Hey all, I plan on polishing some stainless trim and keep hearing about removing the anodized coating first. I know a bead blaster will do it pretty quick but don't want to have to come all the way back from that texture and not sure what any heat caused would do so... How is it done? Chemicals? buff on through to the other side?
Pool acid? Like muriatic acid? I'll give the easy off a shot. I knew there had to be something easier than buffing through it.
Hot water and red devil lye(drain cleaner) soak it in a tank. it willl essentially etch it as good as you want. the longer it is in- the more it etches
Rash, if I read you right, there will usually be no anodizing on stainless. only on aluminum. I have polished some aluminum pieces after using the Red Devil lye treatment.works well. just check it from time to time or it will disappear! I do not remember the mix ratio though.
It will be aluminum if it is anodized. don't use pool acid. 1) it gives off chlorine gas 2) washing residue to ground with out neutralizing it is very illegal. Not worth the fines. 3) it's a hassle to handle. Use EEZEE OFF oven cleaner ( just 'cos it's readily available and probably strongest.) or lye (Sodium hydroxide) I like EEZEE OFF 'cos on the longer pieces you can direct it. Spray it on, wait 20 minutes and rinse off. If surface is flat grey, it's stripped. If it's still bright, it's not. 2 maybe 3 cans should strip most everything on the car. Waste isn't a problem, and in the spray can it's easy to use. Normally you need to sand from about 180 grit up.
Rashy: Dangit boy,ya must have ESP or something!! I just ran a few experiments on some anodized aluminum AN fittings this morning ,trying to remove the "blue" .....but it should work the same on your trim piece.... I used an el-cheapo spray oven cleaner ( be sure it contains sodium hydroxide....)...Spray the cleaner on & watch it very closley after you spray it..catch it as soon as it removes the anodizing but before it turns black...work it a bit with a stiff ,bristle brush (NOT a wire brush) ...rinse liberally with water...spray/dip it in common household Vinegar to neutralize the sodium hydroxide.Keep the vinegar handy in case you get the cleaner on your skin....also wear safety glasses & protective gloves,do it outdoors if possible...BTW ...seems to go better if the pieces /cleaner are warm...the colder ,the slower the process takes ....I'd be interested if anyone else has any experience..... Stan
Pool acid is sodium bisulfate, which is often used as pickle in silversmithing. It would work, but it's pretty aggressive, and you would then need to polish the aluminum.
Now the tricky part. How do you re-anodize it clear to protect your fresh polishing. I assume this is for the eyebrows on the new ElCamino??
It's for all the aluminum on the Elky and the Bisquick. It's either polish it or chrome paint it with this stuff Toot found. It isn't cheap but it is cheaper than chrome and at 90% reflectivity of chrome, it's damn hard to tell it's paint. As far as re-anodizing, would you really need to? Could just polish it up once a year with a good polish and call it good 'ey? Or clear it and hope for the best.
With it being stainless trim I don't think you would have to worry about it. A stainless exhaust gets all kinds of shit on it and it doesn't die for years. Unless they weld it with regular fill then it rots off. Just trim I would just go with the polish. It is much cheaper also.
This would be for the aluminim. Those darned old 59's are a mixture of both. When my wife first bought hers, she called me as I was on the road on business. Said she wanted to start polishing the trim on her car. I told her to get the supa-fine steel wool out of the cabinet and get busy, that the stainless would come right back to life pretty easy. Keeps her out of the bars right? Then she calls me back, "Um, yeah. The more I polish this trim, the worse it gets." "And my hands are all black." "You're not polishing the aluminum with the steel wool are you?" I ask, already knowing the answer. "What aluminum?" "You know, the tail light trim, headlights, park lights and brows?" "Yeah, and they ARE ALL doing the same thing!" Guess I should have esplained myself better.......... Bless her heart.
If you want to go to the experts, caswell electroplating are the ones for all your diy metal finishing. They have a website, if you do search you'll find it. have a faq there too.
