MPC Biker

I would go to the mechanics forum for this but i think i may get some more creative ideas here

I have a black Bontrager Race Lite stem on my bike but i'd really like for it to be silver instead. i know this may sound odd to those in the normal world but here in SSFG i think my reasoning will be accepted and shared.

my seapost is silver......... therefore..... the post and stem need to match.

any ideas on how to get this black paint? finish? off and get down to some shiny aluminium that will match the rest of my bike?




thanks in advance for all your help and ideas

(ps. i'm open to some really out there possibilities, just for the laughs)

homebrewk

Drop the whole thing in hydrochloric acid and see what happens.

thirdgenbird

this used to be anodized gray:


if your intention is to polish it to a mirror finish you just as well trade or buy a cheap stem and sell this one. things like oven cleaner will strip anodizing but polishing it will require sanding it smooth and then progressively using finer sand paper. it is a very lengthy process. you will have $10 in materials and hours of labor into a stem you could buy for $20.

Chad1376

My guess is that it's powder coated - which is pretty tough to chemically strip. I've used a glass bead blaster to effectively remove powder coating, but it leaves a satin finish to the metal. I imagine polishing the aluminum after bead blasting would be a lot of work. You could always re-powder coat with silver. Here's some stuff I've done (in yellow).

Unless you want to do a lot of parts, or already have the equipment, I agree, you are better of just buying another stem.

MPC Biker

i can't decide if it is powdercoated or anodized

it seems like way too thin to be a powdercoat, and there is no real overspray anywhere
but it also seems too thick to be an ano coating, and there isn't any metallic shine that i would associate with anodization

i know for a fact my chem teacher has a good volume of 15 mol / dm3 HCl in our class prep room
thoughts on this method?

Nagrom_

go with 15 molar... drop that **** in, see what happens...... im sure it will do something? they use 12M to dissolve concrete.....

if it doesnt work... buy another...

Santaria

Buy a non-painted stem and save yourself the headache (from chemical affects) and pain of destroying that stem. Save it for another project or a backup.

#maitusense