and the are still unmarked.



Most important thing is polish the shit out of it as anodising will not hide scratches or marks and make sure its CLEAN.

I use a little esky (cooler) to store the acid in and have another one with a mix of bicarb of soda and water as an emergency neutraliser.

Zenbikers original post put me onto it, its relatively easy and good fun, experiment with some scrap before launching into the bike though.

Thanks for all the info guys!

Update...
Anodising:

Result:

I contacted Millar last week asking him what he uses. He uses this:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Orange-Anodising- ... 0764886118

Because I'm impatient and really wanted to try it in the weekend I got myself a "Dylon multi purpose tin", Tangerine (#39) in a craft store.
If that wouldn't have worked I would have ordered the stuff from ebay.

The wide plate on the negative is aluminium too?

Yep, it's a piece of lead. The "hangers" for the adjusters are alu.

Ha ha!

You two.

Having been on this forum for some time I can honestly say that you two both are the most sarcastic, cynical, grumpy, opinionated SDers about so you will both probably end up best mates. Zen, I think that StratKat is some sort of graphic designer.

Get it together and go out for a ride and post how things go. I reckon you'll both get on real good but start some sort of argument in a coffee bar with the waitress about the service and then have a bit of a skirmish with some gas station about the prices and then both aknowledge that you see the world through similar eyes.

Good luck maties!

PS. Strat. WTF you got in that pillion pack? An big top? A Graff Zeppelin? An inflatable castle? What???