This one was for a friend's birthday. I collaborated with his brother, who had a stray 3D; he bought the electronics and I machined a heatsink to fit the Rebel reflector. I wanted to make it more special though, and yesterday it hit me. It needed a swanky bezel. Foyinspired.
I followed Don's advice on how to safely handle basic solutions like sodium hydroxide+water by using just enough to get the job done. Vinegar was on hand. I slowly dissolved Drano crystals in cool water in hopes that I'd prevent the caustic stuff from roiling and spitting. I wasn't sure it was even working until the bezel was sitting in the solution for >10 minutes. All the sudden, anodizing just started leaching away from the immersed portion of the bezel. I do like how it came out, but how can I get the polished look?
Very nice, Slim! That turned out beautifully. In addition to metal polish, if you have a cloth wheel bit for a dremel or low speed drill, that will speed it up. But watch out for high rpm - needs to be very slow turning.
Did you mask the bezel, or just set it in a shallow amount of the chemical?
As far as shine, I will bet that the ano is not fully removed yet. I have stripped a lot of mags and the first layer is the color layer. When all the color has been removed, there is still the initial ano layer. It looks like aluminum, but it is not shiny. It is flat looking, as you have there. The photo of the tail cap shows that layer is still on the tail cap, but less so on the bezel.
It needs more time in the bath, to remove the last layer of ano. If you put it back in the bath and leave it for another 10-15 minutes, it should remove the last layer. One way to check is with 0000 steel wool. Set the part in the bath, give it a few minutes, take it out and rub lightly with the steel wool. There will be a film, from the chemical reaction and the steel wool will remove that first, but below that you can see either shine or dull. If it is shiny, it's aluminum, if it's still dull, it's the ano. Once you play with it some more, you will be able to tell the difference more easily.
Might want to do the tail cap first, to get a feel for it. One concern with the bezel is that putting it back in the bath longer, to remove the last layer, might cause some migration at the parting line, making the line lose it's sharpness.. It could start to get rough looking around that line with more time in the bath.
You can remove that layer by polishing, but it will take a little time. A buffer would make quick work out of it. Blue rouge (all purpose) on a buffer wheel would take care of it quickly.
Old, exactly, I set it in a very shallow amount of the solution. I got some Mothers polish yesterday and it worked beautifully. It could stand a few more swipes with the terrycloth. I'll try out the dremel on the next one in line, my buddy's black XL200. I'm itching to see how a red MiniMag wears this look, though.
