Annodizing & helicoil; will it work?

[mstrdbz]

I've got a cocker body here I'm going to send off to get annoed at some point. I recently learned that the rear grip screw hole had been helicoiled. So my question is: Can I still get it annoed?

[Xmagterror]

the only way you can anodize it is if you have them mask off the coil or remove it and then put a new one in after the job is complete. It will burn the coil out of the body and could screw up the coil threads along with having the anodizing come out bad.

[FiXeL]

The coil is probably not aluminum, so it will have to be removed of masked off.

[CoolHand]

It is very easy to mask the hole with rubber cement or specially made ano mask compound.

They don't need to be removed, but if they are not masked, the bath will dissolve out the steel.

Good luck with it.

:cheers:

[custar]

This brings up an interesting point. If a hex head screw strips out (or the head breaks off), could a person anno the body and effectively remove the screw that way? The steel used in the hex head screws commonly used in paintball markers is harder than the steel used in ordinary screws, enough so that some ordinary screw extraction bits will not bite into the screw metal.

custar

[CoolHand]

This brings up an interesting point. If a hex head screw strips out (or the head breaks off), could a person anno the body and effectively remove the screw that way? The steel used in the hex head screws commonly used in paintball markers is harder than the steel used in ordinary screws, enough so that some ordinary screw extraction bits will not bite into the screw metal.

custar

Yes, it will dissolve out the screw. I've anodized out broken drill stubs, grub screws, and a host of other steel stuff, but it nearly always makes a bad spot around the hole that will never take dye correctly again. It's a last ditch solution for sure.

If your screw extractors aren't harder than the grade 8 hardware used in PB markers, you need to buy better extractors. Good brand name stuff will be quite a lot harder than grade 8 on the outside, but softer and strong inside the core of the tool (so it won't just snap off).

[Russ]

Professional annodizers do not like other metals in their tanks that they don't kbnow about...the dissolved metals screw up the solution.

[CoolHand]

Professional annodizers do not like other metals in their tanks that they don't kbnow about...the dissolved metals screw up the solution.

Indeed.

If you send a part in with steel in it hoping to "sneak it through", they'll likely remove it and charge you for it, or just send the parts back untouched.

We did it because we had to in order to save the part. I was willing to risk it because I had all of about $40 invested in our ten gallons of electrolyte solution. If it went bad, we could change it, no big deal. However when you're talking about the big boys, it's not so easy to just change out the contents of a 1,000 (or 10,000 :eek: ) gallon tank.

If you have a part with a helicoil in it, just let the ano guy know it will need to be masked, and keep on them about it (to make sure it actually happens). Be prepared to pay for this service, above and beyond what the normal cost of ano would have been.

[custar]

If your screw extractors aren't harder than the grade 8 hardware used in PB markers, you need to buy better extractors. Good brand name stuff will be quite a lot harder than grade 8 on the outside, but softer and strong inside the core of the tool (so it won't just snap off).


Mine was made by Irwin in the USA.

custar

[CoolHand]

Mine was made by Irwin in the USA.

custar

Try the Proto square type, they work very well, even on hard stuff. They also make a kind of tapered Allen type extractor that doesn't so much cut into the screw as just wedge tightly into what's left of the drive hole. They work pretty well too, but they kinda need to be used in an impact driver that you can keep axial pressure on. Otherwise they just cam out and make things worse.

Cleveland Twist Drill still makes EZY-OUTs as well, but I've had mixed results with them. They're hard enough to be sure, but the tiny ones have a bad habit of exploding when I use them (might be my hamfisted nature though ;) ).

[custar]

Thanks. The next time I strip out the top of one, I will give those a try.

custar

[mstrdbz]

Thanks guys, all the info I can get is greatly appreciated!

[SR_matt]

if you end up taking out the heli coil swap it for a nut-sert. they hold better. you will have to drill the hole slightly bigger but its better than having it strip out when you need the gun and cant fix it

-matt