[Justin] enjoys tinkering in his home lab, working on a wide variety of experiments. Recently, he’d found much success in coating objects with thin layers of various metals with the help of a DC sputtering magnetron. However, titanium simply wouldn’t work with this setup. Instead, [Justin] found another way.

As it turns out, coating with titanium is quite achievable for even the garage operative. Simply run current through a titanium wire, heating it above 900 degrees in a vacuum. This will create a shower of titanium atoms that will coat virtually anything else in the chamber. [Justin] was able to achieve this with little more than some parts from Home Depot, a vacuum pump, and a cheap glass jar. He was able to produce a nice titanium oxide finish on a knife blade, giving that classic rainbow look. Coating crystals was less straightforward, but the jet black finish achieved was impressive nonetheless.

[Justin] plans to upgrade his vacuum rig further, and with better process control, we’d expect even better results. The earlier work is also very relevant if you’re interested in creating fine coatings of other materials. Video after the break.