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Hi guys, long time haven't posted here...
I made a little video on how to clean Anodized Aluminum...
Personally, the yard always downgrade all of my scrap anodized Al, so i decided to out smart them and clean all of my scrap heat sinks.
In less then 30 minutes, i almost doubled the value of my scrap Ali (several kilos worth).
I think others will find it useful too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQq5XhTH46E
Hi Kris Kringle
Non taken, by the contrary.
This is a very important Safety note!! You should be commended for it.
Lye (drano) is a common houshold product, but can prove very harmful without proper precautions.
Good to see you back on the forum samuel.
I have a jar somewhere of a powder that can be used to strip anodizing...I think you boil it in water, then immerse the parts for stripping.
Anyone know what I'm talking about? It came from a reputable supplier but maybe its just snake-oil
Seems like a lot of hazardous work for not much more money.
To me anyway.
I get an average of $ .50 for any aluminum (mixed or separated) without anything ferrous in it.
There has to be a scrapyard around that will take it for close to that.
All he is doing is taking the Dye out of it..............
Good for him that he is making more $$$$$$$$$. His buyer is just trying to screw him.
Hazardous work.....Please.........
My yard buys them no matter the color. $ .70 lb for extruded compared to old sheet at .55 lb.Quote:
Seems like a lot of hazardous work for not much more money.
I had never heard of anodized aluminum. Extrusion is extrusion here. I don't have a place that has a radar gun though. Is that why it's an issue for you?
Here will tell you a little more about it.Quote:
I had never heard of anodized aluminum
http://www.bowers-mfg.com/anodize.ht...FYZrKgodGy-wsw
I think you mean XRF gun, unless some yards pay based on how fast your scrap is traveling.Quote:
Originally Posted by zakmattingly
Rotfl
I have some cleaning guide to clean Anodized Aluminum, Start with Wiping down your anodized aluminum surface with a damp sponge to remove general surface dirt. Spray the anodized aluminum with a high pressure rinse. Then spray the anodized aluminum with a high pressure rinse. Rinse this anodized aluminum surface with clean water and then dry it with towels.
Why would you do that?? Their not trying to eat off of it, just trying to get a better price by taking the color off.Quote:
Originally Posted by james23
you might want to make a safety note. water plus lye is extremely exothermic reaction. you should always add LYE TO WATER not Water to lye. The reaction causes the water to increase in temperature fast and can boil depending on how much you use. Adding water to the lye can cause it to spit and burn through clothes and skin. Dont use glass container bc the temperature increase can cause it to bust and the container should be stainless steel not aluminum or definitely not plastic. use googles.
I've heard of "cleaning metal". This is going a little too far. Is this even cost efficient? How much can they seriously be docking you? Seems preposterous, I would find a different yard.
Realy!!! Back in the day people would make thier own soap with lye. They also would throw lye down the hole in the out house. What's an out house you say, it's an out side tiolet that the farmers would build so they wouldn't have to go all the way to the house to go to the bathroom, it's also what they used before they had inside plumbing. The lye would keep down the stink. Of coarse I neaver tried mixing it with water.
So your cleaning extruded aluminum so you can sell it as clean aluminum at a lower price, or am i missing the point? I thought yards consider aluminum clean as long as no ferrous metal is attached to it. Sounds like your yard is using the logic that a car would be considered dirty steel because the factory painted it. Ie a non metallic coating is applied to the metal. Downgrade is just a fancier way of saying dirty, just another way for the yards scam us.
removing the anodizing is retarded and a waste of materials, time, and money. Don't do what this video is suggesting. Listen to Mechanic688, read above^
just want to say i was not saying not to do what he is doing. i think he was saying they gave him clean extruded price after doing this. i was just saying be careful. ive had lye burn little bubbles on my arm but i was being sloppy. its not hard to work w/ any harder than any other reactive substance but it can kind of do an explosion by adding water on top of it. its cheap to so if that was the only yard maybe i would do it. i would find another yard just because its just another headache to mess w/.
lye is still used to make soap. part of the process is making a water/lye solution and at those amounts the water jump from cold to 150-200 degrees w/in a minute of adding. nasty fumes also but that would be using a much stronger solution that what would be needed to make to this job. it is still sold in some stores for dumping in plumbing. a lot of people use it in making biofuel.
http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/...33_3569712.jpg this is all really great, but I've got 5$ worth of brass I need to polish before I take it to the yard. The bottle only cost $14.95 hope its worth it!
LOL, why would you polish brass before taking it to a scrap yard?
Sarcasm sir.
lol, I thought it might have been after I posted no harm
Anodized aluminum is a MLC grade shouldn't be bought as dirty aluminum.
Quote:
Originally Posted by samuel-a
I suggest only cleaning procedure.Quote:
Originally Posted by james23
i was confused whether anodized went under alum or paint alum so i threw my single piece of anodize heatsink with my extruded and watched the material guy sit there confused for bout 3 seconds then throw it with the rest of the clean.Quote:
Personally, the yard always downgrade all of my scrap anodized Al, so i decided to out smart them and clean all of my scrap heat sinks.
In less then 30 minutes, i almost doubled the value of my scrap Ali (several kilos worth).
and even if it did go with my painted, isnt painted only bout 10% less than regular alum
...also ive read a couple 'strip/paint your bike' threads and it seems like anodize comes off bout 10x easier than paint with most cleaners... i get the impression annodize is something thaats is easy to remove with any variety of methods. i know rubber breakpads will take the color off a rim in less than an hour
I think anodizing is applied with an acid bath but could be wrong.Quote:
Originally Posted by bluemeate
Its really not worth your time and money to clean anodized aluminum unless you are keeping it for yourself and you are attatched to it for some odd reason
lol^
When a yard sells extruded aluminum it can only have 10% paint/anodized and 10% 60/61 . I work in a yard and we get docked once in a while for excess paint. They call it contamination and the price drops .10 lb. if this happened a lot. We would start docking our customers and separating this material out. So maybe the yards not screwing you but trying to avoid being screwed.
6300/10/10