Like may people I use aluminium in equipment cases - in my case for top
plates for valve preamps and amps. I use 4mm alu, which Fays Metals in
Acton London supply and cut to size. It's not great looking in its raw
state, but all my DIY attempts with solvent cleaners, wet and dry paper
etc are even worse. How do they get that 'brushed aluminium' effect?
Has anybody come across a successful method of finishing surfaces of
alu? I'd need details - grade of sandpaper, type of tool used - orbital
sander, belt sander, hand finishing etc. It would be a real help to fix
this situation without having to resort to anodising. On the other
hand, maybe anodising is the way out. Any views and experiences? Andy

Andy Evans wrote:
Like may people I use aluminium in equipment cases - in my case for
top plates for valve preamps and amps. I use 4mm alu, which Fays
Metals in Acton London supply and cut to size. It's not great looking
in its raw state, but all my DIY attempts with solvent cleaners, wet
and dry paper etc are even worse. How do they get that 'brushed
aluminium' effect? Has anybody come across a successful method of
finishing surfaces of alu? I'd need details - grade of sandpaper,
type of tool used - orbital sander, belt sander, hand finishing etc.
It would be a real help to fix this situation without having to
resort to anodising. On the other hand, maybe anodising is the way
out. Any views and experiences? Andy

I would recommend anodising, or some kind of protective finish. Bare ally
will go dull as it tarnishes, and it'll never really be 'clean' (you can sit
with a mountain of rags and a river of IPA, trying to clean ally, but you'll
still be 'cleaning' it when the rags and river have gone). I gather
anodising is qute cheap for sensible sized bits, so I guess it's worth
looking into.

For finish, I get quite good results from a dry, somewhat worn, foam sanding
block - the el-cheapo ones that are a quid for ten at Sunday markets. I
don't know what grade a worn block equates to, but I'd guess 300 grit is
about right. I get a pretty fine brushed finish with that.


--
Wally
www.wally.myby.co.uk
http://iott.melodolic.com

"Wally" wrote in message
. ..
Andy Evans wrote:
Like may people I use aluminium in equipment cases - in my case for
top plates for valve preamps and amps. I use 4mm alu, which Fays
Metals in Acton London supply and cut to size. It's not great looking
in its raw state, but all my DIY attempts with solvent cleaners, wet
and dry paper etc are even worse. How do they get that 'brushed
aluminium' effect? Has anybody come across a successful method of
finishing surfaces of alu? I'd need details - grade of sandpaper,
type of tool used - orbital sander, belt sander, hand finishing etc.
It would be a real help to fix this situation without having to
resort to anodising. On the other hand, maybe anodising is the way
out. Any views and experiences? Andy

I would recommend anodising, or some kind of protective finish. Bare ally
will go dull as it tarnishes, and it'll never really be 'clean' (you can
sit
with a mountain of rags and a river of IPA, trying to clean ally, but
you'll
still be 'cleaning' it when the rags and river have gone). I gather
anodising is qute cheap for sensible sized bits, so I guess it's worth
looking into.

Agreed.

As Arfa mentions, Brillo pad is an excellent DIY method.

But even before anodising, aluminium needs to be polished, because
every tiny scratch shows through. Also bear in mind that the anodised
surface is not a good conductor, and so anodised plates screwed
together may not form as good a shielded chassis a one would expect.

Any tapped holes need to be temoprary plugged with plastic machine
screws before anodising (most shops have a good supply of these)

My personal choice for a top plate is laser cut stainless steel, 4mm.
Just get the au-pair to flick her feather duster over it once a week,
and it will stay pristine for ever.

Also a laser cutter can do front plate lettering and logos, which look
a million times better than silk screen or letraset.

Iain

In article ,
Iain Churches wrote:
My personal choice for a top plate is laser cut stainless steel, 4mm.
Just get the au-pair to flick her feather duster over it once a week,
and it will stay pristine for ever.

Provided you don't touch it. ;-)

--
*I didn't fight my way to the top of the food chain to be a vegetarian.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Iain Churches wrote:

My personal choice for a top plate is laser cut stainless steel, 4mm.
Just get the au-pair to flick her feather duster over it once a week,
and it will stay pristine for ever.

Provided you don't touch it. ;-)

I keep a pair of white silk gloves by the side of my amp.
I thought everyone did:-)

Iain

Iain: My personal choice for a top plate is laser cut stainless steel,
4mm.

I considered that but that is HARD! I don't fancy working on 4mm
stainless - don't you find that it blunts your hole saws and drill
bits???

