Okay friends, I have a four part question.
I have a number, in the thousands, of aluminum cans. I am cutting a portion of out of each can, and then eventually hoping to take to a local anodizing plant to have anodized. Here's what I need in order to do that:
One, how do I take the lacquer coating off the outside of the can. From what I've read online, each can is printed and then coated with a clear protective varnish, which must be removed entirely before the anodizing process. My contact at the plant told me that the sulfuric bath during the anodizing is not strong enough to take this off. Through my research, the possibilities I could come up with are aircraft paint remover, Behr's the Stripper, or a homemade solution made of baking soda and water. All of these options were for other types of applications, hence why I am reaching out in hopes somebody has any idea.
Two, I need to remove the four-color printed image that is rolled onto the cans before the outer varnish is applied. The most obvious solution I could come up with is sandpaper, but the problem with this is, as with cleaning aluminum pots and pans, any sandpaper or steelwool will scratch the surface and a fine finish will not be attained. The ultimate goal would be to have these aluminum pieces shine like colored chrome. So is sandpaper out? Any other possibilities? Will the varnish remover do this process as well?
Three, I need to remove the inside coating. I have a feeling that this will be the most difficult. The coating, from what I have picked up online, is vinylite. I have read that vinylite is dissolvable in acetone or toluene, but I think this is more in a science-class from powder form. I also have read that you can use the previously mentioned aircraft remover, which I heard was not-good stuff. What are some safety precautions? I know that the coating is pretty light, so I can't imagine this would be a labor intensive process for each individual can, but obviously doing thousands of them is time-consuming.
Four, I need to prep and clean the aluminum sheet for anodizing. File down the sharp edges with a metal file? Emory powder and a wash? Alcohol? Any suggestions?
Like I said, I need these things to be pristine in the end result, like little mirrors hopefully.
Thank you in advance for any help you all can give.
Michael