Summary for anodising cost Discussion
anodising cost is discussed only in broad terms, because Marc Green says pricing is often not appropriate to quote in a public forum and will vary by region, job size, and competition. For a small decorative Type II project, he suggests expecting a minimum charge similar to what a plumber or other service company would charge for a call-out, and says costs are often comparable to quality painting or powder coating. He notes that almost any color is available except white, but more durable outdoor finishes tend to be bronze shades rather than bright colors. In a later question about Type II versus Type III, James Watts says true MIL-spec hard anodizing can be much more expensive because of cooling, testing, and controls, and could easily cost 10 times as much as thin non-spec Type II. His practical advice is to calculate your own costs first, then compare them with local competition.
this text gets replaced with bannerText
RECOMMENDED ANODIZING & CHROMATING BOOKS
for Shops, Specifiers & Engineers
“The Surface Treatment & Finishing of Aluminium and Its Alloys” by Wernick, Pinner & Sheasby (1959 – 2001)
avail from
eBay,
AbeBooks, or
Amazon
“The Metallurgy of Anodizing Aluminum” by Jude Mary Runge (2018)
avail from
eBay,
AbeBooks, or
Amazon
“Surface Treatment and Finishing of Aluminum” by Robert King (1988)
avail from
eBay,
AbeBooks, or
Amazon
“Anodic Oxidation of Aluminum and Its Alloys” by V. F. Henley (1982)
avail from
eBay,
AbeBooks, or
Amazon
“Aluminum Finishes Process Manual” by Reynolds Aluminum (1973)
avail from
eBay or
Amazon
(as an Amazon Associate & eBay Partner, we earn from qualifying purchases)
Q. I live in Mexico City, and I want to know the international price for the anodizing, Duranodic, brass, black, natural, the price in Mexico is:
Duranodic $30.00 per square meter.
Natural $10.00 per square meter.
Brass $28.00 per square meter.
Black $30.00 per square meter.
This cost is in pesos the change is $9.30 pesos per Dollar.
Thanks for you help.
BLADIMIRO J. MORENO PEREZ
– MEXICO, D.F. MEXICO
2001
A. Hi, Bladimiro.
I realize that designers and buyers need some idea what their choices will cost them, but there is no “standard international price” for such services as far as I know. Shops charge what they must to make a fair profit. If they charge less, there’s no point being in business; if they charge more, a competitor will soon undercut them, taking away the business, and making them look bad too :-)
Here in the U.S. it’s considered “restraint of trade” to try to establish a standard price, and it’s a thin line between ‘estimating’ and ‘colluding’ :-)
Sorry!
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com – Pine Beach, New Jersey
Need quick confidential answers? $25
Need project assistance? $100/hr.
Multiple threads merged: please forgive chronology errors and repetition 🙂
Q. I’m investigating the possibility of anodizing my aluminum parts for decorative purpose (Type2?) How much can I expect to pay for this in my area, and what colors are available?
Mike Lee
– San Bernardino, California, USA
2002
 | A. Mike, Almost any color in the rainbow can be achieved with type II anodizing…except you will not find…white. Most anodizers offer-“natural”, blue, red, green, gold and black. As far as pricing….well that depends. Why don’t you take a few parts to a local anodizer for a quote. There are too many variables to be able to give pricing sight unseen. Bill Grayson A. Your best bet would be to contact anodizing shops in your area, provide them with a print, and have them quote the job. It is impossible for anyone in this forum to give you a quote based on the information supplied.
A. Yes, it seems that everything from anchovies to zebra-shell mussels seem to be exactly the same price from brand to brand when you go to the supermarket. Still, it is often illegal to discuss pricing in any kind of forum which attracts competitors. But some rules of thumb are that for a small project you’ll need to pay a lot charge anyway, and you can make a good guess at that from what any other service organization like a plumber would charge you for a minimum call. You can also figure that costs will be roughly comparable to competing technologies like quality painting or powder coating. Almost any color is available except white. But it can depend on how robust the color needs to be. For example, you’ll see coat hangers, knitting needles, flashlights, paintball guns in every color. But you’ll rarely see an aluminum building or outdoor lighting fixture which isn’t some shade of the more robust bronze colors.
|
Q. For our yr 11 school assignment we are investigating the effects of anodising in the industry. We have looked everywhere for information on the costs involved, but have been unsuccessful. We also require information on which metals works best with the anodising process, and what dyes to use.
Nicole B [student’s name deleted for privacy by Editor]
student – Noosa Heads, QLD, Australia
2005
A. Cost varies greatly. Just a few factors are competition, chemical costs, waste disposal costs, employee cost, real estate cost and quality of employees. Size makes a big difference — generally bigger costs more than a cost per sq foot scale up. Certifications cost more. Amount of parts processed in a day. All the same parts, or a wide variety of sizes and shapes. Some alloys anodize easier than others. Dye cost varies greatly by fade resistance, color and type of dye used to make it(organic or organo-metallic). Cast is a total pain to anodize. Extruded can be better and 100% machined wrought alloy is the easiest.
Is masking required? When racked, will it cup and drag out great amounts of your chemicals.
This is a tiny amount of factors that you have to set before you can ever think of having a semi-valid answer.
James Watts
– Navarre, Florida
A. Hello Nicole,
Good day! How are you?
It is very difficult to say exact price for the anodizing process. Here in Bangalore (INDIA) from one of the anodizing industry I got 3 anodized components for Rs. 150.00. Dimension of each are 64 mm x 62 mm x 75 mm, 64 mm x 62 mm x 20 mm and 64 mm x 62 mm x 2 mm.Total quantity was 5 sets.
I feel 6063 He9 and 6351 He30 T6 would be better option for anodizing. Anodizing quality depends on silicon content in the alloy (should be low).
Pramod PT
– Bangalore, INDIA
Cost of type 2 versus type 3 anodize
Q. I am a member of a medium sized electroplating shop in Garland, Texas. We currently run type 2 anodize and we are looking at adding type 3 hard anodizing to our processing capabilities. I am working on getting together market information as to asses the sales side of the hard anodize market. What is considered reasonable as to a baseline figure as to calculate a per sq in price when quoting jobs. Can anybody give some guidance in this area. Is hard coat anodize three times type 2 pricing?
Mike Gilbert
Sales/Marketing for plating shop – Garland, Texas USA
January 22, 2009
A. That all depends on the market and the specifications. True MIL spec type 3 is expensive because of the cooling requirement.
Next, there is nothing to prevent the current competition from lowering their prices. They can break even a lower cost than you can, in almost all cases. And, they may do it at a loss to drive you out of business.
Real MIL spec type 3 with all of the required testing and controls could easily run 10 times as much as thin type 2 that is non spec.
What you need to do is to figure out how much it will cost you do do the job and then find out what the competition charges. Then cross your fingers that they do not lower their prices.
James Watts
– Navarre, Florida
Ed. note: Thread 11867 offers some additional perspectives on the cost of anodizing.