Guidelines for Anodizing

Pricing and order information

Anodizing requires no minimum quantity. Pricing is as low as $0.50 per part when you order in quantity. Quantity discounts start 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 for anodizing

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, 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″ when flat 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” when flat (prior to any required bending services). Anodizing limits the maximum size of the part, but keep in mind that your parts also need to fit within linear 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.

Minimum hole size is approximately 50% of the material thickness for laser cut materials. Confirm the minimum hole size for each material thickness by referencing the specifications listed in our Material Catalog.

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 Autodesk Fusion.

What to expect with anodized sheet metal parts

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 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

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