| Author | Message | ||
     Scott_in_nh |
I bought one of the $100 upgraded rotors on ebay and want to polish it. I tried paint stripper and nothing. I hit it with a piece of 220 and it didn't even scratch it! So besides maybe finding somebody who can glass bead it - is there another way? Thanks, Scott | ||
| X1_rider |
Caswell Plating sells some anodizing and chrome stripper. Just scroll down the following page to find it. http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/aluminum.htm | ||
| Hootowl |
Anodizing is not a paint you can strip off. It is a chemical conversion of the surface of the metal. It is very hard, likely harder than the aluminum oxide sandpaper you attempted to sand it off with. | ||
| Scott_in_nh |
you do realize from my post above that I already figured that out right?  | ||
| Hootowl |
I was just giving general information. It was suggested that you can strip it off with a stripper, which is not the case. You can chemically remove it with a very strong base like lye or oven cleaner. Use caution though, those bases will eat the underlying aluminum as well. | ||
| Jayvee |
What kind of rotor is anodized? That just sounds weird. I've smoothed out some Yamaha rotors with emery cloth when the factory pads put grooves into them. Ferodo pads work better at (slowly) removing the grooves though. | ||
| Sportyeric |
I expect the carrier, not the rotor itself. | ||
| Scott_in_nh |
Yes, sorry - the question is how to remove the anodizing from the carrier (while not damaging the rotor) | ||
| Sloppy |
To remove anodizing you need to un-electroplate it. Sorry, I had to make that up - similar to "de-chroming" a part, but much more than just a deposition process. In addition, you'll have to keep it out of contact with air... yea that's the kicker with Aluminum -- ALL ALUMINUM IS ANODIZED! Meaning, it is an extremely reactive metal with oxygen and forms an anodized layer. The "anodizing" process simply increases the strength of the natural oxide layer. But as soon as the "anodized" layer is cleaned off and exposed to air, it will form another layer again. Now that I think about it, what you would need to do is CATHODIZE the part  Anywho, not sure you want to do with pure alumimun. Perhaps another solution to the problem? |
