De-Anodizing and Polishing and Refurbishment of Campag Parts

DISCLAIMER: IF YOU DECIDE TO DO THIS AND DAMAGE YOUR PARTS DON'T BLAME ME!!!!!!!

Thought I would make a short guide on how I go about refurb of campag parts. Others may do it different but this is what works for me.


First up here are the pictures of the lever that I am going to try and refurbish to the point where it can be used on a bike and not look like something from a horror movie. I bought a pair of powergrade levers from Italy. I already had one and need a match so I was happy to buy this pair as I knew I didnt need this one. I figured it would just go to the bin seeing as it was so badly damaged. Then i thought I would make this guide and it didnt really matter how it went as the lever was scrap anyway. (This obviously is just the lever blade removed from the body.)

The first thing to do is to remove the anodizing. I use "Oven Pride". This costs about £3.00 from the "bargain shops". It is a very thick gel and is just poured directly over the part in question. I place the part in a blastic tray (a lunch box or something similar) and pour the gel over it. Be careful not to ghet this on your hands. The photo show the stages of the stripping process. The times are approximate but you can get an idea of what happens. I shake the part around as well. Dunno if this helps but it helps me...

After about 4 or 5 minutes. I wash the part thoroughly under water and it ends up with a chalky dull appearance. All the anodizing is gone. If you didnt leave it long enough, just do it again....

The next process is to get the sandpaper out. For the first stage I used 360 wet and dry because I have a lot of alloy to get through to get it down to a level. Here are the results after about 25mins of sanding. Not bad at all, even if I do say so myself. Obviously we have lost some of the engraving but this could not be helped. I always sand by hand, that way I was able to save the Campag shield logo. You might not be so lucky if using a mechanical process....

Next step is to get it a bit smoother......I repeat the process with a 800 wet and dry paper. When this is done I then do the whole lever with a 1200 grit wet and dry. Here are the results.....next autosol.

The final stage is Autosol. I wash the part again under water to remove any dust from the sanding. A small amount of autosol is all it takes. If you have given it a real good going over with the 1200 then it will be pretty shiny already. (I usually do the 1200 stage in a bucket of water)

Shine it up with a clean cloth and bobs your uncle.

At this stage your lever could well be finished. I am going to try to replace some of the engraved lines with my dremmel tool and a cutting disc. I have never tried this before so it could be a disaster but I have nothing to loose. On previous levers I have used a sharp knive to redo lines that had become faint after sanding. You have to have a really steady hand and it is a slow process but well worth it. I'll give it a go and see how it turns out....

All in all this whole process took less than 2hrs, well worth it in my opinion. I have 2 restored powergrade levers for less than a tenner....can't be bad to that!!

Good luck with your parts refurbisment.....

Stephen

Nice job, but how do you prevent the alloy from discolouring now that the anodising is not there to protect it

No Idea, Ha Ha

But I did do some parts about 18 months ago and they havent deteriorated at all. They dull up a bit, but a rub with the cloth brings them back shiny again. Ideally i would love to fing out how to re anodize again. I ahve read up on the chemical process and it dosent seem that difficult but a step to far for me I think...

Absolutely incredible transformation.

Regarding the lack of anodization question, i think Autosol is a polish and that should protect the metal to some extent - i don't mind being corrected about that.

I see some threads that should be saved for everyone to access easily - this one, and one by Torqueless about freewheels spring to mind. If any mods read this could you give some consideration to making some of the most useful threads permanent - i presume this is possible. And another popular topic is decals and where to buy them.

Lovely work Stephen and a very useful thread, thanks from the Ballymena RB brethren!!!!

Richard