Six-2 Metal Finishing

[DZ]

Hi all, just wanted to post my experience with having some aluminum anodized. I decided, kinda last minute, to build an enclosure around the projector I used for the optical feed back loop testing. It looked great, except of course the fact that it was bare aluminum and needed to be anodized. Last time I had aluminum anodized was a couple years ago and the cost was nearly $300, if I remember correctly. Here it was, 6 days before FLEM, so I checked around and couldn't find anyone local that could do the job so quickly and for a reasonable price. Then, I found this company in Hawthorne, FL called Six-2, the guy said if I could ship it Monday, he'd have it Wednesday and it would be ready to ship out by Wednesday evening! I decided to let him keep it there for me to pickup on the way to FLEM in case it didn't make it back by the time I left on Friday. I arrived Friday to find that it was all complete and looked great! In talking with the guy, Joseph, he said they have no problems with small anodizing runs, especially since most shops only seem to cater to larger orders. I had a total of 14 pieces anodized for the projector and my total cost was $30. So if you need something anodized, be sure to check these guys out, they did a great job, were very friendly and the price can't be beat!

www.six-2.com

[sbk]

Damn!! I think it would cost me less money to send my aluminium pieces overseas to these guys, than making them anodizing here in my country... I checked the price some times ago for my two new projectors and I was quoted the equivalent of 580 USD :-(

[mixedgas]

Damn!! I think it would cost me less money to send my aluminium pieces overseas to these guys, than making them anodizing here in my country... I checked the price some times ago for my two new projectors and I was quoted the equivalent of 580 USD :-(

Sarcastic " But you get that wonderful Swiss Quality, certified by the Anodizer's Guild" End Sarcastic.

Sorry, cheap shot....

I'd find another anodizer, 50-100$ is about standard pricing here...

Steve

[sbk]

Sarcastic " But you get that wonderful Swiss Quality, certified by the Anodizer's Guild" End Sarcastic.

Sorry, cheap shot....

I'd find another anodizer, 50-100$ is about standard pricing here...

Steve

LOL

I have to admit I asked them to anodize 18 pieces of alu for a total of 15kg, it could explain the high price... But that's still pretty high just to make a (very) nice colored finishing. If only we could do it by ourselves on large plates...

[ljk]

Thanks for the share DZ they did a really nice job on your new projector.

LJ

[drlava]

Great price, thanks for sharing your experience. But one thing caught my eye

optical feed back loop testing.

Do tell! Any photos of the finished projector?

[DZ]

Do tell! Any photos of the finished projector?

I'll post some pics of the finished projector eventually, I still haven't unpacked from FLEM! Regarding the whole feedback loop thing, I posted a good bit of info in another thread, not sure where that is now, I'll have to do some digging to find the link. Basically, it was sorta a bust, the final determination was that having an optical loop would be great to make the laser stable, then having an AOM run the blanking was the best bet for solid state lasers. The benefit of doing such a thing would be nice, however, I think the price would have been rediculous. I had someone tell me before I started the project that it would be a waste of time. He told me something to the effect of, "In order for the feedback loop to work efficiently, you'd need to already have lasers with good modulation characteristics, in which case you wouldn't need the optical feedback loop." I'm speaking from memory, from an email about mid last year so it isn't word for word. Anyway, it was a great learning experience, but there just wouldn't have been enough benefit to making a product.