Chassis ?s 2 parts- To strip it or not? Straighten that bend

[MOmo]

So I am sorting through some of my accumulated chassis' and a couple of them have some pretty good scratches. Then i started toying with the idea of either finding the worst of the worst and grinding off all the anodized covering and going with either a polished chassis OR taking it to a local PC I know and getting the chassis PC in something else.

I saw in some threads that EasyOff oven cleaner can be useful. Would I be better off using one of the Gold Tub chassis that I have over a team car chassis?


Another team car chassis appears to have a slight bow or wow in it. I appears bent near the mounting holes of the nose plate. Can i simply heat it up and bend it back? Do i need a press or a vice?



MOmo

[treehugger]

i went to a PC today to get a quote he said forty bucks nose pan and motor plate he said he would do all six for seventy bucks after seeing some of the post and the quality of the builds i figure it has to be done so im doing six black two green rc10s and im concidering doing my worlds pan as well
im also going to do four ultima chassis as well those will be black also my camera is broken so im hoping to get a new one tomorrow so i can post some pics of before and after

[treehugger]

oh i forgot the guy at the pc place said they would blast the colour of the chassis to give it a good key for the coating to stick to

[RedScampi]

You don't really need to heat the chassis to straighten it. I use a bench vise and some blocks of wood. You have to think about how the warp in the chassis happened and then use careful pressure in the opposite direction. The aluminum has some "memory" so you have to over bend it just a little to get it where you want it. I move the chassis position in the vise several times and use pulling, twisting, and pushing methods. It's hard to describe but not difficult to do if you take your time and think about what you are doing. As far as which chassis to use the Easy Off on, it doesn't seem to matter if your goal is to strip it. Most of them only take a few minutes and you need to work quickly because the Easy Off will attack the aluminum if left to sit. I use a gallon size zip lock bag, spray the easy Off till it covers everything, zip it up then start agitating it. After just a few minutes the anodizing will be mostly gone. Take it out, rinse it thoroughly and inspect it. Lather, rinse repeat for the tough spots. The aluminum will be a dull grey color. Then you just have to polish. Use a dremel and some polishing compound, or if you have it use a real polishing setup. I always follow up with another metal polish done by hand. It's a dirty and slow process but well worth it.

[LowClassCC]

i went to a PC today to get a quote he said forty bucks nose pan and motor plate he said he would do all six for seventy bucks after seeing some of the post and the quality of the builds i figure it has to be done so im doing six black two green rc10s and im concidering doing my worlds pan as well
im also going to do four ultima chassis as well those will be black also my camera is broken so im hoping to get a new one tomorrow so i can post some pics of before and after

$70 for 2 complete chassis sets?!? sounds a little high to me. my local pc shop does mine for $20 per 3 piece set in any color i want as (as long as they have it in stock). i would shop around a bit for other shops before i settle on them.

[jwscab]

complete set for $40, and 6 sets for $70, or 6 pieces?

yeah, don't use heat on the chassis. bend them back to shape cold. use a vise and wood, as mentioned, or at least something soft as to not gouge the metal from the vise jaws.

[treehugger]

i showed him a chassis set and he said forty and six sets for 70 bucks that's eleven sixty six a chassis seems like a good deal but i have never had anything coated before

[LowClassCC]

well if that is 6x 3 piece sets for $70 then heck ya. but will he do each set in a different color or do they all have to be the same for that price? the $40 he quoted ya may just be a min price. i have seen some shops that do that.

[treehugger]

im going to do six in black and six in that gorgeous lime green so twelve complete sets for $140 in your experience low class do i have to sand the big scratches out how good is the coverage ?

[LowClassCC]

they will do all the prep work but look for any burs around those big scratches and remove them. now the big scratches will still show but the chassis will look too good to really matter much. now one key thing to note to the pc shop is that they need to lay it on thin enough that the nose will still fit in the chassis when its all done. i havn't had any problems with this but i did ask my shop to lay it thin due to fitment.

[metallicats33]

now how well does PC hold up on a runner application? I've wanted to do this for some time but don't want it all tore up after one run at the track.

[treehugger]

powder coating is coated on most things for durability the gang box i keep my tools in is coated and it takes a lot of abuse and for the extra 3 grams (according to low class weight thread ) is worth it to me it mast hold infinitely better than ano

[treehugger]

well almost got my pile of chassis ready for the powder coating i have a liberal sprinkling of rc10s kyosho ultimas and a LWB optima mid oh and how could i forget my rc10DS the blue one in the pic is an a stamp but has been drilled for stealth so if anybody wants to swap speak now im still not sure weather i should do the worlds in shinny green or shinny black ?
regards Paul

[jwscab]

is that blue one powder coated?

[m_vice]

Cool plan you have their. i am thinking the ultima chassis are going to be very interesting. keep us posted on how it works out and post after pics.