For small to medium sized parts all housed in a 20ft container that anyone can place at their business
For small to medium sized parts all housed in a 20ft container that anyone can place at their business
Ano.Works is developing a fully automated Type II anodizing machine for small to medium parts housed within a 20ft container that anyone can place at their business and bring their anodizing in house. Anodizing lead times can be reduced from weeks to hours, resulting in huge reductions in carried inventory costs, reduced vendor management and improved process visibility. The fully automatic process requires no specialist knowledge or skills and only needs the user to load and unload parts every few hours. With no heavy metals and zero liquid discharge the process is easy to permit and environmentally friendly.
We wanted to create an anodizing process that runs like one of our CNC mills. You select the program, load the material, close the door and hit start. No moving parts around, no line of bubbling tanks, just a simple repeatable process every time.
Not everyone has the space inside their building to add an anodizing line so we designed the Ano.Works machine in a custom 20ft container. This means that if you have a spare parking space in your car park, you have room for an Ano.Works machine.
Bringing your anodizing in house dramatically reduces the lead time on your anodized parts. Going from 2-3 weeks to 2-3h means that the amount of inventory you need in your system is massively reduced, reducing your inventory costs.
One primary goal in developing the Ano.Works machine for Type II anodizing was to create an environmentally responsible process. To fulfill this commitment, we focused on two key areas:
Eliminating Heavy Metals: We exclusively selected heavy metal-free chemistry and dyes from Reliant Aluminum Products (part of the Heubach Group). These materials were integral to every stage of our machine's development, validation, and certification.
Achieving Zero Liquid Discharge: The Ano.Works machine features a built-in evaporator that processes the liquid waste created during anodizing. This innovative design means no chemicals are discharged into our sewers, oceans or rivers; only pure water vapor is returned to the environment. There will be a very small amount of solids built up over time in the evaporator, but these can be disposed of safely and easily every few years.
With the Ano.Works machine control system, managing chemicals is incredibly simple – no chemist required. It automatically handles everything. When it's time to replenish, just follow the clear on-screen prompts and simply pour the prepackaged container into the process tank.
All interactions with the machine are done through the large touch screen in the process room. The anodizing cycle is run by selecting the desired Program and entering the total surface area of the parts to anodize. Programs are like recipes, scripts or G-code and contain the details for each step in the process. You could pick say Type II Black, 0.07 thick and it would anodize your parts as such. Using the simple interface, you can also create or edit your own programs, changing the different options to create a program suited to the exact results you need. Different colors, etch time, thickness etc. Repeatability is ensured as day-to-day operators must only know which program for which parts.
