[Hulkamaniac]

Got an older set of saint cranks on my dh bike. They've been on there for a couple of seasons now and are showing a good bit of wear, both from shoes rubbing the outer section of the arm and a few knicks in the ends from a few rock garden incidents in their time. I really want to figure out how to remove the anodizing, or what I assume is ano, from the cranksarms and simply polish them to a good look. Is this possible? If so, how would I go about doing it without somehow screwing them up? Any insight, knowledge, personal experiences is greatly appreciated.

I know it will take a long time, but it's winter and my main steed for the winter is my KTM.

 

[bullcrew]

If they are anodized the easiest do it yourself home stripper is oven cleaner on them and let them sit. then proceed to spray sit and wipe. Strips the ano down, then 400 grit the arms moving to 600 then 800!
Polishing by hand can be doene but not as fast as a bar and a polisher, if you dont have a table grinder to hook a polish bonnet to then some mothers and a terry cloth will do OK.
The finer grit paper used to rub down the arms (if your hand polishing) will make the biggest difference in clarity and reflection. Use water when sanding the pores on paper dont clog as easy and it rinses the residual off making it easier to see what needs to be done (haziness all even is good). If you are using a polisher then finish with a 600 max and burn baby burn!!!!! Itll be like a mirror in no time!

 

[BKQuill]

Exactly^^
Not the best pic, but you get the idea.

...or if you are not a do it yourselfer, contact Chip at C4Labs. He does amazing work! http://www.c4labspc.com/

 

[Hulkamaniac]

If they are anodized the easiest do it yourself home stripper is oven cleaner on them and let them sit. then proceed to spray sit and wipe. Strips the ano down, then 400 grit the arms moving to 600 then 800!
Polishing by hand can be doene but not as fast as a bar and a polisher, if you dont have a table grinder to hook a polish bonnet to then some mothers and a terry cloth will do OK.
The finer grit paper used to rub down the arms (if your hand polishing) will make the biggest difference in clarity and reflection. Use water when sanding the pores on paper dont clog as easy and it rinses the residual off making it easier to see what needs to be done (haziness all even is good). If you are using a polisher then finish with a 600 max and burn baby burn!!!!! Itll be like a mirror in no time!

Huh, oven cleaner...looks like I got the makings of a good project for the next few days off!!! Thanks Bullcrew.

 

[Hulkamaniac]

Exactly^^
Not the best pic, but you get the idea.

...or if you are not a do it yourselfer, contact Chip at C4Labs. He does amazing work! http://www.c4labspc.com/

BKQuill, were those cranks Saints that you had polished by C4Labs or are the DX's? That GT looks amazing!

 

[davep]

Saints are painted or PC, not anno. You will just need to use some paint stripper to remove the coating and then clean up and polish.

It has been a while, but I used to do this a LOT with BMX parts... cranks, pedals, hubs, stems, rims, frames, etc. I have never needed to use sand paper, but it is possible to pit the aluminum with stripper (oven cleaner ie lye) if you are not careful.

A stiff brush helps get the coating out of cracks and corners and welds. I also like to use scotch brite as a first polish after stripping. After that, I have always used a couple grades of rouge on a cotton wheel (either on a bench grinder or on a drill)...then a final wipe down with semichrome polish (awesome but hard to find product) for super shine and oxidization protection.

 

[BKQuill]

Those are indeed Saints, and yep Chip at C4Labs did them, the Thomson stem and post as well. I have done the oven cleaner trick, and it works! I just didn't have the time, if you want them to look showroom worthy, be prepared to do a lot of sanding.

Thanks for the props on the GT, I swapped the Tuff Wheels for spokes, they just flexed way too much for racing, great for dirt jumping, but lousy for racing. I actually sold that bike in the pic, but I loved the way it rode I decided to do another one. This one has the DXR's on it.

 

[Hulkamaniac]

Saints are painted or PC, not anno. You will just need to use some paint stripper to remove the coating and then clean up and polish.

It has been a while, but I used to do this a LOT with BMX parts... cranks, pedals, hubs, stems, rims, frames, etc. I have never needed to use sand paper, but it is possible to pit the aluminum with stripper (oven cleaner ie lye) if you are not careful.

