# How to color aluminum yoyos
**URL:** https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-to-color-aluminum-yoyos/303191
**Category:** General Yo-Yo
**Created:** [June 2, 2019, 9:12pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-to-color-aluminum-yoyos/303191 "2019-06-02T21:12:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@SirDarverok](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/SirDarverok)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2019, 9:12pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-to-color-aluminum-yoyos/303191/1 "2019-06-02T21:12:57Z")
Hey, I would like to know how aluminum yoyos are coloured.
Also I’ve heard something like “acid wash”, what does that mean, do they apply acid on the aluminium to colour it?
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### Author:  [@RyoCanCan](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/RyoCanCan)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2019, 9:25pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-to-color-aluminum-yoyos/303191/2 "2019-06-02T21:25:45Z")
It’s called anodizing.
> **[Anodizing](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anodizing)**
>
> Anodizing is an electrolytic passivation process used to increase the thickness of the natural oxide layer on the surface of metal parts.
> The process is called anodizing because the part to be treated forms the anode electrode of an electrolytic cell. Anodizing increases resistance to corrosion and wear, and provides better adhesion for paint primers and glues than bare metal does. Anodic films can also be used for several cosmetic effects, either with thick porous coatings that can absorb dyes ...
Here’s a wikipedia article that tells what purposes it serves on materials and if you scroll down it tells about the dyeing process.
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### Author:  [@andy569](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/andy569)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2019, 9:30pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-to-color-aluminum-yoyos/303191/3 "2019-06-02T21:30:12Z")
Acid wash is just the name of a style of anodizing. Same for splashes(when one or multiple colors are “splashed” on top of another) or fades(one color fades into another color halfway through the yoyo)
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### Author:  [@RyoCanCan](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/RyoCanCan)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2019, 9:33pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-to-color-aluminum-yoyos/303191/4 "2019-06-02T21:33:31Z")
Didn’t know that acid wash was a style of finish. Googled it and damn it’s cool.
These paintball guns look bonkers.
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### Author:  [@SirDarverok](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/SirDarverok)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2019, 9:49pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-to-color-aluminum-yoyos/303191/5 "2019-06-02T21:49:53Z")
Thanks everyone for explaining it to me:)
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### Author:  [@SirDarverok](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/SirDarverok)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2019, 9:50pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-to-color-aluminum-yoyos/303191/6 "2019-06-02T21:50:51Z")
Yeah I already knew how adonizing works, but I thought that acid wash meant a method to colour it, but I realised it is just a style. Thanks anyways:)
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### Author:  [@Marm](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/Marm)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2019, 10:26pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-to-color-aluminum-yoyos/303191/7 "2019-06-02T22:26:23Z")
Does indeed look cool, but you have already seen acid washes before. You must have. This wooly marmot is an acid wash and the blue and silver on 28 stories is acid wash with red splatter
 
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### Author:  [@E2\_yoyos](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/E2_yoyos)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2019, 10:38pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-to-color-aluminum-yoyos/303191/8 "2019-06-02T22:38:39Z")
The most popular way of anodizing (electroforming) colors the metal by oxidizing its surface with Crystalline structures that refract light according to the voltage it is formed with. The process is pretty self explanatory and easy to do at home.
My question is how do you get vibrant colors like red or darker ones like black that dont seem to be on the voltage spectrum? Is there another method that gives better color ranges?
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### Author:  [@jhb8426](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/jhb8426)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2019, 1:05am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-to-color-aluminum-yoyos/303191/9 "2019-06-03T01:05:51Z")
> [@E2\_yoyos](#):
>
> …The process is pretty self explanatory and easy to do at home.
Yes, except that you have to deal with relatively large quantities of sulfuric acid. So don’t approach this lightly, kids.
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### Author:  [@E2\_yoyos](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/E2_yoyos)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2019, 1:21am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-to-color-aluminum-yoyos/303191/10 "2019-06-03T01:21:00Z")
And around 50-100 volts of DC current
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2019, 1:43am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-to-color-aluminum-yoyos/303191/11 "2019-06-03T01:43:05Z")
Er what? There’s a ton of acid wash finish yo-yos. One Drop has acid wash as a base for a bunch of theirs, for example.
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### Author:  [@RyoCanCan](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/RyoCanCan)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2019, 5:13am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-to-color-aluminum-yoyos/303191/12 "2019-06-03T05:13:26Z")
Might have seen some. Be mindful I’ve collected only for the past 3 months and so far none of the yoyos that I have/want have washed colourway.
> [@Marm](#):
>
> You must have.
For sure. Never seen the name though so far. Now I have.
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### Author:  [@twitch77](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/twitch77)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2019, 6:12am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-to-color-aluminum-yoyos/303191/14 "2019-06-03T06:12:26Z")
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### Author:  [@RyoCanCan](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/RyoCanCan)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2019, 6:21am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-to-color-aluminum-yoyos/303191/15 "2019-06-03T06:21:17Z")
Now we’re talking