Stripping chrome plating from aluminum

[bbqboyee]

Ok, I got my Caswell anodizing kit and I've been reading through the plating manual, but I'm still confused about something. There is a section that describes how to remove chrome plating from ferrous metals (using electrolysis along with the "anodize & chrome stripper") and non-ferrous metals (Brass, Bronze, Copper, or Nickel, using hydrochloric acid) but no mention of how to strip chrome from aluminum. I've tried using muriatic acid (I think the manual says that is the same as hydrochloric acid?) and that eats the aluminum. Any words of advice here?

Also, the instructions on the "anodize & chrome stripper" says to "Connect wand to negative side. Immerse wand with bandage into solution and stroke part until a brown residue forms on bandage". What on earth are the "wand" and "bandage" described here? I didn't receive any such item in my anodizing kit...

Thanks, Steve

[PrecisionPB]

Heres how we strip nickel:

1. Mix up your electrolyte, 3 parts acid, one part water.

2. Use some older plates (we used 8x8 anode plates from caswell, from our older smaller ano tank) if you dont want to have to wash and lightly sand the plates after each nickel strip.

3. Hang your plates as you would for an anodizing tank, suspend the part to be stripped in solution via your chosen method of suspension. Hot lead to the part, ground to the plates.

4. I choose NOT to use my rectifier for stripping nickel, so I can leave the nickel stripping setup ready to use. I use a car battery charger, 1 minute on, 2 minutes off (duty cycle, etc, etc). When the part draws no current, or very little current, its had its nickel removed. A rainbowish residue will sometimes remain on the part after this process. I have found the Caswell stripper to remove this residue without a problem.


This process is incredibly rapid, and if you leave the part in the acid solution overlong, you may experience pitting. This process has worked well numerous times for us, but if you burn down your house or set your cat on fire, I want no part of the liability.

[sswee]

Have you tried the anodize/chrome stripper heated to 160* and dipping the part? The heating of the solution makes it more aggressive.

The wand and bandage are tools of plugNplate systems not anodizing.

[bbqboyee]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I won't get a chance to experiment until this weekend, but I'll check back if I come to an impasse.

[RedRiver]

Check this thread out...Read my last post.

http://forum.caswellplating.com/show...3853#post23853