The cheapest tub pan on eBay

[morrisey0]

That is the stuff. I didn't see a price on the HD page, but it is $2 at WM: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Greased-Lightning-Super-Strength-Multi-Purpose-Cleaner-and-Degreaser-32-Fluid-Ounce/15724133 My local Lowes has it in gallons @ $10, so it is actually cheaper in the bottles at WM, and when done, you still have a spray bottle, although admittedly, they aren't very good sprayers.

How well it works, and how long it takes, are variables based on how the original anodizing process went. Some pieces are 90% bare in two hours, some are 50% bare in eight hours. I have found that I check on the pieces about every two hours. What I am looking for is a layer of foam / bubbles on the top of the liquid, which tells me things are happening. If no bubbles, things have stopped. The first time I find a lack of bubbles, I pull the pieces and rinse / wipe, and put back in. During the process, a black coating will form, and I think this sometimes acts as a protective barrier keeping the process from continuing. Wipe the layer off, and action often starts back up again. Usually this only works once, and the second time I walked up to no bubbles, I have probably gotten all I am going to get from the GL. From there I determine if I am going to finish off any remaining color mechanically or replace fluid and dip again (I am lazy so usually another dip). From memory, I think I can soak an RC10 tub in a 13x9 casserole dish with about 1.5 bottles of GL, so two full dips costs $6. The bends of the pieces seem to be the most difficult places for it to come off. I am pretty certain the stuff is harmless to the bare metal. I am sure I have left pieces soaking overnight with no side effects. I also don't use gloves or anything and my hands are fine, although I would probably advise against ingesting it or getting it in your eyes.

[morrisey0]

Oh, for mechanical removal, if I need anything rougher than say 300g paper, I use these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07T1M9KC1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 before finishing off with paper. Great on die grinders, but also work just fine with any drill. You only need the finest of grades for prep and small scratch removal, and they will leave swirls that need to be sanded. I don't bring anything steel (even wheels) near soft metals. It only takes one minute piece of steel to make its way into your aluminum, and you will soon have a galvanic disaster.

[JosephS]

That is the stuff. I didn't see a price on the HD page, but it is $2 at WM: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Greased-Lightning-Super-Strength-Multi-Purpose-Cleaner-and-Degreaser-32-Fluid-Ounce/15724133 My local Lowes has it in gallons @ $10, so it is actually cheaper in the bottles at WM, and when done, you still have a spray bottle, although admittedly, they aren't very good sprayers.

How well it works, and how long it takes, are variables based on how the original anodizing process went. Some pieces are 90% bare in two hours, some are 50% bare in eight hours. I have found that I check on the pieces about every two hours. What I am looking for is a layer of foam / bubbles on the top of the liquid, which tells me things are happening. If no bubbles, things have stopped. The first time I find a lack of bubbles, I pull the pieces and rinse / wipe, and put back in. During the process, a black coating will form, and I think this sometimes acts as a protective barrier keeping the process from continuing. Wipe the layer off, and action often starts back up again. Usually this only works once, and the second time I walked up to no bubbles, I have probably gotten all I am going to get from the GL. From there I determine if I am going to finish off any remaining color mechanically or replace fluid and dip again (I am lazy so usually another dip). From memory, I think I can soak an RC10 tub in a 13x9 casserole dish with about 1.5 bottles of GL, so two full dips costs $6. The bends of the pieces seem to be the most difficult places for it to come off. I am pretty certain the stuff is harmless to the bare metal. I am sure I have left pieces soaking overnight with no side effects. I also don't use gloves or anything and my hands are fine, although I would probably advise against ingesting it or getting it in your eyes.

Thanks for the details. I just got a bottle from HD. I’m going to take this for a spin on the motor plates. The idea of being able to leave the process unattended for a day sounds good to me.

[jwscab]

Anything chemical that strips anodizing is for sure also dissolving bare metal so use caution.

The black you see on the parts is called smut and it's from particular metals associated with the alloy you are working with. It need to be cleaned up with a desmut chemical or mechanical means.

I've used easy off oven cleaner, the regular, not the citrus version. Heavy gloves, safety glasses, over a pan or bucket with something like a toothbrush, as well as a bucket of fresh water. Spray the parts with the foam and let sit, scrub the tougher areas with the brush, and dilute in the bucket of water. Should take less than 20-30 minutes to do a pan.

The better finish you leave on the surface the better the anodizing looks.

[JosephS]

Anything chemical that strips anodizing is for sure also dissolving bare metal so use caution.

