Who has oven cleaner'd there forks? - Deanodising

[kiwi kdx]

hey guys im gonna strip the gold off my forks soon and just wondered if someone could give me a run down on the process, things not to do etc.

ill be leaving the forks together so i guess ill need to be carefull of the seals...

some info and pics would be great.

[Aido]

Stand them in a bucket of caustic soda AKA sodium hydroxide.
Oven cleaner contains this chemical and it is what disolves the aluminium oxide that makes up the anodic layer.
If you cant get straight caustic soda use Draino. Available at hardware stores.

Heres an example.
http://www.baja-forum.co.uk/showthread.php?501-De-anodising-alloy-quot-how-to-quot

[kiwi kdx]

ok thet looks pretty simple...

is there any risk of pitting or corrosion to the alloy if it is left too long in the sodium?

[Aido]

Yes.
But you would have to leave it for an extended period of time.
Check on it every 20 mins and keep wiping the smut from the surface until all the gold dye is removed.
Use chemical gloves and SAFETY GOGGLES. it will burn you and cause blindness.
Pretty sure the gasses that come of it arent particularly healthy either....one of the gasses is hydrogen which can be explosive in a confined area so do it outside.
When your done tip it down the kitchen sink and clean the drains...after all that was its intended purpose anyway.

Further reading
http://www.pfonline.com/articles/stripping-anodic-coating

[kiwi kdx]

beautifull, thanks mate!

[Tim]

Aido would alibrite (http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online-store/products/Septone-Ali-Brite-Aluminium-Cleaner-1-Litre.aspx?pid=1747#Cross)work?

shines up a dirty old ute tray pretty quickly,but dont leave it on to long!

[oldskool]

Wet and dry, heavy to fine

[EXBEN]

I do this all the time, as Aido said Caustic soda, you can get it at woolies or coles for 2-3 bucks a tub (about 1/2 a kilo) In the Dunny/Drain cleaner section it's small granules that dissolve in water ( make sure you stir it when you add the granules) water will go milky then clear ( after about 1 minute) the more granules you add the quicker it will strip the anodising, use about 1/4-1/3 of the tub to a bucket of water, & yes best to do it outside & don't get it on your clothes, keep pets/small children away as it's pretty nasty shit. Give your parts a good degrease before putting them in the caustic, I use wax & grease remover because it doesn't leave any kind of oily film ( oil acts like a barrier & stops the caustic from doing it's thing)
When you put the parts in not much will happen at first but after a few minutes it will start fizzing (this is good) generally the colour will come off pretty quickly but don't be too quick to remove the parts because if your planning on sanding the alloy then you want to remove the anodising (hard) layer completely, 15-20 mins is usually enough ( this is mix dependent though ).
If you just want to remove the colour I recommend a weaker mix & keep checking every few mins.
Remove from the caustic & rinse really well in fresh water (rubbing with a wet rag under running water works well)
If you feel it needs a bit more you can put it back in the caustic also.
If the alloy goes black/ smutty looking don't worry it's just the grade of alloy, this will come off with sanding, or if you've got some Nitric acid handy this works also ...but that starting to go down another track.
Fork legs usually come up pretty nice .

[EXBEN]

Oh & best to use some gloves when handling caustic too, just take the missuses washing up gloves she won't mind...

[kiwi kdx]

Awesome, thanks mate i cant wait to get them done.