Need suggestions for painting aluminum?

KG fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Bead blast, zinc chromate primer, any paint you like on top of that.

The paints are available in spray cans.

LLoyd

On Wed, 14 Apr 2010 08:23:25 -0400, the infamous KG scrawled the following:

it and found umpteen

project to paint it

weather. I'm looking

realistic suggestions would

I'd clean it thoroughly, using a scotchbrite pad to scuff it up, then dry it and rinse with lacquer thinner. Put it on a lazy susan and spray away with your aluminum rattle can after a really good shaking. It takes a lot to mix the metallic paints well in a can.

MexiChrome, as they used to call it in SoCal. ;)

Have you found any good (and non-manual) way to shake a can? I've bungeed cans of insulating foam to a small shaker table (from a closed Fair-Rite factory, where it was used to shake bubbles out of potted products) but think it didn't work particularly well. Any ideas?

Also have a vibrator/tumbler* that might work better, especially if I make a can-holding bracket that bolts on in place of the bowl. Probably will try that next.

*

oggled it and found umpteen

a home project to paint it

bad weather. =A0I'm looking

realistic suggestions would

I've had very good results preheating aluminum parts to 150 degrees or so before a rather heavy coat of Krylon. The result is almost indestructible.

On Wed, 14 Apr 2010 18:41:27 +0000 (UTC), the infamous James Waldby scrawled the following:

BLOODY 'ELL, boy. Get some _exercise_, whydoncha? ;)

If you're using so many rattle cans per week, you should definitely think about moving up in the world to an actual HVLP spray rig. The savings in paint costs will pay for it quickly. Your product will look a lot better, too, I imagine.

I don't think it would. I've found that vertical shaking worked better to shake up the contents of rattle cans. Send that ball from the bottom of the can to the top and back again 100+ times and you have a fairly well mixed paint. It gets quicker the better mixed it is, as the sludgy solids stir up into the liquid.

Yeah, but the cleanup is a PITA

I can see a lathe or mill attachment here, much like a shaper head.

KG wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Let me get this straight: you want to paint an Aluminum housing to look like an Aluminum housing?

Why not simply polish the thing - that way you won't have any paint expenses at all!

...

A couple of years ago there was a thread about shaking rattle cans & I felt inspired to make this:

It was mostly in a Monty Python spirit that I did it (i.e., just being silly), but it's actually pretty useful. 10 seconds on that baby throws the ball around a lot!

Bob

I have a spray rig, which I use more often than paint in rattle cans. What I want to shake isn't paint, but an assembly like that shown in picture at . Weight is around 3 pounds when a 24-oz can is attached to a foam gun like . The can can stay on the gun until used up, with up to 30 days between uses, although I usually use up a can in less than a week.

Prolly so ~ but I'll try anyway

it and found umpteen

home project to paint it

weather. I'm looking

realistic suggestions would

Don't paint it. Polish it and hit it with a clear coat.

If you really want to paint it. I would probably toss it in the oven for a couple hours to out-gas it and drive out any oil/crud in the aluminum. Then use a soda blaster to clean and etch it. Then a coat of etching primer, and a coat of good paint.

On Wed, 14 Apr 2010 21:24:57 +0000 (UTC), the infamous James Waldby scrawled the following:

My mind says "One can a week and he wants something to shake it for him?" and the sternocleidomastoid, splenius capitis, and semispinalis capitis muscles in my neck alternate contractions. ;)

Puny Earthling.

G'luck!

The main thing that I have to say is *never* use a mechanical shaker on an aluminum paint.

It builds up a lot of heat from the aluminum particles rubbing against each other and results in bursting the can (at least for normal pop-top paint cans) and spraying paint all over. This happened in a hardware store where a friend worked for a while. He says that he wasn't the one who set it up. :-)

I think that I remember someone here making a mount for holding the base of a rattle can on something like a sabre saw blade mount. Perhaps he will speak up (or has already done so.)

Enjoy, DoN.

On Wed, 14 Apr 2010 18:04:54 -0400, the infamous "Steve W." scrawled the following:

it and found umpteen

home project to paint it

weather. I'm looking

realistic suggestions would

[KG: What he said.]

You're right, Steve. For a show car, polishing and clearcoating is a much better idea than MexiChroming.