[Taxarod]

Originally Posted by InverT

How often do you have to re-polish the parts to maintain the luster?

You do not re-polish unless you scratch the part and want to re polish it again, just carry a piece of cloth to clean the finger prints or any kind of dirt off the polished part.

[Taxarod]

Originally Posted by R-M-I

raw\polished aluminium WILL oxidize.. only way to treat that is to polish it up again...

One could possibly use some sort of wax? Like they do on the chrome parts of cars?

It does oxidize if you don't use any type of compound and just polish it using abrasives. Which is why you use polish compound to polish, it coats the aluminum and protects it from the oxide.

[AngelsNightmare]

Originally Posted by Taxarod

Hello, Yes, lye will strip the part completely down to aluminum, even if its spray paint or any type of paint, make sure you are careful and don't leave the aluminum overnight in the lye, just enough for it to strip off, you'll see this happening after 15-20 minutes depending on what kind of lye or cleaner you use.

Thanks a lot. I'll be trying this in a couple mins. I'll let you know the results

[pbfreek202]

If I wanted to use lye to remove the anno on a body would I have to plug the tubes? I would imagine that removing the anno that way would mess with the tolerances, and you also couldnt polish the tubes leaving them raw exposed aluminum.

[theblindchicken]

Removing the interior anno via lye dip would mess the tolerances. The interior can be polished, but it's a little more challenging. You could try using polishing compound on a cloth (microfiber might be best) and attached to a dowel rod hooked up to a drill. Not gonna be very accurate to other ways, but that's why they machined and annod the insides.

[Dan95-5.0]

my progress so far. The Easy off worked very well. I actually like the look of the raw aluminum and have thought about leaving it like this. once its polished i believe its going to really pop even more then it does now. I have thought about doing the barrel front but the porting scares me.

before:


now:

[Taxarod]

Well done buddy, I'm glad this is helping you all.

[THE PAINTBALL NINJA]

Can I polish a shocker body without messing up something on the inside? Meaning, will any of those chemicals corrode the aluminum making the gun not seal correctly?

[inmylife2415]

you need to seal off the internal parts of the body(unless re anodizing)...when i did mine i soaked a towel in the chemical of choice and wrapped it around the body. check it and repeat until ready to polish

[Taxarod]

That's a possible way of doing it (soaking the towell and applying to boddy) but I would personally recomend totally disasembling the parts you want to polish from anything else that could possibly get damaged, just in case, because this stuff is pretty corrosive, even though its diluted in the can already from factory.

[THE PAINTBALL NINJA]

Originally Posted by Taxarod

That's a possible way of doing it (soaking the towell and applying to boddy) but I would personally recomend totally disasembling the parts you want to polish from anything else that could possibly get damaged, just in case, because this stuff is pretty corrosive, even though its diluted in the can already from factory.

So, will it damage the inside of the body when completely dissassembled?

[svmeyer]

I tried soaking some of my shockers parts in lye, and alot of the parts didn't turn out very well. They parts didn't seem like they were high quality, maybe I left them in too long. But the parts had a lot of little dimples in them.

[Taxarod]

Well, you do need to be careful when doing this, if you don't want to remove the annodizing from everything, you need to cover or plug the ends of the parts, ill do some parts and post pictures today.

[svmeyer]

Can anyone post a pic right after the pieces are taken out of the lye?

[Dan95-5.0]

look at my pics that i just posted. thats raw aluminum. I think planet eclipse uses a better aluminum which is why i came out so nice.

if you completely submerge the part in the easy off cleaner, it strips the anno evenly. my trigger frame couldnt fit into the container i was using so i just rotated it once and a while. you can tell by looking at it. after a light spray from the can and a little scuffing it evened out.

[svmeyer]

When I did it, after I took it out of the lye, the parts still had some black spots on it. I didn't know if it was suppose to be completely silver like raw aluminum

[Taxarod]

I'll post pictures in a moment, I'm doing detent covers of my axe right now.

[Taxarod]

Original


Right after they are taken out of the lye bath.


One to the left was sanded with around 600 grid (just to remove the dust finish since it was dust anno) right one its comparison to one just out of the lye.



And this is after mirror'd

[inmylife2415]

Originally Posted by THE PAINTBALL NINJA

So, will it damage the inside of the body when completely dissassembled?

First completely disassemble, plug all the internals, then use the towel and chemical to strip the anno. if you use the towel and block the all internal passages you will be just fine

Originally Posted by svmeyer

I tried soaking some of my shockers parts in lye, and alot of the parts didn't turn out very well. They parts didn't seem like they were high quality, maybe I left them in too long. But the parts had a lot of little dimples in them.

sounds like the parts pitted...either to much lye or you left them in to long.

[Taxarod]

True that, you need to keep an eye on your parts so they don't get eaten by the lye, also, don't buy lye and dilute it, its too pure and it will mess the aluminum before taking the anno' off.

[svmeyer]

Originally Posted by inmylife2415

First completely disassemble, plug all the internals, then use the towel and chemical to strip the anno. if you use the towel and block the all internal passages you will be just fine

sounds like the parts pitted...either to much lye or you left them in to long.

I'm guessing that's what happened. I was pretty disappointed

Originally Posted by Taxarod

True that, you need to keep an eye on your parts so they don't get eaten by the lye, also, don't buy lye and dilute it, its too pure and it will mess the aluminum before taking the anno' off.

found out first hand with actual lye. Had a feedneck in the container, it looked like it was going good, then I checked it 5 minutes later and was just a bunch of tiny pieces lol. Learned real quick to take it out once it looked close