Red Devil lye works diluted in a container of water. I have had the Best luck with easy off extra strength oven cleaner. But experiment first with crap parts, stripping time is crucial. If the cleaner/Draino sits to long on the part it will easily Pit, and eventually dissolve the part entirely. I experimented on many of my anodized grille bullets on my caddy before getting it right. You have to be quick to reanodize after polishing.
Anodising is an electroplating type process in sulphuric acid ( dilute 10 -15% with water, and remember to use safety gear and add acid to water not water to acid), You polish the pieces first and then go into into the anodising process asap. Use cotton or surgical gloves to handle in final polishing and thereafter into the anodising tanks. It is just a surface hardening process, for corrosion resistance, any colors are added with dyes in the wash/neutralising process . Acid strength is critical for a good finish ,the stronger the acid the coarser the finish. It's not difficult, but I wouldn't do my learning on good parts. If yu are only going to do a few parts it is not that cheap to set up , you need a proper power supply for consistent results and by time you buy all the other stuff........ , also as I understand it the waste is relatively expensive to get rid of in the US . probably cheaper to do the polishing yourself ( that is the expensive time consuming part) , then find a business with a bright anodising plant who will finish the parts for you.
Rashy, I did the same thing you're doing to my 59 ElC a few years ago. Looks GREAT after all the sanding, polishing on two wheels and later by hand with Wenol.......only thing, it oxidizes a lot faster than I thought it would. And that's pretty damn discouraging after all the work to get 'em looking good. I think those trim parts are a different alloy than, say, wheels for example, that stay bright for a long time. Shooting them with clear after polishing just kills the shine(reflective quality)---makes them look like the original anodizing(maybe not even as bright)...plus, there's the probability of chipping the clear BEST solution appearance-wise is chrome plating. One of the Elkys I'm building now has had ALL the trim PLATED ...and it's absolutelyfuckingawesome! CHEAPEST solution....other than doing nothing is to just scotch-brite everything. Hey. it's no worse than flat-black on sheetmetal BTW, if you're still looking for some parts, I still have some extras.
you have a friend that works at a FAA repair station that can strip them for you using TURCO mild etch. In order to paint the Aluminum you should first use alodine to prevent oxide and provide a primer surface.
Hey Phil, Yeah, I would alodine them if I go the painting route and I hadn't thought about them being a different alloy so that makes sense. We have the three part stripper, de-smutter, alodine tanks at work. I didn't think of those because we work with brand new aluminum. I'll take a crap piece piece and try it first.
DUH! I just figured out what you meant Phil. Two weeks of laying around eating pain medication has left RASHY a very dull boy. Great fun at parties though!!
Hey Rashy, why not strip it, straighten it, sand it, and have it reanodized. I'm sure you can find a shop locally that can reanodize it for you. They come out looking brand new and will last a long time. I've got four 59's, one 60, and one 61 Chevy. Chroming looks nice, but it gets expensive. For me, having them reanodized is the only way to go. Of course, it's all in the prep work. Guider
You have a lot to learn if you think Caswells are the experts. Mike Caswell is a salesman. The best ibformation you will get from them is in their forum where the unknowledgeable are advised by the unknowing.
Stay away from them Deuce, unless you really know what your buying. They sell nickel anodes that have chrome in them, (Chrome is the worst contaminate you can have in nickel. Their copper and lead anodes are sheet from builders merchants. (No where near pure enough ) They offer no lab support for any of their solutions. And give no waste disposal advice. I've had 3 people give me caswell plating kits, or bits of thinking I could use them. ( One guy had spent something like $1200 ) I disposed of everything properly for them and that was it. Caswell does have some useful tools, and maybe a few products that are worth using. But stay away from anything you're not sure about or research it well.
Thanks for the warning, Polisher. You certainly know your stuff, and anyone should listen to your word of caution. Actually, I wasn't looking for an endorsement of Caswell. I was simply trying to see if "raffman" had actual experience himself, or if he was merely passing on bad information that he didn't know anything about...
I'm not saying that everything they sell is useless. They are like the Harborfreight of the polishing/plating world. Some of it is cheap rubbish, some of it is good value. You have to know what you're getting.
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