AX10 - Remove the green and polish your links

[Miller Time]

If you've looked at the Scorpian kit, you'll see that Axial is very proud of their trademark green. Suspension links, spacers, washers, hub hexes, and the beadlock wheel plates are all andonized green. This is good for brand recognition, but I didn't care for it, especially with how badly it would clash with the body color I went with.

Found some info on RCCrawlers.com, tried it out today.

You need:

Draino (I used the gel) or yellow can Easy Off oven spray.
Baking soda
Mother's Chrome Polish
Drill
Cotton rag or old towel

1. I used draino, but I heard that oven cleaner works just as well. I put the links in an old pot and added enough draino to cover them. You need to stir it around a little every few minutes. Takes about 10 minutes to completely remove the green.
2. I used tongs to pull the links out, unless you like draino on your skin.. rinsed them off, dropped them in a cup filled with water and baking soda, to neutrazlie the acid. Rinse one more time.

You will end up with a dull metal, similar to the bar on top in the first picture below. Now to polish that up.

3. Chuck the tube in a drill.
4. Apply some Mother's Chrome Polish to a rag or old towel (it's going to get realy nasty). I've heard you can use toothpaste but now sure how well that comes out.
5. Hold the tube against the rag where the polish is, and use the drill to rotate the tube. You should see the rag and the tubing getting black, that's normal. If the polish doesn't turn black, whatever metal you have will not polish and you should stop!
6. Go to a clean spot on the rag and clean the blackened polish off the tubing by rotating it with the drill.
7. Go to another clean spot and do it again, this should buff the finish up real nice. Repeat as needed until you see no residue left on the rag.
8. Take the tubing out, chuck it from the other end, and polish that side.

Top to bottom: unpolished, partially polished, and finished (bling!)


Here is the finished links attached. The green hex hubs on the right side will show you the original appearance of all the links that are now chromed


Polishing like this works great on suspension kingpins by the way. I chuck them up in a Dremel to make it easier, and polish them untl they slide easily through the mounts.

I'm working on the wheel plates, but it's not going easily. Being unable to use the drill to quickly rotate the metal being polished makes it a different task. I got one down (partially) by using a buffing wheel on a Dremel, but it was REAL slow, so I'm trying to come up with something better.

[srx]

you are serious, thats alot of time involved, im just gonna leave mine green

[upnover]

I like them Chris...I like the way you think out of the box :lol:

[Cajun]

The bling is lookin' nice Chris!  

I don't like the green either, it's the color of little kid popcicle yak..... but I was thinking about using this stuff:

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/ns/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=1145&title=TEFLON%2FMOLY+OVEN+CURE%2C+GUN+FINISH

I've used it on a bunch of paintball equipment and on a couple of hand guns in the past. Stuff works great, once you bake it on, it's super hard and doesn't scratch. I'm curious to see how it will hold up to crawling. I don't have any on hand right now, so my ax might get assembled green, but it's gonna change one way or the other.

[upnover]

Chris's way is cheaper and my dad can beat up your dad

[Miller Time]

you are serious, thats alot of time involved, im just gonna leave mine green

I think they look good if you get a matching green paint job. I was going a total opposite color on the body and it would have looked really .. loud. No further comments on the body paint yet, it's done but I don't want to show it off until it's on the chassis.

Overall it didn't take very look though, I let the tubes soak in the draino while I worked on other steps, getting up after each step to stir them. The polish takes about a minute for each piece, so it wasn't bad. The wheel plates are what takes forever. I spent about 10 minutes on one plate and it wasn't really shining yet.. there are eight plates total so I wasn't up for it. I'm going to use the stock wheels on my WK, so green won't work there either.

[Miller Time]

I like that coating idea, I bet it will hold up nice. I've heard of some people going with a powder coating on their links, your idea should be better. Can you tape off the ends or something so the threads don't get coated?

[Cajun]

Can you tape off the ends or something so the threads don't get coated?

Yeah, it goes on just like spray paint, then you let it dry, remove any masking and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. It comes out with a matte finish, but sort of like powdercoat.