Removing anodizeing from parts?

[rraattrroodd]

Does anyone have a better way than oven cleaner? Or do I have the wrong kind?
Or how about a link or how to vidio

[rraattrroodd]

Live action

[AbSoLooT1]

I got a hard leason on this one I used the BLUE kind, which is the Easy Off, No fumes. I soaked in it for HOURS and no go. Next, I got the EASY OFF HEAVY DUTY> like u got, and it took all the Anodizing off in MINUTES. Only down fall was after it was off, it tarnished it, which was no big deal except for it was more work to polish it. Versus what I had seen in videos where it came out clean.

But ur using the right kind. Think ur probably doing it wrong. Ul want to put it in a plastic container, and u dont just want to spray the easy off on it, but u want to spray it so it establishes some liquid for it to soak in. It wont take more than 5 minutes. Than it will come out dark (at least mine did) and ul want to use some mothers aluminum polish to get it back to bare aluminum.


This was my project. Before:




After:

[d_gillespie]

I use these on a Dremel! Use the brown one first and then the black one. After i follow those steps I rub WHITE Deodorant or WHITE Toothpaste (They are cheaper and IMO they work better than polishing compound. Just remember to use the WHITE kind) all over the part, then use this to polish my parts to a mirror-like finish.

Use these first!


Rub on some WHITE Deo or Toothpaste then use this!


I use this method because my son and I are both allergic to oven cleaner of any type. Just getting a whiff of that crap makes me sicker than a dog. Remember to think of good ol Derrick if you try this method and post some pics afterward!

Derrick

[DiggerPede]

Another thing I found that worked really well was greased lightning. I thought it worked better. I soaked them in an old container, be sure to not let them soak to long it will actually start eating at the aluminum. Last polish it up and get all the crud off with polish. Keep doing that until the towell isn't black anymore.

[rraattrroodd]

I got the color off but it's not shinny. I might try the toothpast trick.

[AbSoLooT1]

I got the color off but it's not shinny. I might try the toothpast trick.

Really.. ID REALLY use mothers aluminum polish. Ur just not gonna get the same shine. I have used tooth paste on some jewlery, And brasso blows it out of the water. I also used brasso on the aluminum, and the Mothers Aluminum Polish blew it out of the water. And its SOOO much easier. Plus, the mothers stuff is 4 bucks for a small containers at Wal-Mart, and u barely use any. its something that is going to last u forever. For how much u actualy have to use, its gonna be alot more expensive to use toothpaste. The Mothers worked so well.... Also, the mothers removes fine scratches and surface imperfections. Something the Toothpase does not. U can also stilll use dremel buffing bits, or any other buffing option with the Mothers polish.

Like digger said, U whipe it until black doesnt come off anymore. But u keep doing the same process. U put more polish on, and more black comes off.. It will ALWAYS do it, because any metal that no black comes off with polishing compound, doesnt mean its fully polished, it means that is a NON polishable metal. Which aluminum is. So u repeat the process several times, and it will get shineir and shineir. Also, Take it from me and learning this the hard way. On the first run, Put ALOT of, and white with some shop towels. At first I was putting alittle polish, and killing myself with rubbing it. The next ones I put more on, and polished em, and all the tarnish came off the first coat, than i used small amounts on the other coats to keep polishing it more. For 4 dollars, this step i think is really crutial to use the right stuff. Ul kill urself getting that tarnish off without it.



Small container is 4-5 bucks at Walmart, and I didnt use 1/100 of how much the container holds in this process, so its something I will have for a LONG time to come. Even Brasso didnt work nearly as well as this stuff, using alot more of the container.

[reod12x2]

not to revers the topic but how do you anodize aluminum?

[AbSoLooT1]

Oooo Digg. Id LOVE to get my hands on some of that Trucker stuff. I love those special access, industrial strength stuff you can only get on the "down low" Its like black-white market industrial stuff lol. Love it.

not to revers the topic but how do you anodize aluminum?

Like digg said. Theres a bunch of Youtube videos that show how folks do it themselves and all. U of course cant paint aluminum. No paint will stick, Anodization, is electrically charged particals sticking to aluminum. That is why there is only a couple colors of aluminum. Where as there a billion shades of other colors, If u get a red traxxas part, It will be the same color as a red aluminum part that you'd install on your mothers camry. lol. SAME exact color.

(unless your REM who dont anodize parts long enough lol)

[DiggerPede]

+1000000 on the Mothers Polish. If anyone knows a trucker they have a concoction of stuff that blows this stuff out of the water. A friend of mine has some of the stuff and he lost contact with the dude.

I've also heard toothpaste works really well, never tried it though.

Reod check YouTube vids, it's a neat process how they anodize aluminum. It's like electrically charged to the parts.

[d_gillespie]

i will agree on the mothers. what i was referring to was the 3m and the dremel compound. sorry i should have specified.

derrick

[thedreadedend]

REM doesn't do ano parts. Addicted2rc does the work by sending oust to another company for batch drops. Your right though, very inconsistent coloring between batches. Up sides to the company, color is warrantied, if it scratches, send it back. Also, they have recently pulled the individual color warranty, get it all at once if you want matched colors or he will no longer take the return. Not sure how much confidence I have in addicted anymore, my last conversion with Gary wasn't the funny, topical how's the fam phone call. Seems he got a bit stiff with returns and will no longer take some of my bent parts for a trade.......same parts trade only.... I've spent well over a $G with addicted and telling me all his new "rules" wasn't the smartest thing to do! In my case, he may have list many hundreds of future sales. All good though cause we all know this really cool cat, Jakey lol and he is a FLM dealer so he and I will be getting reacquainted soon lol. Sorry Gary but you don't impose a standard on the guy that will buy in the drop of a hat! He's the one you needed to spoon feed parts too. Especially when I by 2-3 of every part I will bend to eliminate downtime.

