Removing anodized coating on colorful parts
#1
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Removing anodized coating on colorful parts
Just removed the blue anodized coating on my Hope bar ends last night and I figured I might share what I learned for others who want to try the same thing. Heres what I did:
Blue bar ends that no longer match the color scheme of my build
Place anodized parts in a plastic container. Acquire oven cleaner.
Cover parts completely with oven cleaner. Wait a significant length of time which is probably dependent on the thickness of your coating and the strength of your oven cleaner. Took about 2 hours for me.
Remove parts from oven cleaner and rinse well. They may appear blackish but not to fear. Wash first with brillo pad and some dish soap. If that doesn't take the tarnish off right away, try making a paste out of water and cream of tartar and scrubbing with that. Vinegar or something else that's acidic may also work. This is the result, raw aluminum to match my other silver components.
Blue bar ends that no longer match the color scheme of my build
Place anodized parts in a plastic container. Acquire oven cleaner.
Cover parts completely with oven cleaner. Wait a significant length of time which is probably dependent on the thickness of your coating and the strength of your oven cleaner. Took about 2 hours for me.
Remove parts from oven cleaner and rinse well. They may appear blackish but not to fear. Wash first with brillo pad and some dish soap. If that doesn't take the tarnish off right away, try making a paste out of water and cream of tartar and scrubbing with that. Vinegar or something else that's acidic may also work. This is the result, raw aluminum to match my other silver components.
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I'm not a chemist, and can't recommend what's safe to use, but Lye is a strong base with the ability to dissolve aluminum.
Lye, or anything with lye, is extremely dangerous if it comes in contact with your eyes.
#7
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Yes the active ingredient is sodium hydroxide (aka caustic soda or lye). Like Gresp15c said, NaOH dissolves/etches aluminum so you end up with a matte finish like the one you see in my bar ends. For a shiny finish you can either sand and polish after stripping the coating. You can also use another more involved process that involves an acidic solution if polishing would be too difficult.
In case anyone is curious, the finish on my bar ends has held up perfectly so far with no signs of darkening or tarnish.
In case anyone is curious, the finish on my bar ends has held up perfectly so far with no signs of darkening or tarnish.
#8
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Thanks for sharing, might be useful one day.
/Björn
/Björn
#9
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Often times, especially for larger parts, oven cleaner is inconsistant & too strong. The result is burned parts.
Any online soap making store has food grade lye. With that you can control it's strength easily. 6oz per gallon of water is a pretty average ratio. (or 3oz per half gallon, 1.5oz per quart, etc...)
Usually it takes 1 to 6 minutes, then a scrub with a dish soap and the scratchy side of a kitchen sponge.
These took real effort & time with metal polish though.
Any online soap making store has food grade lye. With that you can control it's strength easily. 6oz per gallon of water is a pretty average ratio. (or 3oz per half gallon, 1.5oz per quart, etc...)
Usually it takes 1 to 6 minutes, then a scrub with a dish soap and the scratchy side of a kitchen sponge.
These took real effort & time with metal polish though.
Last edited by base2; 04-17-19 at 03:16 PM.
#10
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Often times, especially for larger parts, oven cleaner is inconsistant & too strong. The result is burned parts.
Any online soap making store has food grade lye. With that you can control it's strength easily. 6oz per gallon of water is a pretty average ratio. (or 3oz per half gallon, 1.5oz per quart, etc...)
Usually it takes 1 to 6 minutes, then a scrub with a dish soap and the scratchy side of a kitchen sponge.
These took real effort & time with metal polish though.
Any online soap making store has food grade lye. With that you can control it's strength easily. 6oz per gallon of water is a pretty average ratio. (or 3oz per half gallon, 1.5oz per quart, etc...)
Usually it takes 1 to 6 minutes, then a scrub with a dish soap and the scratchy side of a kitchen sponge.
These took real effort & time with metal polish though.
Cant argue with those results. Nice!
#11
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I have a question along these same lines so might as well just revive this thread and ask here...
What does the group think about using these methods on Rims?
TIA...
What does the group think about using these methods on Rims?
TIA...
#12
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As long as the rims are aluminum and you just put the lye on the rims. Not sure but it could react funky to chrome nipples or old spokes
#13
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You'd probably end up having to do a lot of sanding/polishing but I don't see why not. I don't think it should effect the durability of the rims or anything.
#15
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