it sure is big fun!
But be prepared that 10 parts meant to be anodized in black have atleast 11 different shades of of black. NO downtalk, even the anodizing pros will find it difficult to keep the intended colour.
So if colours do not come out exactly as intended, don't be disappointed. It is part of the anodizing process, not your mistake.
Just be prepared.
Been there, done that (mechanical engineer). Practical hint: for coloured anodizing AVOID any alu with even the tiniest percentage of lead (Pb) in its alloy. Copper in the alloy also is disadvantageous for anodizing. Colour predictabilty is lousy and (worse) the colour ages, e.g. black turns into dark violet.
With alloys AlMg3 and AlMgSi1 (F22) anodizing should come out ok.
Don't forget to have the surfaces as you want them BEFORE anodizing; surfaces get slighly smoother with anodizing, but a brushed frontplate stays brushed. For precision parts consider that amodizing is specified by the oxide thickness; the oxide of a 20µm thick coating grows like fungus about 13µm deep into the material and 6µm of this fungus stands out, contributes to total dimension. Just for the case you want e.g. a precise seating for a ball bearing or two halves fitting together without play...
Wanna know how to make your anodizing pro crazy? Simply walk into his shop and ask him to anodize a new frontplate and you insist on having exactly the same shade of black as the front plat has he did last week for you.
The anodizing bath changes/ages, the raw alu will have slight alloy changes etc. etc., it is even worse if you insist on a special magenta or purple. Or simple red.
