It may not be fast, especially for a computer case, and it may not be as neat as shown, but:

https://www.instructables.com/id/Removing-Ano … ckly-and-Easil/
 

A wire brush on a rotary tool would be faster. Use very light pressure going with the direction of the original brushed finish. Just wear safety glasses -- I've seen some little pieces of the wire brush come off and embed into people eyeballs requiring surgery to remove.

If you want to change the color without real anodizing but still retain the brushed look, use this: https://www.duplicolor.com/product/metalcast- … tomotive-paint/

Example of a Lian Li v351 motherboard tray I used it on:

Merovign wrote:

It may not be fast, especially for a computer case, and it may not be as neat as shown, but:

https://www.instructables.com/id/Removing-Ano … ckly-and-Easil/
 

Stripping it chemically works, but it's absolutely imperative that no other metals than aluminum goes in the bath. It's also very important that the parts are absolutely clean. I'd use a caustic soda solution for it. As you mention, the end result can be somewhat blotchy though, it might not be the optimal method for large, flat surfaces.

Personally I'd try sand blasting it with some less aggressive grit. Glass beads perhaps. It's easier to control, you don't have to work with corrosive chemicals, and the result will probably be better 😀

Paint would, far and away, be easier and faster.

tried contacting a person that has a sand blasting machine
he refused to do it because the aluminum is too thin and told me it would bend it

so my last hope is some kind of oven cleaner or sodium hydroxyde solution on a big plastic box, i would need to do one side panel. then the other side panel and then the front of the case. luckily the front can de removed and side panels too. after that i might do a small sandpaper pass on the aluminum

i might do one of the front bay covers first to see how it ends.

Cga.8086 wrote:

anyone ever tried to remove the anodization of aluminum?

i have one of those ugly red lian li cases and i was wondering if there is a fast, cheap process to remove the anodized color and leave it real aluminum color

The easiest and cheapest way to remove anodization is to use yellow spray can oven cleaner. They sell it for $1 a can at the Dollar Tree. Spray all the surfaces thoroughly and then place the case inside a large tub or tote that has a cover and let sit for 15 min. If needed you can respray where it didn't come off and wait again until the coating starts to loosen up. When everything is loose, take everything outside or to a tub and use a plastic brush and scrub everything off while using water to spray it off.

Once the anodising is removed you'd better polish it with an ali wax or it's going to start corroding fairly smartly.

If you have a buddy with a cement mixer instead of sand blasting it you can fix the part inside the mixer in a way that leaves enough space around it (i.e. tie it up with steel wire) then add sand and run the mixer for some hours. The result is usually a very even matte finish.

hey there

just wanted to come back to let you all know

because i tried the caustic soda solution on water this weekend, the results were pretty damn good, you just need to be carefull not to touch and use gloves and cover the eyes on a open space.

So this case was a really beaten up lianli black case, full of scratches, so i prepared water with caustic soda and 10 minutes later all paint got removed. then cleaned the aluminum with fresh water. There is only one problem , white oxidation marks on some areas. The more time you leave it, the more white it will get.

on the following days i will just put sandpaper 800, 1500, 200, just a little bit to make it look more like aluminum color. I will not use polish because i dont want the case to look like a mirror!

i tried putting some cream with microparticles used for cleaning toilets, it does remove the white rust but in a very slow process of rubbing for many minutes.

my concern is does aluminum rust behaves like iron rust? what happens if i sand paper one side of the aluminum panel while the other side i leave it with the white rust? will white rust come back to the side i already treated with sandpaper?

wanted to share the final result of caustic soda, and some cream to clean the aluminun

only thing left is to buy new buttons on aliexpress, because the original ones were completely broken and burned by the asshole that kept the black case in ruined conditions

its not a PC-60 but well, i got it for such a low near free price, and considering the lianli pc60 is so expensive.

bays were left out because i need them black for another lianli case i own

having progress on my mod

power button and reset came from china some months ago
CNC cut window done
Laser cut acrilic

i just need now to drill some holes, get some nice nuts and bolts