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I have stripped some tubs with the oven cleaner method which works very well. Now I am sanding to finish up the surface. My question is what type of finish do I need before I send it away for anodizing? I am not familiar with the anodizing process so am I looking for a mirror finish, do I want to do a final polish with a mag polish?

Thanks in advance guys

The more polished the finish the nicer and brighter the anno will look.
Also ask them about bright dip, it's a chemical polish of some sort- havent tried it yet but I will sometime.

Here is an rc10 I just did in copper, look at the axles (fairly polished) versus the chassis (no polish, no sanding etc)

Thank you, that's a great visual. On the axles did you just sand and polish those?

Nope, right out of the package. They just have an almost polished finish. Anything you can do will make it look better. I don't have the patients for polishing, if I did the anno would be way better

I also send them as-is, no polishing.

http://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=25195&start=15

pretty much the nicer it looks before anodizing, the nicer it will look after.

I prefer a fully polished look before any anodizing is done.

Don the anodizer polished up some parts before anodizing and you can see how it looked after he anodized it. Its a combination of clear and gold anodizing from him.

http://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=32923

Never sandblast your parts before anno. I did a tub and nose and sent them to gomachv, but the parts had a fuzzy look and feel to them after anno.

The anodizer said that the blast media embeds itself in the metal on a microscopic level and causes problems. Soda blasting, walnut shells or some other less-abrasive media might be fine, but I've never tried those.

Yes good point! It also has to do with the metals that have went thru the media, for example if they media blast steel then steel particles get into the blast and embed into the aluminum. It didn't turn out well at all!

Copper now that is a change of pace I LOVE it

The ultima took the copper better than the associated stuff...

WOW that's beautiful nice copper color, came out very nice.

My anodized told me to polish the parts and he would anodize them that way to get a nice shine but it's not as durable as when they dip the parts in a chemical etch that allows the anodize it adhere better.

I have stripped a gold pan nose piece and chassis, I noticed under the gold which comes off pretty easily is a black coating? I guess it has to do with the ano process but I was surprised to see it,and its much harder to remove. Used a scotch brite to help.

I've seen a few places offer a 'brite dip'. Whatever that is also looks good from what I've noticed.

Bright dip is a chemical way of polishing the metal. It was recommended to me on new parts only as it will show scratches and other problems more