DIY "Do it yourself" Anodizing your titanium bolts

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If you decide to take a walk on the lite side of things and put your bike on a titanium diet, one of the first things you notice is that you can't get every size fastener that you want in the color you want it in... So what to do?

This Youtube guy shows how you can do it yourself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PO0LpdoGvo

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It looks easy... But is it?
Let's find out..
I went to Walmart and then the dollar store.
I picked up some Borax (I needed very little) $6.00
Distilled water $1.00
(20) 9V batteries $10.00
Plastic pan... I used a bucket because my wife got a angry look on her face as I was trying to walk out with some Tupper Ware
After watching another Youtube vid I found out that you can color your titanium at much lower voltages.
That means far less batteries were needed.. (4)
Here is what I picked up:
0-15v brown
17-28v dark purple
20v nice purple
23v starts purple to blue
25v royal blue
32 starts to ligten into the blue
35v blue to silver
42-45v metal grey with a tinge of green
51v gold
58v deep gold
60v starts turning copper
65v pinkish
68v pinkish purple
69v vibrant purple
70v sharp purple
75v dark purple
80v still purple..
85v purple and torquoise
88v turquoise
91v teal
95v teak with hints of green
100v teal with more green
111v turning silver..
120v looks like the original color.

To go back to lower voltage colors you need to strip off the color and start over.

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Testing a normal 9V battery and you get approx 9V

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Take the negative of one 9V battery and attach it to the positive of another and you should get about 18v

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Add another battery to the series and you should get about 27V

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As you can see, 9V batteries when new are a bit high on voltage but should be good enough for this initial test.

I put enough water into the bottom of the pan to cover the bolts I wanted to anodize.
I sprinkled in about 2 table spoons of Borax... probably too much but whatever.. it's cheap
Then I used two alligator clips to attach the wires to the two ends of the battery terminals.
On one end of one of the wires I stripped off about 5 inches of the insulation.
I'm pretty sure I could anodize faster if I used a better anode such as a spoon soldered to the wire.
But this will give me an idea.
Then I dropped in a bolt to the solution and made sure it was covered over.
The I touched the bolt with the opposite wire..

Here is a vid showing the results...

https://youtu.be/NGc0g3jkjHw

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I like it...

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Bad pics buy you get the idea...

[60something]

Very Cool! I think I already know the answer, but does this only work with titanium?

So, were you one of those kids that got a chemistry set for Christmas?

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Lol...

Unfortunately it only works with Titanium...

I never got a chemistry set..... Wanted one

But I did have a erector set.... One of the most awesome toys ever

You can probably find one in a museum somewhere...

[60something]

Erector sets were great!