Removing Anodize

[Fiat48]

I want to remove all my faded pink anodize and then polish or powdercoat. What's the best anodize removal method?

[77charger]

i use to use easy off oven cleaner to remove alear anodizing on my street bikes before polishing the parts.I had to sand them down anyways but the cleaner helped.Stuff is tuff

[Hustler]

I use to the same thing as 77 with my bike parts when i was a kid, easy off works pretty good.

[LVjetboy]

Same here. Easy off, a little heat, presto.

[Ian]

Is there anyway to restore the shine on anodizing

[GofastRacer]

Nope, if it's faded you have to get it reanodized!..

[SchellSchock]

I manage an Engineering Department that does alot of work with aluminum and anodized parts. Anodize is a plating process that adds a thin coat to the surface of the aluminum parts, but.... it also impregnates the surface of the aluminum an equal amount. A typical anodize spec wil dictate a thicknes...say .001-.002,(one to two thousands of an inch). That will result in a surface buildup of .0005-.001,(one-half to one thousands of an inch), and an identical amount of permeation into the aluminum. Removing the surface buildup with a caustic solution, ie: Oven Cleaner will work albeit you still have the internal buildup which may prohibit a good bond when trying to Powdercoat or apply some other type of coating which is trying to bond to the base metal. The best solution would be to have a metals processing house remove the anodize. The second best solution is to use the caustic solution, then fine bead blast then sand, and finally polish to remove another .001 total from all of the exposed surfaces.
Just my $.02

[SchellSchock]

P.S. If you are looking to restore the anodize to the same finish as orginal the only viable option is to have a processing house strip an re-anodize.

[superdave013]

Ok Schell, So you're saying that if I go the oven cleaner route and then re polish I'll be ok? That's my plan and when the polishing is nice I'm going to the anodizer.
[ January 24, 2003, 09:22 AM: Message edited by: superdave013 ]

[78Eliminator]

77charger:
i use to use easy off oven cleaner to remove alear anodizing on my street bikes before polishing the parts.I had to sand them down anyways but the cleaner helped.Stuff is tuff Hey 77, did you polish your street bike frame? I'm thinking about doing my ZX7R. If so, did you yank the motor to do it? What did you use and where did you get the stuff to do it?

[GofastRacer]

superdave013:
Ok Schell, So you're saying that if I go the oven cleaner route and then re polish I'll be ok? That's my plan and when the polishing is nice I'm going to the anodizer. It's not worth it Dave, Shell is right, take it in and get it stripped and reanodized. I know, been down that route before!.. eek! eek!

[superdave013]

GofastRacer:
superdave013:
Ok Schell, So you're saying that if I go the oven cleaner route and then re polish I'll be ok? That's my plan and when the polishing is nice I'm going to the anodizer. It's not worth it Dave, Shell is right, take it in and get it stripped and reanodized. I know, been down that route before!.. eek! eek! I did that with the big batch. But now I only have a few small parts. I was gonna strip them myself so I don't have to pay the 60.00 min for stripping.
[ January 24, 2003, 10:43 AM: Message edited by: superdave013 ]

[GofastRacer]

Well, when I did it that way, the anodizing came out looking like shit, wrong shade and had tiny specs here and there. It's a chance you take especially if you did part of it the right way and if this stuff don't turn out it won't match!, that'l look like crap I would think!, should have waited and do the whole thing at once!.. :rolleyes:
[ January 24, 2003, 11:04 AM: Message edited by: GofastRacer ]

[Fiat48]

Guys, I was thinking powdercoat as tired of anodizing fading on me. I have also heard that there that there have been "improvements" in anodizing and it doesn't fade so quickly. Anyone know about this? Has anodizing really improved as far as not fading?

[superdave013]

GofastRacer:
Well, when I did it that way, the anodizing came out looking like shit, wrong shade and had tiny specs here and there. It's a chance you take especially if you did part of it the right way and if this stuff don't turn out it won't match!, that'l look like crap I would think!, should have waited and do the whole thing at once!.. :rolleyes: Oh, I have not sent any of it out to be anodized yet. Just striped and polished. As far as matching goes I going with black. Black is black right? But I hear ya as I'm polshing now so I can send 99% of it out at the same time. The other 1% is not made yet and I don't want to wait on it.

[77charger]

78Eliminator:
77charger:
i use to use easy off oven cleaner to remove alear anodizing on my street bikes before polishing the parts.I had to sand them down anyways but the cleaner helped.Stuff is tuff Hey 77, did you polish your street bike frame? I'm thinking about doing my ZX7R. If so, did you yank the motor to do it? What did you use and where did you get the stuff to do it? Justin i did the frame on one of my old gsxrs(an 89 model)as well as the swing arm and a few other things.On my new one i dont feel like bringin out the polish all the time so it will be staying stock and original.

[77charger]

Oh i built the old bike from scratch so the motor was out and i had a bare frame to work eith but can be done with the motor in it.After the easy off i sanded the frame down with different grits paper til i got to very fine after that it was elbow grease and mothers aluminum polish.Lots of work IMO

[O.B eddie]

Heres the deal have the same aluminum when anodizing a different grade will not come out the same color and or will fade quicker..

[superdave013]

O.B eddie:
Heres the deal have the same aluminum when anodizing a different grade will not come out the same color and or will fade quicker.. Thanks for that tid bit of info!
HEEEEEEEEE Haaaaaaaaawwwwww :D

[Rexone]

SD, if you need something stripped send it over and I'll throw it in with our stuff. We strip new parts all the time that come back unacceptable for sale. Then repolish and reano. $60 min for stripping a few items is bs. They do it in 5 minutes or less in the etch tank.
Anodize quality hinges on many things. Quality of the polish, time in the ano tank, time in the dye and "freshness" of the dye, and the sealer. Knowledge level of the plater doing custom parts too, his familarity with different alloys and how much time they take in the dye to get good color match...not every run of the mill industrial anodizer can do this well. Also different dyes have differing levels of "colorfastness" or resistance to fade from UV. Some colors have better resistance than others just by nature, also the quality of the dye has an influence. With anodize, the cheapest deal you can find is generally cheap for a reason. Yes black is black "if" plated properly. Cut corners and it will have a purplish cast within months though and/or fade to dark gray. Again, Quality of all the above is critical.

[A.SNEED]

is that catalog done yet

[Rexone]

no dammit! (j/k). getting close now though. :)

[UBFJ #454]

Can I black powder coat a piece that has been clear anodized without taking the clear off?