Painting Aluminium

timelapse · Postby **timelapse** » January 27th, 2021, 1:33 pm

Fellas, I building a guitar pedal .The enclosure is aluminium.I have tried Painting it with epoxy paint, regular spray paint, Hammered texture spray paint.All of the above seem fine at first then wrinkle and peel off.The primer I am using is car paint primer, as I though it would hold good since is bare metal.Is there anything that I could use that will give me a fancy finish?
I thinking about powder coating, but I want to finish it asap, so I can start wiring it up

VexXx Dogg · Postby **VexXx Dogg** » January 27th, 2021, 1:35 pm

sand
clean with soap water
clean with plain water
wipe with gas or alcohol
paint with self-etching primer
paint with final desired paint

timelapse · Postby **timelapse** » January 27th, 2021, 1:38 pm

VexXx Dogg wrote:sand
clean with soap water
clean with plain water
wipe with gas or alcohol
paint with self-etching primer
paint with final desired paint

Guess I missed a couple of steps there.Thanks VD

VexXx Dogg · Postby **VexXx Dogg** » January 27th, 2021, 1:41 pm

I'm not a pro eh, so take that with a grain of salt. That's my DIY method

pugboy · Postby **pugboy** » January 27th, 2021, 1:41 pm

etching primer is key
as well as cleaning

timelapse · Postby **timelapse** » January 27th, 2021, 1:54 pm

I didn't think about the gas/alcohol part or soap,but I can see why it would be necessary to remove any kinda oil/grease left over from the manufacturing process.I also thought the car primer woulda work too, but clearly not

MaxPower · Postby **MaxPower** » January 27th, 2021, 2:47 pm

Hello timelapse,

Hope you get through with your project.

Interested to see how it comes out.

Post ting.

MG Man · Postby **MG Man** » January 27th, 2021, 3:16 pm

no matter what method, the paint will eventually flake, depending on the amount of use, handling etc
That said, the advice here is great
CLEAN THOROUGHLY
I'd ad lightly scuff the aluminium with fine grit sandpaper, so adhesion will be better
Duplicolour primer works great. Yo can also buy auto-grade aerosol primer in any good auto paint shop
Finally, MaxPower is the kind of guy to sniff paint thinner before sex

De Dragon · Postby **De Dragon** » January 27th, 2021, 10:20 pm

MG Man wrote:no matter what method, the paint will eventually flake, depending on the amount of use, handling etc
That said, the advice here is great
CLEAN THOROUGHLY
I'd ad lightly scuff the aluminium with fine grit sandpaper, so adhesion will be better
Duplicolour primer works great. Yo can also buy auto-grade aerosol primer in any good auto paint shop
Finally, MaxPower is the kind of guy to sniff paint thinner before sex

Then blame it for erectile dysfunction. :lol:

abducted · Postby **abducted** » January 27th, 2021, 10:41 pm

Watch out when sanding, aluminium is a soft metal and can damage easily, use silicon carbide sand paper

djruncrowd · Postby **djruncrowd** » January 27th, 2021, 10:58 pm

You could also ditch the painting and try a brushed aluminum/metal finish

adnj · Postby **adnj** » January 27th, 2021, 11:25 pm

You can also anodize.
Cerakote is similar to powder coat but more durable.

pugboy · Postby **pugboy** » January 28th, 2021, 5:20 am

cerakote is the real deal, is it available locally ?

adnj wrote:You can also anodize.
Cerakote is similar to powder coat but more durable.

skylinechild · Postby **skylinechild** » January 28th, 2021, 6:22 am

VexXx Dogg wrote:
sand
clean with soap water
clean with plain water
wipe with gas or alcohol
paint with self-etching primer
paint with final desired paint

I'm not a pro eh, so take that with a grain of salt. That's my DIY method

actually you on point there. :lol:

i did the seat reinforcement brace in my u14 - it was rusted away badly....

i removed it - sanded it down got rid of all the rust.... wiped down with rubbing alcohol and paper towels - used duplicolor primer on it and then duplicolor high heat engine bay paint on it .

turned out beautifully...

heres my project

before

cleaned out

primed

painted

if you want to clear coat it - after its dry from painting you can wipe down a 2nd time with alcohol and paper wipes and then apply some cleat coat - 2-3 coats should do it ...

i didn't bother with the clear as it was going behind the seat.

full write up here how i did it >>>> viewtopic.php?f=21&t=488707&start=210

gastly369 · Postby **gastly369** » January 28th, 2021, 9:19 am

Carry it by spann

timelapse · Postby **timelapse** » January 28th, 2021, 9:40 am

skylinechild wrote:
VexXx Dogg wrote:
sand
clean with soap water
clean with plain water
wipe with gas or alcohol
paint with self-etching primer
paint with final desired paint

I'm not a pro eh, so take that with a grain of salt. That's my DIY method

actually you on point there.

i did the seat reinforcement brace in my u14 - it was rusted away badly....

i removed it - sanded it down got rid of all the rust.... wiped down with rubbing alcohol and paper towels - used duplicolor primer on it and then duplicolor high heat engine bay paint on it .

turned out beautifully...

heres my project

before

cleaned out

primed

painted

if you want to clear coat it - after its dry from painting you can wipe down a 2nd time with alcohol and paper wipes and then apply some cleat coat - 2-3 coats should do it ...

i didn't bother with the clear as it was going behind the seat.

full write up here how i did it >>>> viewtopic.php?f=21&t=488707&start=210

Looks good, but aluminium is a different beast.

88sins · Postby **88sins** » January 28th, 2021, 9:55 am

pugboy wrote:cerakote is the real deal, is it available locally ?

adnj wrote:You can also anodize.
Cerakote is similar to powder coat but more durable.

nope

but iirc it have a place on the EMR opposite Fernandez that does anodizing & powder coating

skylinechild · Postby **skylinechild** » January 28th, 2021, 10:49 am

timelapse wrote:
skylinechild wrote:
VexXx Dogg wrote:
sand
clean with soap water
clean with plain water
wipe with gas or alcohol
paint with self-etching primer
paint with final desired paint

I'm not a pro eh, so take that with a grain of salt. That's my DIY method

actually you on point there.

i did the seat reinforcement brace in my u14 - it was rusted away badly....

i removed it - sanded it down got rid of all the rust.... wiped down with rubbing alcohol and paper towels - used duplicolor primer on it and then duplicolor high heat engine bay paint on it .

turned out beautifully...

heres my project

before

cleaned out

primed

painted

if you want to clear coat it - after its dry from painting you can wipe down a 2nd time with alcohol and paper wipes and then apply some cleat coat - 2-3 coats should do it ...

i didn't bother with the clear as it was going behind the seat.

full write up here how i did it >>>> viewtopic.php?f=21&t=488707&start=210

Looks good, but aluminum is a different beast.

you shouldn't have too much trouble with aluminum.

the thing is to make sure the aluminum is clean and use sand-able primer with an adhesion promoter.

you can wet sand it to ensure you don't take off too much material.

once you done the sanding and its smooth as silk the next step would be to let it air dry ....wipe down with alcohol and then paint.

you will get thru !!!!

adnj · Postby **adnj** » January 28th, 2021, 11:12 am

88sins wrote:
pugboy wrote:cerakote is the real deal, is it available locally ?

adnj wrote:You can also anodize.
Cerakote is similar to powder coat but more durable.

nope

but iirc it have a place on the EMR opposite Fernandez that does anodizing & powder coating

I bought a small kit at Peake's years ago - dark grey/oven cured.

In the US, I usually find the colors that I want at brownells.com - you should be able to import by seabox.