Removing anodizing

[LJT]

This may be a stupid question, but does anyone know and easy way to remove anodizing? I have a cradle and I want to get the "stainless steel" look since I plan on buying a matching barrel. I have tried sand paper but it would take forever. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. If you have suggestions for painting mags that would also be welcomed.

[[NA]WARLORD]

Try "Easy Off Oven Cleaner". I used it to remove some anodizing on a aftermarket on/off asa. It works pretty good, just make sure yoy polish it afterwards.

[LJT]

What did you use to polish it?

[Army]

Naval Jelly will strip any light oxidation. That's all anodizing is anyway.

[[NA]WARLORD]

Any automotive type wax or polish will work, just ask dad, he may have some laying around in the garage........

[soilent green]

removeing anodizing is tuff Maybe sand blasting as for painting your mag I suggest useing a scotch bright pad to remove the old finish it is thin and is removed easily I have painted 2 mags one with a decent spray paint and the other with a beutiful automotive finish with clearcoat the spray paint was easy I scrubed it with a scotch bright and then wet sanded it with 400 grit then cleaned the surface with acetone and very slowly and carefully applied spray paint remeber to make quik thin passes and do it all at once don't come back a day later to finish because it will mess up the previouse coat if you go to thick the thiner in spray paint will peel the previose coat or to thin and your paint job will be dull I made both those mistakes on my model 98 a few years ago the automotive finish required much more work but if you are interested respond and I will tell you how

[steveg]

chech out this link,scroll down a bit

http://www.focuser.com/atm/anodize/anodize.html

he is using red devil 100% lye drain opener
Looks like he knows what he is doing too.

[[NA]WARLORD]

Ummmm, "Easy Off" has lye already in it, plus it has a fresh lemony smell !!!!!!!

[steveg]

Ooops I should have added that oven cleaner is reputed
to cause pitting wereas the drain cleaner won't.
Sorry

[LJT]

I have tried most of the techniques mentioned and none have worked. As far as I am concerned it is a waste of time and I'm just going to buy a chrome plated one with an on-off. The oven cleaner did a little, but I think it was so old that its potency had diminished. My suggestion to anyone trying to do this is just save up and buy a new one. It is a big hassle and anyway you look at it you still have to have the tools to either polish it or to re-anodize it. Don't waste your time unless you just have a lot to spare.

[[NA]WARLORD]

It is a slow process, I left mine in overnight ( w/ the oven cleaner) approx 8-10 hours, and wiped it off in the morning. As far as polishing all you need is a good carnuba based automotive polish and a rag, no fancy machines just a lil elbow grease.

[Pand0ra]

I did a lot of anodisation myself. The best way to remove it is caustic soda. Commonly found in a house as a product to clear blocked pipe, and cost almost nothing.

Put some caustic soda in water, and put your piece in it for a while.
At the beginning the process will be slow, due to the anodisation. After a few minutes (sometimes more than 10) you should see the anodisation disappear. The speed really depends on the temperature, and the concentration.

Keep always an eye on your piece, because if you forget it you won't find anything left (it happend to me once lol). It's also a good idea to protect the parts where you want to keep tolerance (like for the threads). Don't forget you're basically removing aluminium from your piece.

@++