Changing the colour of an anodised aluminium tonearm wand

[starbuck]

I have a 9" tonearm in a satin black finish and a 12" anodised aluminium tonearm wand for that tonearm which is siver in colour. What is the best/most effective way of getting the 12" tonearm wand to match the colour of the rest of the black tonearm? Is it spraying to colour match, or is it possible to strip off the existing anodising and re-anodise to match the black of the 9" armwand? Is this the sort of thing that a good car body shop would be able to do well or do I need to go to a different specialist?

I'm after a decent finish that wont rub/shine up in handling (most likely over time where the armwand will contact the arm rest). Any tips/advice on how best to do it and who to ask to get it done?

 

[Vinny]

Probably the black is chemical blacking, or anodised black.
As such any match would be a lucky accident.

It is perfectly possible to strip anodising - mechanically (emery), chemically (acid or alkali, but a bit hit and miss), or electrically - the part becomes a cathode rather than anode.

Personally, I'd avoid paints as they are nothing like as durable as blacking or anodising.

 

[InSides]

Note that if you want to re-anodize in a different color (black), the process uses penetrating dyes with an effect proportional to the rest of the quality of anodizing.

Black anodizing is notoriously difficult to get to be uniform (without blotching). Anodizing is also important for critical tolerances.

How about powdercoating? Kuzma uses said process on his tonearms, and it works out very good (satin black is easy to achieve that way).

You may need to strip anodizing anyway since it requires a conductive surface.

 

[Puggie]

Anodized surfaces are actually really good to powdercoat over.

I've had stuff re-anodized different colours at a local company no problem. Look for local metal finishers on the net and ring someone to speak to them ask what they can do.

 

[starbuck]

Thanks for the replies. Powder coating is a great idea,thank you. The Kuzma arms I have seen have a fantastic finish, if it is possible to get anywhere near that on the armwand I have here then I will be very happy. There are a coupe of firms local to me that do it according to a quick search I've done so I will get in touch and see if such a small job is something they will take on.