Coelacanth

iTrader: (2)

Actually what's probably going on is you didn't completely remove the anodizing, which is why it didn't re-anodize. As I have said, and many others will confirm, on this forum and others, is that Easy-Off Heavy Duty oven cleaner (with the yellow cap) is necessary for removing the anodizing.

I'm guessing you haven't tried sanding or polishing off anodizing. By its very nature, it's a hard coating and *very* hard to remove. If you go to town on it with rough-grit sandpaper or sandblasting, the lengths you'll need to go to remove the ano will probably damage the underlying aluminum, which is soft.

A fellow member over on RC10talk.com has tried this, but I'm doubtful about how well that dye sticks, as it's meant for nylon & plastics, not aluminum. The other thing that makes me think you can't just use any ol' dye for anodizing is that there are rather few dye colors available for anodizing. Look up any professional anodizing shop's color list and you'll see only a half-dozen or so colors, in addition to the usual grey/black.

The comments on this topic aren't suggestions, they're tried & true procedures that were researched from various other sources.

zoomster

One thing to be carefull of, removed some anodising can affect the clearances between parts e.g holes now become slightly larger and shaft become smaller and the play can be felt

Arik350

Only if the part you're dying never sees the sun. I have several parts on my MR2 that I anodized and the parts that saw sunlight stayed red for about 6 months before they faded.

My reason for anodizing wasn't to make things pretty though. I made caliper brackets for a set of 996C4 calipers and I wanted them anodized to protect against corrosion between dissimilar metals (aluminum bracket, iron hub). The dye was only used to make sure the part anodized properly.

As for stripping the anodized layer, a tablespoon of lye in about 32oz of water works really well. Swish it around and the color just washes right off.

UberPare

Anyone ever deanodize a brushless motor? My motors blue & the rest of my chassis is bare polished.

Figured I should take it apart, but what about the stator & bearings?

Cravin

iTrader: (1)

The purple cleaner works good to strip aluminum and its not harsh like easy off.