Anodizing Removal

[WheelMan]

Do any of you guys have much experience doing this?

I have done a fair amount of research on it, and have had some pretty good results...with aluminum.

Titanium seems to be where I'm stumped, and can't find much information on. So:

1) Do titanium R/C parts have the same anodized coating as their aluminum versions?

2) If so, can it be removed? If not, can the part be returned to its original silver color?

Reason I'm asking this is because I have successfully removed the anodizing from quite a few aluminum parts (all different grades of aluminum, from different companies) by soaking them in Greased Lightning cleaner, and then polishing afterwards. But, this process does not work on titanium parts that have been anodized...I tried.

I read somewhere that Alumabrite boat cleaner works for removing the anodizing from titanium, but its $25/bottle, and I don't want to spend that much on something that I'm not 100% sure will work.

I understand titanium can be "colored" simply by heating it to a certain temperature (which is not really anodizing)...but this doesn't show promise for my situation, in trying to resume it back to its original silver color.

I have also seen where titanium can be "anodized" by being dipped into a solution (not sure what it is exactly), and then charged with a certain voltage, to obtain the color desired (higher/lower voltages creating different colors).

Anyways, anyone around here have an knowledge on the subject. My overall goal is just to figure out how to remove anodizing/coloring from a couple titanium skid plates I have.

And obviously I know I could just sand it off, but I don't want to remove metal or alter the finish, so I'm not looking for answers like that please.


Thanks guys!

-Travis

[BrianG]

I've always used Easy-Off oven cleaner (not the "safe" version, the full-bore burn-your-skin kind) for aluminum, but never tried it for Ti.

[bdebde]

I have some anodized ti turnbuckles that seem to have the color wearing off... perhaps just a bit of polishing will remove the color?

[Blazerss]

I have removed the anodizing off of Titanium by simply polishing it with a course compound on a hard wheel. It will take a while on TI skids that have the grain in them, but it will work. TI that was polished before getting anodized is much easier to strip, you just hit it on a polishing wheel and it comes right off. I have also heard that oven cleaner will work, but I have never tried that.

[_paralyzed_]

Ti isn't naturally silver, that's polished Ti. Ti is naturally that cool rainbowy color.

If chemicals or polishing doesn't work, you can sand without altering the finish, just use a higher grit of sandpaper, say 1000 grit.

[WheelMan]

ok, well it looks like I've got a few different methods here to try out.

Thanks for the insight, guys! I'll let ya know how it all goes.


-Travis

[WheelMan]

Well, I got the anodizing off. Although I had to resort to a method, which I knew would work for sure, but just did not want to do. It turned out ok though, so I'm happy.

Greased Lightning = Fail
Easy off oven cleaner = Fail
Drano (w/caustic soda/lye) = Fail
Coke (suggested by a friend as a last resort, haha) = Fail

Final last resort, WIRE WHEEL = Success (as expected), just had to do it with care.

Before:

After:


Front skid wasn't anodized obviously, just needed some polishing.


-Travis

[MiRatlhed]

Nice work man! That center skid looks great. I took some Ti skids to a machine shop one time because they had some pretty good scratches in them and I wanted to see if he could mill off a slight amount of material. He ended up using a scotch brite pad and they came out looking like your center skid.

[Blazerss]

Looks great, nice job. Nice to know what did and didn't work on the anodize on the TI parts.

I want that purple motor, is it a Hacker?

[WheelMan]

Originally Posted by Blazerss

Looks great, nice job. Nice to know what did and didn't work on the anodize on the TI parts.

I want that purple motor, is it a Hacker?

Yep, it's one of the original Hacker C50 Maxx 14.4v Brushless Motors. Kinda hard to find these days, as they've come out with much bigger and better since back when that motor was popular. I did see one on the bay not too long ago tho.


-Travis

[WheelMan]

Thank you for the front and center skids Blazerss!!

oh and I got lucky and found a brand new in package HCR TI Rear Skid, on Amazon, of all places!

But it's blue, so I just need to repeat the process on this skid now.



-Travis

[Blazerss]

No problem, glad it all worked. I'm going to have to pick up a hacker or 2 for my Emaxx project. I saw that one on Ebay, I just didn't bid, now I wish I had of. Oh well, there will be more.

[nastety92]

I'm not sure what these cost but if you are looking for another set here is one for sale over on rctech.net

http://www.rctech.net/forum/r-c-item...-t-e-maxx.html

Nick

[WheelMan]

Originally Posted by nastety92

I'm not sure what these cost but if you are looking for another set here is one for sale over on rctech.net

http://www.rctech.net/forum/r-c-item...-t-e-maxx.html

Nick

MiRatlhed actually led me to that very same listing shortly after I started this thread but thank you!

I ended up finding some that were in much better shape though, so I passed on this set. Although now that I see they are still available, I might have to get them for my older Maxx, which still has the buttery bendy aluminum skids.


-Travis

[Kcaz25]

Does anyone know for sure if Alumabrite boat cleaner will work on titanium? Sanding/abrasion is out of the question here.

I read HERE that

Aluma-Brite Aluminum Boat Cleaner is an acidic compound used to remove corrosion and oxides

I think titanium color is an oxidation process.

-Zack