Anodizing changed color with heat?

[nicmauro]

Hey, just curious to get some insight, I just rebuilt an old System X Vengeance and man, the whole thing was mega loctited from the factory. I am always a little nervous about using heat to melt/burn the loctite but have never had any significant issues. *However*, this time the ano on the back block went from black to copper. It is uniform and actually looks kind of cool but obviously I am now afraid to heat anythng else 😂

Has anyone else had this happen? Suggestions to avoid it in the future? I used a torch but do also have a heat gun. I feel like I have seen mention of using a soldering iron to heat a specific point? Also, long shot but any way to change it back, short of re-ano? I am assuming not and I kind of dig it but options are always good!

[automeister]

I do not think you will be able to get that back to black short of refinishing by some means. The soldering iron method may limit the heat effected zone to a smaller area, however that still may result in discoloration in that localized area as well. Not sure of a good solution for you. Maybe heat up various areas of the marker and create a unique black to reddish effect? Might be neat.

[automeister]

I mean it would be interesting to see how it turned out. Could end in disaster though haha.

[nicmauro]

Oh, I would give it like 80/20 odds in favor of disaster

[automeister]

If you go for it, please keep us in the loop! I am curious.

[Grendel]

There was a fad a while back where the "Agg" kids were putting their whole markers in ovens to get the color to shift to pooty browns. This is normal behavior and can be worse or more sensitive to heat depending on the quality/type of dye used. This is a chemical change in the dye captured by the anodization process and is not reversible. As automeister said to make it black again you will have to have it re-anodized.

[nicmauro]

I guess I have just gotten lucky so far then. I usually use heat as a last resort but now it will be a last, last resort 😂

[Grendel]

I have an old Milwaukee Heat Gun that I use for stuck fasteners on cosmetically nice things that works pretty well without getting so hot to change the anodization color. The torches I save for things that really need persuasion or I do not care about cosmetically.

[DarkApollo]

God I remember that fad and manufacturers were like “stop it. You are taking the temper out of the aluminum” and those kids were complaining about threads being stripped.. good times

[ChuckLove]

High heat will do this for sure. I torched a cocking rod and found out the hard way too.

[BrendanB]

yes, done this a couple of times. Even makes the metal unable to be re-anoed correctly

[Daltech]

As a previous poster mentioned.

Use a soldering iron.

Change the soldering iron tip from the skinny tip to the wide tip to ensure you are getting enough heat transfer.

Only apply heat to the male side of the item ( the arms male threads). Using a torch, lighter or heat gun causes the entire combined item to be heated unnecessarily.

I’m agg about someone using a heat gun on a back block instead of heating just the arm that had the male side of the threads and discolored the back block because it got so hot. It’s like turning on your house heater to max to try to warm up your cast iron skillet. Argh, it’s gonna be ok, it’s only a system x. I commend your efforts. Despite my personal grumbling. Now you know how if you get another one you care about.

See in the picture, he’s putting the soldering iron tip into the male side screw, not blowtorching the female side of the item itself. In your case it would be on the end of the ram arm itself right before the treads start going into the back block.

Please don’t take my explanation as criticism, I learned the wrong way. So I’ve totally done it your way also.

[nicmauro]

No worries, I appreciate the info and the tough love 😂

Most of the time I have needed heat it was pretty much a last ditch effort with old, crusty stuff. The sad part is this one was just to stop from marring up a pump arm which in retrospect was not the important bit