Removing that Pruple Anodisation

[AcEmAsTr]

Hey people, getting back into R/C a year after selling my Savage 25.

Thinking of getting a HPI Hellfire, but i'd love a dark theme so would like to get rid of the purple aluminium parts, or more precisely, keep those parts and remove the purple, how would i go about it?


thank you :)

[CWD_Racing]

I've heard/read that a 24 hour soak in oven cleaner does the trick...

[B4 Stealth]

attack it with a grinding bit, if your good, you can strip off the anodizing and give the resulting aluminum a brushed finish. oh and for the whole "dark" theme, you realize that the aluminum will be bright silver.

[elgordox1]

The oven cleaner will leave the aluminum dark, you will have to clean it up aftwerwards. Either by grinding, polishing, or getting it anodized again.

[hijacker]

I've done it with a polishing bit on my dremel tool and polishing compound. I think a grinding bit might remove a bit more material than you want to lose. You have to do it quite a bit to remove all of the anodizing.

[dhutch]

Just leave it purple...
...purples a great colour as it is!

Then go for a dark purple/black gothic shell decor, its going to look sweet!
http://img115.imageshack.us/my.php?image=image3hq6.jpg


Daniel

[MikeBusch2]

Skip the oven cleaner and dremel bits. Go to your local hardware store (Ace hardware, etc) and buy a bottle of lye. It's the ingredient in oven cleaner that does the trick, but works much faster and is cheaper. Take a glass bowl, dump in a couple teaspoonfulls of lye, and mix in enough water to cover your part. After the lye is completely dissolved, drop in your anodized piece. Do this outside, the fumes are horrible, and keep an eye on your part. You will see the aluminum piece bubble. After a few minutes, check your part (use tongs, lye WILL burn you) and rinse it with water, and repeat as necessary until you achieve the color you want. Lye will strip the anodizing and leave a matte silver finish. I do this all the time. You can strip a motor plate in as little as 5 minutes with this method. None of this 24 hour garbage.

-Mike

[EvaderSTKid]

If you are going to get it re anodized, just get the anno guys to strip it. I know several paintball gun annodizers and they hate it when people srtip there own stuff, can knock tolerances off. It's not as crucial here because we dont have 200 psi of air in our chassis parts though.

[CWD_Racing]

...You can strip a motor plate in as little as 5 minutes with this method...

Well alrighty then! I actually didn't know it was the lye, so thanks for the tip!

[Tim'sLosi]

Whoa, skip the dangerous chemicals that could damage parts. Go to Lowes and buy a gallon of Greased Lightning Commercial Strength. Put the parts in a bucket and cover them with GL. After a few minutes the GL will turn purple. Check the parts frequently and when they are silver go rinse them in water. If there is a black film it will wash off. For a shiny and protected surface polish them with Blue Magic metal polish. You can get this at most auto parts stores.
Best thing is it is not corrosive and there are no fumes. It can be dumped down the drain with no fear of pipe damage. And it still takes only minutes!

[elgordox1]

The anodizing won't come off with solvents. You need to chemically remove it.

[MikeBusch2]

Tim'sLosi,

You are aware that Lye is a common drain cleaner, right? Lye is just a brand name of sorts for sodium hydroxide. Drano itself is composed of aluminum chips and sodium hydroxide, which are inert until they're mixed with water. The main ingredient in Greased Lightning? You guessed it, sodium hydroxide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_hydroxide

[civicwil]

Do the Greased Lightning, it works perfectly.

Wil.

[dhutch]

I think we're geting a little confused.

The thread actually talked about removing the anodising, which you cna only do mechical or chemicialy. To actally removed the layer of aluminum oxide from the part.

However, what people are actally wanting to do is remove the colour. The colouring is added after the andoising process, and it simply a die that is absobered by the oxide layer formed by the anodising process. This die can usally be removed relativly easly with comertial products. Although some dies are more permanent than others.

And i would just leave it all on anyway!


Daniel

[griz11]

Dremmel makes some polyester abrasive buffs that are good for getting the last little bit of color off the part. Doesn't remove that much metal and they are flexible so you can get into the corners and such. I think they only come with the new ez lock connector however. But that is a nice piece to add to your dremmel tool box too. I buy parts from different makers to build my dragsters. So I have to remove the color or end up with multicolored parts. I like to mirror polish all the aluminum. Takes some time and you have to maintain it but it sure looks good. I've found that if you spray it with brake cleaner then wipe it dry with a microfiber cloth the shine comes back nicely. Some Mothers aluminum polish and some cotton polishing drums for the Dremmel brings the shine back once it gets dull.

Griz