The black you see on the parts is called smut and it's from particular metals associated with the alloy you are working with. It need to be cleaned up with a desmut chemical or mechanical means.

I've used easy off oven cleaner, the regular, not the citrus version. Heavy gloves, safety glasses, over a pan or bucket with something like a toothbrush, as well as a bucket of fresh water. Spray the parts with the foam and let sit, scrub the tougher areas with the brush, and dilute in the bucket of water. Should take less than 20-30 minutes to do a pan.

The better finish you leave on the surface the better the anodizing looks.

Yeah, On my first try I burned a hole in my hand so gloves it is.
Thanks for clarifying on the 'smut.' I thought it was simply that I wasn't through enough.

The price I was quoted on anodizing does include a desmut, but not a strip. I may actually be in the clear on this batch of parts.

I got the greased lightning and it is highly reactive with bare aluminum. I'll try this out as it is not saponifing my skin.

Perhaps I had been far to conservative with my easy off method. I was worried about pitting the metal.

[morrisey0]

I got the greased lightning and it is highly reactive with bare aluminum.

That is weird. Maybe Grease Lightning works differently in your house than it does in mine. Any pictures of the damage that it caused? What happened that was "highly reactive?"

[JosephS]

I got the greased lightning and it is highly reactive with bare aluminum.

That is weird. Maybe Grease Lightning works differently in your house than it does in mine. Any pictures of the damage that it caused? What happened that was "highly reactive?"

I probably should have said highly 'active'. This is actually working well. Bare aluminum foams nearly instantly like dropping baking soda into vinegar. It's not as active on the anodized parts so it make so all of the scratches pop with foam. That is what I was referring to. This is a reaction is striping aluminum oxide so it has to be a bit strong. There is no damage and this is doing what I was hoping for.

I am liking this method better than the oven cleaner which after 20 minutes did leave clear, but small, pitting on the aluminum, while not clearing off all of the anodizing.

[JosephS]

I got the greased lightning and it is highly reactive with bare aluminum.

That is weird. Maybe Grease Lightning works differently in your house than it does in mine. Any pictures of the damage that it caused? What happened that was "highly reactive?"

Thanks to your tip I finally have enough parts cleaned up to send off. I switched from a metal container to a plastic one and it worked awesome.

Did your parts come out as clean as you showed?
I had my pieces covered with a black layer. It cleaned up easy enough with some light sanding.

[JosephS]

[jwscab]

looks good! Like I mentioned earlier, now is the time to improve the finish of the chassis, sand out any deep scratches if you want, and try and get a uniform finish on them before sending them out.

something like a good new scotchbrite pad works great, just remember to only 'sand' in one direction and you will get that brushed finished. if you decided to polish the surfaces (a lot of work) the anodizing ends up kinda like a clear coat/candy.

you could do just a nice wet sand around 800-1000 grit to give it a nice matte surface.

[morrisey0]

None of mine came out with a coating that didn't easily wipe off.

You could save some money here and stick with bare metal, at least on one of them.

[JosephS]

None of mine came out with a coating that didn't easily wipe off.

You could save some money here and stick with bare metal, at least on one of them.

I'll have to see if I do more on getting a better result. I did this in a few rounds and that may be making the results not as clean as yours. If I do more I may just do a solid long term dunk on a part with good coating.

Right now the minimum batch anodizing price covers two chassis so it's two new gold pans for me.

I may have a silver pan in my future if the colors comes out some crazy off.

[JosephS]

I just got my parts back from anodizing and I am not excited about the color.

I have to say that the pan featured here looks much nicer than it did.

The color is more brown than gold and there are some white crusts around details in the parts that have no dye underneath.

This was my test run on the process for me to learn and I still have more to learn. I am going to work with the processor to better understand how to get better future results.

Based on this result I’ve got more to learn before I try again.

[JosephS]

So what I did notice is that on some of the white blisters, underneath is the right color gold.

Now I was pretty sure that I chemically stripped everything before I sent this out, so it’s not likely left over anodizing from the factory.

[JosephS]

So here are the full results.
These have grown on me as I started building them up
. Going back and looking at where these started I am really happy with the fit and fishes of the pieces even if the color isn’t right. The parts feel new when you touch them. Even though some scratches are visible having them anodized makes them seem not as notable.

I am super glad I had all of the pieces run at the same time. Original color pieces will contract on this. All in all the process, stripping and shipping as well, was $100 for 2 full cars of parts and I could have added another for the same price.

I think I would do this again if I had 2-3 cars to work on. It certainly can take a trashed looking piece and make it respectable looking.