Stripping anno?

[Load SM5]

Originally posted by Jonesie
You wouldn't know anything about those chemical burns, would ya Jeff?

Later ~ Jonesie

I would know nothing about fumes or chemical burns in a nasty hotel in New Orleans..no.

[CaptainChops]

Hey... I don't have anything really intelligent to add, I just wanted to say how proud I am to be a part of this forum. I never cease to be amazed by the quality of the posts on here and the amount of good info that I pick up in them.
So yeah, thanks for just being you AO

[ex9066]

Warning....

Just thought I'd add something, I've strip a few parts in the past few days...

Drain Unblocker / Lye is what I used.

Over here in the England we call it Caustic SODA. Main ingredient being Sodium Hydroxide (also known as LYE)

IF you want to strip really fast, put more in, but note that the solution will get hot as the reactions occur, and most importantly, after the anodised layer rubs off, the solution will begin attacking the aluminium. With a concentrated solution, the ano comes of in seconds, so keep an eye on it.

I learnt this the hard way, thought everything was fine, even washed the part in water between dipping and rubbing. Turns out that droplets that remained on it started pitting the surface, looks like little burn marks.

I've also been trying to get a shine on the bare aluminium, which as someone stated before, doesn't really work, thus I am now looking to anodise (but what colour??).

If you want to see what the stripped alu comes out as, take a look at my post here:

http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=76761

The stripped parts are the sight, body rail and front grip. Notice that even though I've used chrome polish on it, it doesn't shine line the body or trigger frame which are nickle plated...

Hope this helps...

Phu Le

[athomas]

I use a phosphoric acid when stripping annodize. It works very well. The chemical is actually an aluminum cleaner which is meant to be mixed with water. I use it full strength and it strips the annodize layer off without damage to the aluminum.

If you want a real shine, use an electroless crome finish. Its quite easy and can be done at home on the stove.

[Load SM5]

Originally posted by athomas


If you want a real shine, use an electroless crome finish. Its quite easy and can be done at home on the stove.

I'm intrigued, where do you find this?

[cphilip]

Caswell Inc

[athomas]

Yep, I get mine from Caswell too.

[cphilip]

they got a world of cool stuff there. You could spend a fortune on stuff there and I want too! Good prices though. And good instructional stuff.

[Teen]

I just stripped the anno off of my body rail today with drain cleaner. its like a whitish color underneath. is it supose to look like that?

[ex9066]

yeah, thats right, you'll get a pale colour, if you leave it in the solution for a while and you'll get it to turn patchy with gray/black areas.

Just rub it down with some polish and the dis-colouration will go.

Just wondering, have you noticed any little marks in your rail? Bits that look like it been dissolved away?

Just that on the two rails I've stripped, I get these little pits, but it hasn't happened on any other aluminum parts I've strippped....

[Teen]

nope