A Wee Anodising Trick!!

[velofrog]

if any of you are like me, sometimes a nice bit of kit just doesn't match with a new build as it's the wrong colour.

I have a lovely carbon stem, with gold ano accents. tried to sell on ebay but only silly offers, and it cost me a fortune!

saw sense and decided to keep it, then did some research into easy ways to remove the anodising!

the process i found does not remove the ano, it just burns off the dye, so the alloy is still protected, and as long as silver is a colour you're gonna be happy with, then this works a treat!

took me 20 minutes in the shed last night, just gently heating.

went from this:

 

[velofrog]

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to this:

 

[velofrog]

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using this!

 

[Bullpup]

Nice! Any more info on the technique please? There are going to be a lot of people looking at their faded pink Hope Hubs thinking will I won't I.

 

[Mike Muz]

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Doesn't oven cleaner do the same thing?

 

[velofrog]

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think oven cleaner removes chemical ano coating, heating just removes the colour, as far as i know!!

all i did was heat each part gently with the blow torch, until the colour faded, slow, gentle heat is the key

and, i don't have any oven cleaner, but i do have a blow torch!

 

[tufty]

Yep, oven cleaner or caustic soda will remove the anodise layer entirely, ready for re-anodising. You lose some mass doing this, obviously, and I really wouldn't suggest it for anything you need to be dimensionally stable (read - anything with threads).

Slow heating will "burn off" the dye that's added *after* anodising, leaving you with a plain-but-still-anodised piece.

Given that the dying process is carried out *after* anodisation, this may allow you to re-dye (to change the colour of, or revitalise / restore) an aged piece. I might give this a shot, if I can get hold of some suitable dye.

 

[02gf74]

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How hot did you have to get the parts? Id be concerned as to whether the 'heat treatment' affects the properties e.g. strength, brittleness of the parts.