A stiff brush helps get the coating out of cracks and corners and welds. I also like to use scotch brite as a first polish after stripping. After that, I have always used a couple grades of rouge on a cotton wheel (either on a bench grinder or on a drill)...then a final wipe down with semichrome polish (awesome but hard to find product) for super shine and oxidization protection.

So how long do you leave the oven cleaner stuff on then to avoid the pitting hazards? Should I just opt to use the aircraft paint stripper stuff instead (already have a can leftover from an old frame project)?

Would a polishing attachment on a dremel work or do you think it would leave to many individual "lines" in the polished look due to the small'ish bit used?

Thanks for the input, it's helping me figure out how to tackle this and already pointed out one of the things I was wrongly assuming (ano).

 

[bullcrew]

If they are paint then go to teh home depot and get aircraft stripper itll eat the paint asap (alot qucker than stripping ano) and then hit with a 800/1000 grit polish and there you go. If its ano let the oven cleaner sit for a bit (several minutes) then clean off and inspect, I havent heard of it etching anything, we always used caustic etch on the ano line so I ws spoiled!

Dremels suck butthole! I hate them they are more trouble than they are worth as far as polishing. I tried one and that was the end of that!

 

[Minou]

The Saints are not painted, they're anodized.
You will have to remove it chemically or mechanically.

I used a Dremel drum sander to remove the thin coat and different polishing tools to get the mirror finish.

A lot of work but worth it.

Regards
Matt

 

[Udi]

Saints are painted or PC, not anno.

I'm fairly sure they're ano, not painted or PC... interested in hearing how you came to this conclusion if I'm wrong though.

 

[SteezyWeezy]

The Saints are not painted, they're anodized.
You will have to remove it chemically or mechanically.

I used a Dremel drum sander to remove the thin coat and different polishing tools to get the mirror finish.

A lot of work but worth it.

Regards
Matt

ohhhhh thats what i want to do with my frame hopefully soon. i was planning on stripping and what not, but for a clear coat can i get something at the store or is it best to take it to a shop?

 

[RayB]

singlespeed v10?
plz explain.

 

[Minou]

I tried the SS setup for a couple of rides. It was pretty quiet and nice but not very practical so i switched back to 9speed. Just wanted to give it a go...

As long as the frames are 60XX alloys they won't need any "preserving" coating at all. Try to get the best finish using different polishing compounds so the material surface is really smooth and dense. It will stay shiny without any further treatment. I have a polished Blur 4X frame (stock) and it has no coating at all. SC recommends to remove the PC chemically - no sandblasting! It worked fine for my V10. The Sunday was much different. It has a sort of primer underneath the pc which was a pain to get away...took more than twice the time.

Regards
Matt

 

[Hulkamaniac]

So when I spray on the oven cleaner can I just tape off the spider, pedal insert, and the inner & out bb axle??? Will the oven cleaner eat through the tape??? BTW, is there any better product then oven cleaner or is it all just to toxic? I do have two dogs in the house, tho I generally keep them out of the garage/work room area, so the quicker and less toxic this can be done the better.

Thanks to everyone for the insight and help on this. I'll post up pics of the final product, maybe even the various stages of the project, when I get to that point in a few days.

 

[konastab01]

Caustic Soda is another one you could use.
I just polish my full saints and never taped anything off.
I had some oven cleaner
Wire wool
Pair of yellow Marigold gloves.
And some hot water to rinse them.
I just kept doing this all over till it was all off then when on to wet and dry paper.
Took a bit of work but they looked good after it....

 

[dilzy]

I just stripped the ano of my Hones today to polish them. I mixed a bunch of NaOH crystals in about half a liter of water so it got really hot as it dissolved. I then used a cheap paint brush and the anodizing just stroked off after about 30 seconds.

I did run into a little snag with the spider, as the caustic wouldn't strip it, so I'm assuming it's pc or paint?

I had an idea to polish the arms and then using a liquid mask, create a design on the crank and acid etch the design into the crank, dulling the areas without mask leaving the rest polished. Reckon it would work?