De-Anodzing the Rear IO Motherboard Shroud?

I am thinking about a motherboard that I really want because of it's tech features, but the problem is I am planning on doing an all white build and its all black. I want some white and aluminum accents on it. The rear IO looks like it's part plastic and part anodized aluminum. I am wondering if it's possible to take apart, strip off the anodizing and put it back on. I don't have the actual board yet so I cant tell what's actually metal, the add pics all over the internet are highly rendered. What's the best way to strip off the black anodized finish?

For reference, I am looking at doing it to this new motherboard.

ASRock X570 TAICHI RAZER Edition

https://images.anandtech.com/doci/16284/9.jpg

 

As far as I know anodizing is fairly resistant to most things so, you would need to get out the old sandpaper to strip it.

 

I think the bit YouTube channel has a video on anodizing? I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

You could always check YouTube reviews of the motherboard, sometimes they'll have b-roll which you can pause at.

 

Caustic soda (lye) will remove anodizing. Oven cleaner or drain cleaner containing caustic soda should work fine. Wear gloves and mask!

 

I believe caustic soda will also eat aluminium, so it might get be tricky to get a good flat finish. Perhaps do a test piece on something else anodised you have laying around? I expect it's quite a reaction so doing it outside with a mask on would be wise.

 

Hmm, yes outside and gloves always. I will try the caustic soda trick, not sure how long, guess I will just have to watch it. I did see something like that done in some of the videos here but was not sure what he used. I thought about a test piece, but I don't have any black anodized aluminum laying around. Maybe I can buy some scrap from ebay. I guess the other question is will I be damaging some kind of special coating that the manufactures put on it? Or is it just raw? Maybe I am over thinking it.

 

If it truly is anodised aluminium, it's easy to strip with caustic soda solution. I forget exact measurements now, but all you need is some warm water and dissolve some caustic soda into it. Then just submerge the part in the solution, move it once in a while and the anodising will just lift off. Do it outside though because of fumes.

It doesn't take long but do keep an eye on it. I stripped an EK backplate for my Asteria II project (I don't list actual quantities, I'm afraid) but if you can find the build logs for LUMO by B Negative then you did have quantities for when he stripped his In Win D Frame.

You don't need any effort, it'll just wipe off. Yes, the aluminium can get pitted if you leave it too long or too still, but there's a big time gap between the anodising coming off and the actual alu getting damaged, just take your time. Then just wash it down when finished. The alu will be dull in colour when done, so you may need to get finish off with some wet and dry paper and then polishing, depending on what you want to do.