Using a hole saw in my drill press on 4mm alu is time consuming enough
when the diameter gets to 30mm and above (even 25mm takes a little
time) - I can't imagine what it's like on stainless. Andy

On Tue, 21 Feb 2006 11:06:26 -0800, Andy Evans burbled:

Like may people I use aluminium in equipment cases - in my case for top
plates for valve preamps and amps. I use 4mm alu, which Fays Metals in
Acton London supply and cut to size. It's not great looking in its raw
state, but all my DIY attempts with solvent cleaners, wet and dry paper
etc are even worse. How do they get that 'brushed aluminium' effect? Has
anybody come across a successful method of finishing surfaces of alu? I'd
need details - grade of sandpaper, type of tool used - orbital sander,
belt sander, hand finishing etc. It would be a real help to fix this
situation without having to resort to anodising. On the other hand, maybe
anodising is the way out. Any views and experiences? Andy


Someone once told me of a way to dye aluminium, but I've never tried it. I
would love to know if anyone has tried this.

The idea is to heat caustic soda solution in an iron or steel pan up to
near boiling point then add ordinary Dylon fabric dye in your prefered
colour. Once it has disolved, add your aluminium & simmer for a while. The
caustic soda eats into the surface and allows the dye to penetrate. After
a bit of cooking, boil again in clean water to remove the caustic soda
then again in salt water to fix the dye, allow to cool & rinse well.

Now, all this sounds rather messy and quite dangerous to me - hot caustic
soda is highly corrosive. Not only that, but thin ali may disolve
completely! I suspect that the finished metal will have lost quite bit of
strength too. Of course, aluminium pans are a strict no-no!

--
Mick
(no M$ software on here... :-) )
Web: http://www.nascom.info

In article ,
mick wrote:
Someone once told me of a way to dye aluminium, but I've never tried it.
I would love to know if anyone has tried this.

RS Components sell a system which allows you to do graphics, etc, on
aluminium using dyes. It's suitable for DIY use - although expensive, but
nothing like as much as getting it done professionally. And it gives
superb and durable results.

--
*It is easier to get older than it is to get wiser.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article . com, Andy
Evans wrote:
Like may people I use aluminium in equipment cases - in my case for top
plates for valve preamps and amps. I use 4mm alu, which Fays Metals in
Acton London supply and cut to size. It's not great looking in its raw
state, but all my DIY attempts with solvent cleaners, wet and dry paper
etc are even worse. How do they get that 'brushed aluminium' effect?

It's a long time since I've done anything like this, but I recall
achieving a reasonable "brushed" effect using wire wool, or a piece of a
Brillo pad, in an electric drill. for a circular effect, stuff a wodge of
it directly into the chuck and apply it end-on, and for the straight
effect, wrap the wire wool round something cylindrical like a thick drill
and apply it side-on. As with any artistic effect, the quality will depend
very much on the skill with which you apply it, so it may improve with
practice, and if it makes sparks, you're running the drill too fast. You
may feel safer applying the Brillo pad by hand.

Rod.

"Roderick Stewart" wrote in message
om...
In article . com, Andy
Evans wrote:
Like may people I use aluminium in equipment cases - in my case for top
plates for valve preamps and amps. I use 4mm alu, which Fays Metals in
Acton London supply and cut to size. It's not great looking in its raw
state, but all my DIY attempts with solvent cleaners, wet and dry paper
etc are even worse. How do they get that 'brushed aluminium' effect?

It's a long time since I've done anything like this, but I recall
achieving a reasonable "brushed" effect using wire wool, or a piece of a
Brillo pad, in an electric drill. for a circular effect, stuff a wodge of
it directly into the chuck and apply it end-on, and for the straight
effect, wrap the wire wool round something cylindrical like a thick drill
and apply it side-on. As with any artistic effect, the quality will depend
very much on the skill with which you apply it, so it may improve with
practice, and if it makes sparks, you're running the drill too fast. You
may feel safer applying the Brillo pad by hand.

Rod.

I used to do it with Brillo pad also. When finished, I then used to legend
it with Letraset, ( or Blick dry print, and finally, blow it over with a
couple of coats of alloy wheel aerosol cellulose, made by Simoniz. This
stuff is virtually indestructible, and seals in your brushed finish, and
makes your Letraset permanent. Slight downside is that the stuff is a bit
glossy, but once it had gone off overnight, I'd bet that you could 'flat' it
with the finest grade ally oxide paper.

Arfa