Lets say I have an aluminum piece that has been anodized in a color. Can the anodize be removed?

Wanna try and customize some MBA pieces I have and want to know if the color can be removed...

 

I know that if you put stickers on annoed surfaces, that the sticky residue will eat away at the anno causing it to look like crap (I know this from paintball guns). So I would assume there is a way to remove it.

 

You can remove anodize coating with Sodium Hydroxide. Two household products that contain it are the heavy duty Easy Off Oven Cleaners and Drain-O. The trick to doing it is that you can't let the product sit on the part for too long: sodium hydroxide will eat away aluminum as well so you need to periodically rinse the part and wipe it off. It's better to be safe than sorry so plan on doing this several times: you're going to get pitting on the part LONG before you deplete a bottle of Easy Off so try not to be too conservative with the amount of it that you use up. The more rinsings and re-applications that you do, the less chance that the aluminum will get pitted.

Be safe: at the least, wear rubber gloves and if you have it, a respirator mask.

It would be wise to have some fine grit sandpaper (1000-2000grit) and definitely some kind've metal polish on hand (Mother's Billet) to clean the part up with after the anodize is completely removed.

Hope that helps.

 

another vote for easy off over cleaner-

just keep spraying it down... let it sit ... hose off and repeat..

but be carefull stuff will burn you bad.

 

purple power and a scotchbrite pad

or drain-o

 

Oven cleaner is the way to go. It only needs to be left on for about a minute and the finish will come off. You may need a brass brush to get into the corners.

It will leave a dull finish but not as dull as if you sand or scotchbrite it.

 

Cool - thanks for all of the replies. I am going out to get the oven cleaner tonight.