Bike Forums - Do It Yourself (DIY)

Quote:

Originally Posted by jol (Post 3677840)

De-anodising (anodizing - for the stateside) and polishing a Cinelli quill stem
(or any other aluminium (aluminum - as before) part)
The [165] with-beer method.

Tools

Beer. (Weird one my girls dad had. MVP?)
Oven cleaner. (Sodium Hydroxide is the chemical you need I believe)
Fine grade wet'n'dry paper. (This was 1200 grit.)
Cup of water for the wet'n'dry.
Your aluminium part. (Disassembled as much as possible)
Metal polish cream. (Not pictured sorry. Mine was Autosol)
2 Cotton rags. (Old pyjamas pictured)
Old bucket or tray. (For the oven cleaner)

This stem was bought off Ebay and was a little shabby. Few knocks and scratches and
generally dull looking with it's factory anodise.

Step 1
Remove all parts/bolts and put part to be de-anodised in an old bucket/tray.
Spray on oven cleaner making sure not to get it on you or in your lungs.
A good coating helps. I don't think you can have too much. I had to turn
the stem with a stick to get at all the sides. Leave it for 10-15 minutes and have some ale.

Step 2
Rinse off all the cleaner a couple of times before you touch the part.

The part should be dull all over. If there are still spots of anodise, hit it again.

Step 3
Use the wet'n'dry to sand out any deep scratches, a general all-over rub works well at getting a
smooth surface. Avoid sanding any logos/pantographs if you care. The part should now look like this.

Step 4
Here is where the rubbing begins. You might need more beer. I did.
The method I find works best is to wrap an index finger in cotton cloth and apply a small blob of
metal polish cream to the fingertip. Rub the part like crazy all over for as long as you can bare.
Then get a clean rag (your 'dry' rag) and buff the polish off. The more times you repeat these
steps the more mirror-like the finish. I actually find it really satisfying but beer does help.

Bling
Your new shiny part.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a375/landres/6.jpg

Hope this helps. I tried using a dremel on a Campy Aero post a few weeks ago and find this method works better.
Now I just need the rest of the bike! Pics when finished.

Cheers.
JOL

Jol - thanks for this write up! Did this last night and it came out great

Quote:

Originally Posted by ssindosk8rss (Post 10886784)

I tried to do the DIY polishing thing but i saw that my seatpost had this weird black rigid crap on it. Anyone know how to get rid of it before I polish it?

Edit: I tried the EasyOff but it didnt take that off

Its hard to tell what exactly im looking at, but it looks like some of my parts. You should try some wet sandpaper. maybe start with a 320 grit and work your way up to 1400 or 1500. Let me know how that works out for you.