Caustic dipping & clearcoat

  1. anyone know anyone does caustic dipping in melb - want to to get some rims and other parts de-ano’d but I can;t be arsed doing it at home.

  2. Clearcoating polished parts - is there a standout product and what prep needed ? (haven’t done it before)

Ta

Don’t know about getting parts caustic dipped but i have clear coated several polished alloy parts. I used just standard 2pak clear, which tends to take some of the brightness out of the parts as the oil and waxes many polishes contain must be removed before clearcoating.

Next time i would probably give this a go http://www.zoopseal.com/

I havn’t used it yet but its meant to be seriouly good (but not cheap).

i know you dont want to de ano yourself, but providing its actual ano, not powder you can use mr muscle to strip it. or so say the ano purple kings from retrobike.

where’s Bender :?

I couldnt be eff’d doing the DIY de-ano until today :slight_smile:
Been sick for like 5 days now and havent been able to ride.
I took my ass down to Coles bought a can of Easy Off Oven Cleaner then to Bunnings for some wet’n’dry and away i went. Its not as bad as i thought if you have patience. The stripping of anodizing is easy enough, you’ve just gotta get your timing right. I found 4-5mins is a good enough time. Then I parked myself on a chair outside with parts de-ano’d and starting sanding them back. Tomorow i am going to get the bench grinder out and give them a mirror polish. Dunno about clearcoating them. Email andy@fyxo he knows what he is doing with de-anodizing parts and he will even polish.

I love it how we have a thread on anodizing and de-anodizing at the moment.

yeah I’d noticed that

Mr Miyagi says “ano on…ano off”

i used the sandblaster in the modelling lab to remove the anodizing from my Miche Hubs and Sugino 75’s prior to polishing up the cranks on the polishing wheel with compound and the hubs in the lathe with kero and super fine sand paper, I cant remember what number we went down to, but it came up a treat.

Caustic and a tube of Autosol sounds like the go with small items at home though.

I was told once polished that using Mr Sheen will help treat the aluminium and stop it oxidising and becoming dull? can anyone confirm?

i am having some big issues with this method - basically the anodizing isnt coming off (wishing i never started now).

basically have used oven cleaner but am not getting the anodizing off, its jsut turned a nasty black on my nice gran sport campag cranks!!

i worry that i have left it to long (30 mins) but its not budging… im not really wanting to break out the sandpaper if i can avoid it…

ive heard steel wool will help remove it but im worried it will scratch.

anyone know of other alternatives to help get it off?

^Some new oven cleaners - the new Mr. Muscle included, I think - have had caustic soda removed, and so won’t effect anodizing.

Steel wool (the fine variety like a ball of hair) is much less abrasive than even 1600 grit sandpaper… it’s good for polishing and doesn’t ‘scratch’.

Dude 30mins! WTF. You probs shoulda had a read online of how to prep and polish parts.
Don’t be scared of wet’n’dry sandpaper. I just took to my Pantographed Colnago Cranks with it. Anywho here’s what i did…

Easy Off Overn Cleaner . 4-5mins . Wash off under warm water. (sit in a comfy seat with bucket of water in front of you) 800grit wet’n’dry and start scrubbing bathing the part every 30-45 seconds or whenever required. Then once your confident you’ve gone over the entire part and its smooth, then get the 1200grit out and go again.

You’ve pbviously left it in caustic way to long. Get some 1200 on it asap. Oven Cleaner won’t just strip it and shine your part for you. It breaks down the anodize so it can be removed with wet’n’dry.

shit ok, my mistake

should be able to recover them (fingers crossed) will hit them with some sandpaper and he’s hoping i can recover them.

from my reading online i was under the impression that the oven cleaner would stip all of the clear coat off.

has anyone heard of the oven cleaner doing serious damage to the alloy?

cheers for your help.

Start with a 1200 grit for a few minutes and see how it goes then maybe go back to a 800grit. Think of it this way, you’ve stripped the part back and now reshape it perfect again. Just remember it takes time.