I recently received a balisong with titanium handles and decided to have a go at anodization. I used a less polished setup using 9V batteries instead of an adjustable power source but it turned out pretty well. The way it works is that I ran an electrical current through an electrolyte solution (in this case a 1:16 ratio of baking soda to water), this causes the rapid development of an oxide layer on the titanium. Depending on the thickness of this layer it can result in different colors. The way this works is that, the oxide layer gives off the illusion of color through an interference phenomenon much like light prisms. The reflections from the titanium and oxide layer cancel and combine to create these different colors. To create the gradient in this video I used around 60 volts and slowly removed one side to stop it from oxidizing.

I engraved this side with a butterfly wing pattern, the spray was applied correctly with an even coat. However, the pattern is spotty and rubs off the metal. After some research, I concluded that the reason for this was that the speed did not allow for the marking to fully bond with the metal. To fix this I can lower the speed. The current settings are 1000 speed and 100 power on the Glowforge Pro, the speed will be lowered to 800.

For the screen, I disassembled one of the scrap computers available in the engineering room. After removing the screen, I found the connector on the back and ordered a matching LVDS controller. Connecting the controller essentially made the screen a monitor. After connecting my personal Raspberry Pi, I was able to perform all the standard functions verifying the integrity of the screen. The next step of the process will be to have an Arduino interface with the screen so certain things can be changed or brought up.