Re-anodise chassis ?

[Janus]

I have a 1st series (unstamped chassis) RC10 that never has been run, unfornunatly some has put it together lovinly with a pair of pliers in some parts , nothing major it just has a few scratches. But I want it to be perfect. So i'm thinking to have the chassis, noseplate and shockbodies re-anodised. Has anyone experience with this, or is it better to just leave it alone?

[shodog]

It's entirely possible to do a re-annodize. The thing is that it's expensive and in addition you would probably want to do a set of shock bodies so everything matches.

I have found a few things with annodizing, if you polish the part and don't have them do an acid etch you will get a sweet finish.

here are few SRB parts I had done in red. http://www.tcphotos.com/getuserimage.asp?t=n&id=img34_14112006001609_1.jpg

If you do re-annodize make sure you sand the bottom of the chassis smooth. one thing that bugged me about associated is that they just annodized right over all kinds of imperfections.

[InetRC]

I have commercially reanodized quite a few RC10 chassis (as most here already know)... here's a few points to keep in mind:

(1) Anodizing does not cover up any scratches. In fact, you will find scratches you never knew existed after you anodize. Hence, you will want your chassis absolutely smooth for anodizing.

(2) You will need to remove the current anodizing. Sandblasting may work, but we use an acid solution to strip off the old anodizing. Then we polish the chassis. Then we anodize. Some people like a soft brushed aluminum look to their anodizing. In this case wet sanding should be goo instead of polishing. I personally like a "wet" look to the anodizing, in which case we usually polish to a smooth mirror finish.

(3) It can be expensive. We used to charge $100 to strip and $100 per color to anodize, but our process was totally commercial (not a do-it-at-home or garage based setup). You might find better pricing if you shop around.

(4) Another option is powder coating. YOu can sandblast the old anodizing off and put a nice powder coat on. It would most likely cost you less than stripping/anodizing.


The Orange and Black chassis below are reanodized and the blue is powdercoated.

[justinspeed79]

We used to charge $100 to strip and $100 per color to anodize

Wow.

I can see $100 for the anodizing, but for the stripping? A .99 cent can of oven cleaner will do the job nicely. Did that price include the sanding or anything?

[badhoopty]

if it was done to alex's standards i'm positive the stripping is well worth the 100. oven cleaner only strips off the anodizing, you still gotta sand and polish every nook and cranny. i would actually expect to pay more for the prep than the actual anodizing.

unless you are doing a resto goldpan powdercoating is pretty cool, and its very durable compared to an anodized finish.

[justinspeed79]

Yeah, if it includes sanding and polishing I can kind of see it, but I am still surprised that that would cost as much as than the anodizing.

[teshreve]

Why is the front body mount just dangling in the first pic? And no screws n the rear of the tranny brace? Wierd how you have the insanely sexy pics of RC10s with stuff just hanging off.

Just messing with you

The modified rubber is cool. Do they spin true? I've tried it a time or two.




I like the XX4 outer front end hardware on the last pic. Great idea!

[justinspeed79]

BTW, I am in no way questioning the quality of Inet's craftsmanship, those are some of the nicest R/C's I have ever seen! Very, very nice!

[teshreve]

I second that.
...just being a tard.

But I do have some tire welding skillz, no?

[justinspeed79]

Dude, you are the king of tire welding. I only say that half joking, you seriously can barely tell they have been glued. If you didn't come out and say it I never even would have noticed, even with the close-up.

[mrlexan]

But I do have some tire welding skillz, no?

No way????? Are you for real?

[Janus]

unless you are doing a resto goldpan powdercoating is pretty cool, and its very durable compared to an anodized finish.

Doing a goldpan resto was the plan, so guess im going to have to look about local shops who can do this stuff.

The cut and shunt tires look good, but its not that hard. Just take your time and you'll be fine.

[mrlexan]

OK, someone is going to have to post a "how to" thread on this one. I did not even know that was possible.

[InetRC]

I can see $100 for the anodizing, but for the stripping? A .99 cent can of oven cleaner will do the job nicely. Did that price include the sanding or anything?

Oven cleaner doesn't compare to a commercial acid stripping. It works great for small or simple pieces, but oven cleaner will not take off all the anodizing in tight spots. Furthermore, if not done correctly, it will ruin your metal (i.e., leaving it on too long). Lastly, it takes longer cleanup for the oven-cleaner method than for the commercial acid wash. And no, the polishing was not included in the original price. Personally, although it costs more, I prefer getting things done commercially because I'm pretty picky. Typically, you get what you pay for.

It takes just as long to strip and clean as it does to anodize. The setup is the same, but the $100 acid/$100 anodize would have covered the cost of approximately 3-4 chassis. Doing 1 or doing 3 would have been the same cost. We usually did a dozen at a time. Actual cost would have therefore been roughly $33 to strip and $33 to anodize for each one if 3 chassis were done at once, even much less for the quantities we did (there's a reason why Tower ran out of stock on their RC10 chassis all in one day a year or two ago )

Which brings up a good point... when looking for anodizing, ask how many pieces maximum the cost includes. Doing one piece will be pretty expensive, but tossing in other pieces reduces the costs tremendously (i.e., economies of scale for you MBA students out there!).

P.S... The prices I gave were our retail prices, I'm not advertising strpiping/anodizing services here... we stopped doing it for small quantities long ago (I mention this because I received an email asking us for pricing after my post).

-Alex

P.S.S. the body post in the first pic actually isn't loose. The screw is threaded into the nose plate and the body post threaded onto the screw. This was a temporary setup anyway since I needed a longer screw to extend the post in order to have the body I chose to properly clear the 4WD gearbox up front (see pic below).

[superfly]

I'm thinking the same thing...refurbish the nose plate actually to fit on my Tekin Kit. I've got access to a shot peener (like a sandblaster) and I'm thinking of painting the gold front black. Anyone know what primer works good or paint for that matter? Or should I try something else?