Alodine difficulty

[LukeS]

When I bought my project this summer, it came with a couple gallons of Alodine 1201. I was just trying to alodine a couple of pocket ribs to get the process down, and am not getting any results with the Alodine.
Variables:
I have no idea how old this alodine is. All jugs have been opened.
I'm using a different acid etch than Alumiprep, because it wasn't available locally and I'ld rather not pay the hazmat. That being said, the etch I'm using etches quite well.
The temp in my shop is 50 degrees because I live in Wisconsin and it's friggin cold out.
My method is the part goes in the etch tank for a few minutes until it gets nice and foamy on the surface and gets that frosty gray color, then in the water tank to rinse, then straight into the Alodine.
The problem is that the Alodine doesn't appear to change the color of the part any. So I'm wondering if the alodine can go bad, or if it needs to be warmer, or if I just need to use Alumiprep 33.

[marcusofcotton]

Absolutely temperature sensitive and that's mighty cool. Seventies are good, slows down but works in the sixties. Fifties might work given a long enough soak. Mine is in a forty degree room in a 15 gallon plastic barrel sitting on an old rabbit nest box warmer (60 watt), on 2" extruded polystyrene. Last night I plugged in the warmer, planning to use it later this week.

It is also degrades with light exposure so keep it in an absolutely dark location. Your etch is probably fine, go easy on it. freshen up the etch rinse water very often as the acid shortens the life of the alodine (better to use a soft water rinse as well).

[LukeS]

Thanks. I'll bring the stuff inside tomorrow and give it another shot.

[mswain]

It will work much better if warm. Even here in Florida, I get much better coatings if I warm it to near it's max temp of 100.

[Chris In Milwaukee]

Monroe, that's south of Rapids, isn't it? We need to get together sometime!

[LukeS]

Monroe, that's south of Rapids, isn't it? We need to get together sometime!

Yeah Chris,
Monroe is almost in Illinois. Look in Green county. Send me a message if you're ever in my neck of the woods.

[LukeS]

So I pulled all of the alodine stuff inside and tried it again. This time it took color pretty quick, but the color is blue. Is this something to be concerned about?

[N3UW]

strange. what is the acid etch product you are using?

[LukeS]

strange. what is the acid etch product you are using?

KBS metal prep.

[N3UW]

are you sure the KBS metal prep is a phosphoric acid based etch. That is tidally what is recommended. The purpose of the etch is to remove the aluminum oxide and get you down to pure aluminum. i did not see that as an ingredient when I looked on their web site. might have been looking at a different product.

[LukeS]

I don't know what acid is used, but I'm going to assume it's not phosphoric acid since the bottle says phosphate free. I tried it because it was available locally. I was hoping to avoid the hazmat cost to ship alumiprep, since I only have the center ribs, tail ribs and pocket ribs left for one wing. The other stuff is already done. I may just skip the alodine and use primer alone.

[mswain]

You might be able to find air conditioning coil cleaner locally. Just make sure it's phosphoric acid, there are non P. acid coil cleaners out there. I was able to find phosphoric acid coil cleaner at the local Ace hardware. If you have self-etching primer, you can skip the etch/alodine......but you lose the benefit of the alodine coating.

I get better results if I rub the part down with a scotchbrite pad. If I am acid etching, I wet it with acid and rub with scotchbrite. If I am using self-etching primer, I clean up the part with a scotchbrite pad then wipe down with a solvent. I also wear gloves to keep my oils off the part (and protect my hands).