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Guidelines for Anodizing

Anodizing is among our list of finishing services to give your part a clean, industrial finish. Here’s everything you need to know about designing your parts to include anodizing.
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Table of Contents

Pricing/Order Information

Anodizing will add a $9 minimum to your order with quantity discounts starting when you order more than one of an identical part. 

We machine and process your parts as quickly as possible, but keep in mind that anodizing will add 7-10 business days to the processing time for your order. 

For the best turnaround times, we recommend splitting any parts that require anodizing into their own separate order This allows us to process the anodized parts separately and ship your non-anodized parts as soon as they’re ready.

Materials Available

Many non-ferrous metals can be anodized, but aluminum is the best candidate and creates the most successful finish. At this time, we offer three different aluminum alloys for sulfuric anodizing:

  • 5052 Aluminum: .063-.500″ (1.6 – 12.7mm)
  • 6061 Aluminum: .063-.500″ (1.6 – 12.7mm)
  • 7075 Aluminum: .125-.250″ (3.18 – 6.35mm)

Available Anodizing Colors

Black

Type II, Class II
MIL-A-8625

Clear Type II

Type II, Class II
MIL-A-8625

Blue

Type II, Class II
MIL-A-8625

Gold

Type II, Class II
MIL-A-8625

Red

Type II, Class II
MIL-A-8625

Colors may vary by batch. Click swatches to view.

Geometry Requirements

Parts need to meet certain requirements in order to be anodized successfully.

All anodized parts must be at least 1″ x 3″ to meet handling and deburring needs. The shortest dimension should be no smaller than 1″, and the whole square area of the part should be no less than 3”.

Anodized parts can be a maximum of 23” x 23”. Anodizing limits the maximum size of the part, but keep in mind that your parts also need to fit within the deburring geometry requirements. Deburring will be a preselected option on all anodized parts.

We require that all anodized parts include a hole for processing. The hole must be a minimum of .063” (1.60mm), but if your chosen material and thickness has a minimum hole size that’s larger than .063” (1.60mm), the provided hole should align with that hole size instead.

File Setup

If after reading these guidelines you’ve found you need to make some changes to your part design, check out our tutorials for designing and preparing your files in Illustrator, Inkscape, and Fusion 360.

What To Expect

  • Some imperfections may be visible through the anodizing
  • Color finishes may vary from batch to batch
  • Different alloys will have significantly different color finishes
  • Anodized 7075 aluminum parts will have duller coloring and a more pronounced difference in appearance between the face and cut edge due to the high zinc content of the material
  • If deburring is omitted, all imperfections will be visible and enhanced in severity
  • We strongly recommend utilizing our free deburring service alongside anodizing
  • Parts requiring welding should not be anodized
  • Anodizing is non-conductive
  • The anodizing can scratch and raw material will be visible below
  • Bend lines will be visible through the anodizing (die protection is not available)
  • Type II anodizing will add ~0.0002”-0.0009” per side to the surface of your parts
  • Type III hard anodizing will add ~0.0005”-0.001” per side to the surface of your parts

Pre-flight Checklist

Before you upload your design files, be sure to go through our pre-flight checklist:

  • File is in a format that we accept (2D: .dxf, .dwg, .ai, .eps; 3D: .step or .stp)
  • All holes and cutouts are at least 50% material thickness for laser cut parts
  • All holes and cutouts are no less than 0.070” for most waterjet cut parts
  • All holes and cutouts are no less than 0.125” for all CNC routed parts
  • File is built at a 1:1 scale, preferably in inch or mm units
  • All objects are on the same layer
  • All stray points, duplicate lines, empty objects and text areas have been removed
  • No shapes have open contours
  • All shapes have been united, combined or merged
  • All text has been converted to outlines or paths
  • Cut-out text (reversed text) has bridges or has been stencilized

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Laser Cutting

CNC Machining

Waterjet Cutting

Anodizing

Bending

Countersinking

Hardware

Plating

Powder Coating

Tapping

Tumbling

Drill Size Reference Chart

We proudly use hardware by PEM

Flush stud, M8 x 1.25, .472" Zinc plus Clear Chromate

SKUFH-M8-12
Thread SizeM8 x 1.25
Hole size in sheet (+0.003/-.0.000).315″
Minimum sheet thickness0.94″
Maximum sheet thickness.347″
Fastener materialSteel
Minimum distance hole C/L to edge0.378″
When determining the distance between two or more fasteners, you can calculate the distance by the formula, C/L to edge + 1/2 the diameter of the second mounting hole..535″
Recommended panel materialSteel/Aluminum
Coating typeZinc
Length.472″
Aluminum material ranges (5052, 6061, 7075)0.100″-0.250″
Steel material ranges (CRS, HRPO, HR)0.104″-0.250″

Get an Instant Quote for Waterjet Cutting

  • Upload a file format we accept (2D: .dxf, .dwg, .ai, .eps; 3D: .step or .stp)
  • Text should be converted to object and bridged where needed
  • All holes and cutouts should be at least 50% material thickness and no less than 0.070”
  • Bridging and webbing chould be at least 1:1 to material thickness
  • Files should only contain your parts/cut-paths
  • Files should not contain any intersecting lines or open contours
VIEW Waterjet Cutting GUIDELINES
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We proudly use hardware by PEM

Flush Standoff, 4-40, .250" Zinc plus Clear Chromate

SKUSO-440-8
Thread Size4-40 x .250″
Hole size in sheet (+0.003/-.0.000).168″
Minimum sheet thickness0.040″
Maximum sheet thickness.125″
Fastener materialSteel
Minimum distance hole C/L to edge0.230″
When determining the distance between two or more fasteners, you can calculate the distance by the formula, C/L to edge + 1/2 the diameter of the second mounting hole..314″
Recommended panel materialSteel/Aluminum
Coating typeZinc
Length.250″
Aluminum material ranges (5052, 6061, 7075)0.040″-0.125″
Steel material ranges (CRS, HRPO, HR)0.048″-0.119″