Before and After. (Anodized Finish Removal)

Last week I asked if it could be done. Here is the finished product.





Thanks for the help folks,
Derek

Whoa. Nice and shiny. Not having seen the original thread, how did you get it all off?

Vesper said:

Whoa. Nice and shiny. Not having seen the original thread, how did you get it all off?

Click to expand...

25% Liquid Draino - 75% water for 1.5 hours to remove most of the anodized finish. Wet sand with 220, 400, 800, 1000 grit sandparer to remove the rest of the aluminum oxide. And, a dab of Mothers Polish to shine it up. 2 hours total.

Looks like a trip to the store is in order to pick up some Drano and sand paper!

:goodjob:

Nice outcome....you do realize that the only decent thing to do now is to replace the old red with a new coloured finish. There are some threads on CPF that tell you how to DIY.

Turned out real nice! Looks like a high end chrome job.

I've an old black beater that I might tear into...and then M*g85 it!

Nice job!

I deanodize routinely to give my mods a two-tone effect. I have access to sodium hydroxide which strips the ano layer off quite fast. Nasty stuff though, gotta be careful not to burn myself.

This has inspired me to try this...with oven cleaner. We'll see how it goes. It's a beatup mag too so won't be a big loss if ruined.

Beautiful job!
Might i respectfully suggest something?
A more concentrated solution (drano granules work well) or a longer bath.
No sanding should be necessary, if the finish stops coming off, add more naoh.
The problem with sanding is that anodizing is very hard, sanding it off with abrasive paper that is also aluminum oxide will be very labor intensive and possibly counter productive, as the areas that were already stripped will be considerably softer than the parts that still have the hard anodized coating, meaning that the abrasive will skid off the anodized parts and gouge into the soft bare aluminum.

The method I use is very strong naoh in the form of drano granules, let the part sit for 5mins, take it out and scrub it with a scothbrite pad.
If anodize remains, i re dunk the part for a minute or two and then scrub again until it's all off.
As long as i ensure that the art is suspended so that it can't come into contact with any undissolved granuals, i get no pitting whatsoever, just a nice even finish similar to sandblasting.

Hope this saves you some time and elbow grease on your next project