Refinishing painted or anodized mountain bike components

Letter 7036

Refinishing painted or anodized mountain bike components

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I am curious about refinishing painted bicycle frames (high strength aluminum or chromoly steel), and anodized aluminum. I have heard of using oven cleaner to remove anodizing, and commercial chemical paint stripper for painted parts. The components to be refinished are high strength, high stress and high dollar. My concern is the reduction of yield, or fatigue resistance in the process. Are there any other solutions that do not adversly impact the material properties?

Derek Hughes
- Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

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I've personally never heard of paint strippers having an adverse reaction on steel parts. Aluminum is sensitive to a number of things, so I guess it's possible that some paint strippers could affect it.

As to the oven cleaner, again I can't see this having any effect on steel parts. It's used on aluminum parts to remove the anodized finish, and it definitely will attack the aluminum base metal as well. The way to strip anodized coatings from important aluminum parts is with chromic-phosphoric stripping solutions.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
finishing.com Inc. - Brick, NJ

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YES INDEED SOME TYPES OF PAINT STRIPPER CAN DAMAGE ALUMINUM. ESPECIALLY IF IT`S LEFT ON THE MATERIAL TOO LONG. THE BEST TYPE OF STRIPPER , AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC IS Tal-Strip [link is to product info at Amazon] AIRCRAFT STRIPPER. THE BEST AND MOST EFFICIENT WAY TO STRIP ANODIZING OFF OF ALLOY. IS TO GO TO YOUR LOCAL RADIATOR SHOP OR PLATING SHOP, AS THEY HAVE HOT CAUSTIC. IT WILL WORK FAST AND EFFICIENTLY. OPPOSED TO YOUR OVEN CLEANER, THAT WILL NOT STRIP CONSISTENTLY. EITHER OF THEM SHOULD BE RINSED VERY THOROUGH, AS THE CAUSTIC CAN BE CORROSIVE, IF DEPOSITS ARE LEFT BEHIND, OR INSIDE YOUR FRAME , OR OTHER PCS.YEA

ROB MCKAY
- VANCOUVER, CANADA

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