Fudala12

looking to build my own cobia tower as i have the capabilities of welding, but i am in virginia and i am having a hard time finding someone that will sell me anodized pipe that is not in a bundle, i will only need a couple of sticks of pipe not 12 or 15, i would also like to purchase weld on rod holders and round foot pads and break away pins etc. any info would be great. also where is a good place to buy a upper station box and dual morse controls for a yamaha 115 four stroke. TIA

hotwire_marine

Eastern metal supply.

NEBassMan

Birdsall sell a variety of weld on rod holders.

WaterDamage

I believe anodizing needs to be done after welding or all your welds will corrode, as it's just an aluminum oxide surface on the aluminum. The proper way to do this IMO is buy high-quality aluminum pipe, weld, and then find an anodizing facility with a tank large enough for your finished tower.

raybark

While that may be ideal and technically correct, I've been to several fabricators and none have anodized after welding.

richinct

We are in the steel fabrication business. We buy most of our railing pipe/components from Wagner.

https://shop.wagnercompanies.com/pipe-p491

diver dave

Pipewelders did it that way. Large dip tank. But, nobody now a days does this. They use pre-Anodized tubing, weld, then paint the fillets with silver paint. Fools most folks... Reportedly, welding with anodized is more difficult; but, obviously doable.

I bought Al tubing from Taco metals. But, understand the difference between mill finish, and polished, etc.

southofblock

You have declined to powder coat, right? What were the factors in this decision? I removed my anodized radar arch, and have the option to powder coat. I believe reanodizing is not an option or would be wicked expensive.

learned that the bends in the arch cannot be polished up, the anodized coating essentially micro cracks when bent. Same for the welds. Finally, that one should use only mild cleaners on the tubing, unless you want bare aluminum.

WaterDamage

My point was that welding will expose a non-oxidized surface at the bead and potentially the heat affected area. I've noticed that finding anodizing shops has become more difficult as powder coating (i.e. painting with an electrostatic charge) has become more popular. But anodizing will far outlast powder coating when done properly. Another example of faster/cheaper/looks cool vs. quality.

Saveth

I work in an anodizing shop and there's no way we could fit a fully assembled t top in our tanks. You would need to anodize the top and supports separately and then assemble it. However, you will run into problems assembling it because whatever fasteners you use, will expose raw aluminium. You would also have to make it in a way so there's proper drainage so you don't trap the chemicals used during the anodizing process. Your best option and something a lot of our customers do is to have the surface prepped with a chromate conversion coating and then power coat it. You still have to take drainage into consideration but atleast it will be one piece.

johne

https://www.easternmetal.com/pdfs/al...e-tube-bar.pdf

Charlotte NC your closest location

321floridafisher

Call G&L Materials in Morehead City, Veteran Owned

(252) 222-5612

raybark

Anodization is not a continuous coating. In the bath, you are forcing the growth of aluminum hydroxide crystals, which are columnar, with spaces in between them and some interlocking as they grow.

Put a decent polymeric coating on that soaks in after fabrication, and the bends are of no issue.