Annodizing Newbie

[avsman]

I am wanting to anodize a paintball gun. What do I need to do to strip the old annodizing off? I read somewhere that rubber cement will mask. Anyone got any help. I am not some 15 yr old kid doing this stuff. I am a 30something with a mortgage and kids who isn't gonna be doing anything stupid. Thanks in advance for any help.

[potsked]

your best bet is to order caswell's kit, it comes with most of what you need. if you're asking specifically about the stripper:

it's included in the kit, but if you want to get something that will work the same, then go out and buy some red devil drain cleaner. once you mix either the caswell stripper or drain cleaner ( i dont know the specific concentration you shoudl use) then submerse the previously anodized parts in the solution. check the parts often and rinse them to get off the old anodiz layer. once its all gone, keep the parts out fo the solution b/c it will eat away at the parts and could ruin them.

after the old layer is off you'll want to desmut the part to remove the greyish film that was created as a result of the stripping, once you do all this you should have a nice raw aluminum part.

for the rest of the procedure go here

http://www.focuser.com/atm/anodize/anodize99.html

thats a good site and if you're going to buy a manual, i would suggest his manual, as caswell's isn't as all encompassing. (no offense caswell, its only 12 or 13 pages out of the entire 200 page manual)

and i know im going against the grain here, but i would suggest the old acid concentration and using a battery charger to do each part at a time(at high current density). to me, it seems you're not looking to do anything more than a gun or two and you dont need a whole lot of complicated rectifiers and electronics to do just a few parts

hope it works out for you

and i hope caswell doesnt ban me again