Restoring color to anodized frame

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Restoring color to anodized frame
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Posted: Feb 26, 2014 at 10:33 Quote
Well a year ago I bought a used bike here for a good deal. It was a top of the line bike in its day in 2006. The only thing that showed its age was the faded red anodized frame. In the right light it would look pink. My GF hates the purchase and loves to call it the pink bike from pink bike. Lol. I am not the kind of guy that likes pink stuff. Well there is that one pink thing I love...... Anyhow I did a little research on bringing back the color. Most info out there suggested a strip and repaint. But further investigation showed anodizing coloring is just clothing dye. So on a whim and while waiting on some decent weather to ride I decided to strip the bike down to the frame and try some things out that I had around the house. First a red sharpy. It worked but came off easily. It also looked like a page from a kids coloring book. Used thinner to remove it and tried again. This time I used a brown gel stain. This works great. Takes a few coats to get into the pores of the metal but gives a nice uniform look to the color. The stain I used does not even out the tone of the already darkerned areas. But it has given the once pink bike a more darker coppery look. I am sure this is much easier then trying to redye the frame. Seems to have worked so far. Each coat seems to get it a little darker every time. Only thing I worry about is if oils will remove it. But so far it seems to work and looks better to me.

Posted: Mar 9, 2014 at 7:48 Quote
you used a sharpie? lol Facepalm

simple answer is theres not really anything you can do to improve its condition. removing ano is fairly easy though, frames cannot be anodised again but it can be polished or repainted once the ano has been removed

the stem i did

Kore Stem I stripped using household bleach

Sean

Posted: Mar 14, 2014 at 10:04 Quote
sean-s-1991 wrote:
you used a sharpie? lol Facepalm

simple answer is theres not really anything you can do to improve its condition. removing ano is fairly easy though, frames cannot be anodised again but it can be polished or repainted once the ano has been removed

the stem i did

Kore Stem I stripped using household bleach

Sean

The sharpy idea came from a car forum. I did not like the look. But it would work now that I figured out how to seal the dye. I looked further into anodizing. And I found some great info. First there are dyes out there for it available for the public and from what I read they last longer. But the stain I used did work. Bad new was it was rubbing of while I was handling the frame with heavy hands. Further investigating showed sealing the anodized part is quite simple. Dip it in boiling water and it will be sealed. I am not sure if this effects the temper of the metal. I do not think it would myself. But it does seal the color in. So here are the steps to do this. So easy.

Strip all the parts off what you want to color.

Clean it well with soap and water.

The rub it down with mineral spirits. Nothing too strong as you are not stripping the part. You just want to get the oils off. Rinse with water. Do not touch the part with bare hands.

Dye the part. People say clothing dye works. I have not tried this. Cool thing is you can mix dyes to create new colors. Dye a already red part blue and you get purple... Dip repetitively to create a fade effect or color change effect. Do splatters, mask areas off or do what ever your heart desires.

Get a container big enough to hold your part. (I used a cooler) and fill it with boiling water. Dip the part in the water. I did a 20 minute dipping.

Take it out and let it dry.

Simple. As I said adding the brown to my once red but now pinkish frame created a nice coppery look.

O+
Posted: Feb 7, 2016 at 7:17 Quote
Find a place in a major metropolis that anodizes aluminum bits for aerospace, etc. I had a place strip the paint off a frame and anodize it orange years ago. As I remember the cost was less than some backyard toad could powder coat it, and it looked awesome. Had it blasted first too, I prefer the buff.

Posted: Dec 12, 2019 at 14:34 Quote
sean-s-1991 wrote:
you used a sharpie? lol Facepalm

simple answer is theres not really anything you can do to improve its condition. removing ano is fairly easy though, frames cannot be anodised again but it can be polished or repainted once the ano has been removed

the stem i did

Kore Stem I stripped using household bleach

Sean

I just wanted to say that this is not quite correct. Anodizing can be removed by immersing the item in strong caustic soda solution. BUT, the timing is critical, because caustic soda will also attack aluminium, dissolving it completely if left too long!!! Anodizing companies can do it for you and re-anodize, obviously. As far as I know, the better ones should have a machine that checks the depth of the anodizing, so they can time the stripping process and not damage the metal. Even so, the finish will be dull afterwards if it's not repolished before re-anodizing. Using bleach merely removes the dye colour.

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