As far as removing.. I've had some luck with drain cleaners. I like them better because its less of a stench, it can be handled with out skin burning with the right stuff, and you wont end up with pits or marks that are left in the alloy from some oven cleaners. I had a micro gearbox that I did for my first. Oven cleaner pitted the metal, braking it down a bit with tons of black crap to clean off. The drain cleaner always leaves minimal discoloration (gray/black residue) and wipes right off.

My 2¢

[pavmentsurfer]

What drain cleaner dreaded? I want to de-anno a couple VXL motors... I've used ezoff before with limited results. But i could maybe give some drain cleaner a go.

[DiggerPede]

Dread thanks for sharing that info with us. Is he still warranty his products like he used to though, just have to stick with the same color?

[thedreadedend]

He wont let me trade parts like a bulk for a tower or swap arms for bulk like I used to do. I had 3+ plus 1/8 pedes at one point with 2 running. H-Bomb and Ballistic were the trucks. I always had 2 or so of extra parts then and swapping was quick and painless. Now its only like parts and he said I would be dealing with REM direct rather than switching and warranty stuff through him. This adds days, maybe a week+ to the process but understand, it may be a case of how much stuff I was wrecking lol. Didn't ask about the color swap though, he lost me at "no".
The drain cleaner I use is Mister Plummers professional formula. Worked for me on trx, strc alloy and ofna chrome rims. I filled a bowl and dropped them in for 20-30 minutes. Most of the color runs if ans swirls around in the liquid, some color sticks to the alloy but will rub right off.

[pavmentsurfer]

I just called Addiicted2rc and sent back an REM case that was bent in a crash and a 2nd one that had terrible anno. They were great to deal with. He just said send it back, let him know what other colours I wanted and he would get the new ones out to me as soon as they were in stock. Of course, this was my first return ever and I was just swapping one part for the same part in a different colour. But I though the CS was excellent. I can see how maybe in an extreme circumstance they might get a bit crabbier though... I don't know anyone who can go through aluminum parts as fast as dreaded can.

[thedreadedend]

That's great news! Glad your taken care of and ya, I think he is trying to protect himself from loss. I completely understand and im not trying to sound like I deserve more or better. My thoughts are, the colors are off enough that im no longer interested, i could deal with gary rather than REM, he would have replacements in the mail as i requested without a dime swapping hands and i would mail my bent stuff when i got the new. extra bit of personal service ensured my business. But for me FLM and REM was completely equalized as soon as we got off the phone. All I asked was "can I swap a bent rear tower for a bulk? (same price) He said no and filled me in on what he is and is not willing to do now. Glad he did cause that may have been a huge problem to me when I build my p2de out ti an xl. So, these are the things that swayed me to FLM this time around.
Gary did tell me once that I alone, in one year, sent in more warranty parts than the combined total of all buyers over a 10 year span of selling both FLM and REM returns history. Lol, don't know if I should be proud or embarrassed?

[DiggerPede]

dread i tell you what would be bad is if one day across REMs webpage, " OUT OF BUSINESS " banner and had an ARROW pointed towards your stack of parts and say this is why we are throwing in the towel. LOL

Actually I think you should be PROUD. I have to ask, when you first starting buying & using the parts have they changed over the course of the year(s)? Really that was kinda kewl that he let you exchange one part for another diff part. Most places of business don't let you do that w/o some sort of $$ exchange. I'm thinking maybe he had a bad day or something. Have you talked to him since or was that the nail on the coffin that day?

[thedreadedend]

It was the nail, the last return I did took over 6 weeks, that call was as close to the 2nf chance as I'll get. It's time I give FLM the fair shake it deserves.
As far as parts changing over time, the first 3-4 months I wad sending things back, REM would call and ask fie specifics. They asked if I see needs or lack of strength. Every single detail I addressed, they made a change to improve the part, even lil details like screw length and depth, the made a change, sent the part and asked for feedback if it held up or to send it back fir study if it failed. I was always impressed with the way they would change a part because a basher said it's almost but not quite. I think that's one of the major draws for me with RCE. If we suggest a change, jason and Matt will put it on the cad and see if the part can be changed. If it can, he will have a test product bolted to his truck and see how it goes. Next, if its all working for the better and materials, cost, labor.......if it is the best way to go, a new part is born.
Just like these arms im using as of last friday. I told him and he agrees, I would twist the arms in a single day, so 1 week later, (last friday) he hands me a new designed arm that's thicker in all ways possible with only 5 grams added weight. Si the new arms go on sale end of the week. Here is a pic of RCE arms and the ones I have that are out later this week.

I said " how's your arms hold up?" ^ He said "you don't want them, they'll never last on your truck" then he said to give him a few weeks to whip some up, something I'll have to work on bending. This is what he gave me and will be the product thwysell from now on.