Hi JM,
must be related mentality. Maybe in a country, where there is still the chance (real or not) to climb on the economical ladder, one gets more pride of what he does. But in a rich country where things are more or less settled...
On my "journey" I met some companies, also chrome platers and painters, that were in contact with High End HiFi before. They frankly told me that the job was too demanding for them. A painter who very shortly worked for a german High End company (MBL) promised to paint in dustless cabins on his website , but stated in real life hat small stains because of particles of dust are unavoidable and polishing cannot be done. Which is completey BS, he simply does not use 2kpaints which are polishable after short time. Just look on the streets, billions of cars were painted that way since the eighties.
A legend says that Dieter Burmester, famoust for his chrome plated amps was in contact with about 200 plating companies. Funny thing he ended in a partnership with a company that builds High End Amps themselves. The owner once learned chrome plating, so he does it himself, frustrated from the results he got from professional platers.
I was lucky to get 20mm 6060-T6 plates as samples, which is an unusual thickness. Thickness of the desingn ranges between 17mm and 20mm.
Hope to have them milled and anodized by the first week of september. But the distributor warned me to expect good results, because part of the process is using recycled aluminium. Therfor the composition cannot be so easily controlled. The good aluminium you mentioned is probably not using any recycled material at all but fresh bauxide...
The basic problem is that aluminium looks extremely good until being anodized. Because the oxide layer shows weaknesses in the composition not
visible before. This is why I contacted wheel painters as well. The alloys used for car-wheels have high percentages of magnesium or silicone and copper.
So to keep the shine, painting with a clear dyed paint, not anodizing is the route they take.
Could anyone place some photos if their gear i.e. the sliding table?
All the best,
Salar
must be related mentality. Maybe in a country, where there is still the chance (real or not) to climb on the economical ladder, one gets more pride of what he does. But in a rich country where things are more or less settled...
On my "journey" I met some companies, also chrome platers and painters, that were in contact with High End HiFi before. They frankly told me that the job was too demanding for them. A painter who very shortly worked for a german High End company (MBL) promised to paint in dustless cabins on his website , but stated in real life hat small stains because of particles of dust are unavoidable and polishing cannot be done. Which is completey BS, he simply does not use 2kpaints which are polishable after short time. Just look on the streets, billions of cars were painted that way since the eighties.
A legend says that Dieter Burmester, famoust for his chrome plated amps was in contact with about 200 plating companies. Funny thing he ended in a partnership with a company that builds High End Amps themselves. The owner once learned chrome plating, so he does it himself, frustrated from the results he got from professional platers.
I was lucky to get 20mm 6060-T6 plates as samples, which is an unusual thickness. Thickness of the desingn ranges between 17mm and 20mm.
Hope to have them milled and anodized by the first week of september. But the distributor warned me to expect good results, because part of the process is using recycled aluminium. Therfor the composition cannot be so easily controlled. The good aluminium you mentioned is probably not using any recycled material at all but fresh bauxide...
The basic problem is that aluminium looks extremely good until being anodized. Because the oxide layer shows weaknesses in the composition not
visible before. This is why I contacted wheel painters as well. The alloys used for car-wheels have high percentages of magnesium or silicone and copper.
So to keep the shine, painting with a clear dyed paint, not anodizing is the route they take.
Could anyone place some photos if their gear i.e. the sliding table?
All the best,
Salar
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BTW, engraving letters: This is laser engraving in aluminium 6060. Normally the laser only changes color of the alloy
but in this saample tha laser is strong enough to mill away the material, like a needle in classical engraving
I did use Nakamichi-Fonts and design as reference. Goal of the test wa wether the engraved letter would change the
brushing. Depth of the engraving was about 0.3mm, width of lines about 0.2mm. So the letters were not bigger than with ordinary silk printing,
with letters of 2,5mm size.
But the anodizer ruined this sample... dseethe stains and chalk-like residues?
but in this saample tha laser is strong enough to mill away the material, like a needle in classical engraving
I did use Nakamichi-Fonts and design as reference. Goal of the test wa wether the engraved letter would change the
brushing. Depth of the engraving was about 0.3mm, width of lines about 0.2mm. So the letters were not bigger than with ordinary silk printing,
with letters of 2,5mm size.
But the anodizer ruined this sample... dseethe stains and chalk-like residues?
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Peter Daniel, you mentioned many years ago, when brushing by hand to go
with the natural grain. Well, on one of my many attempts to have samples
beadblasted and anodized, the sheet did show a grain like being brushed.
Those morons made three attempts to bead blast as they thought that
someone in the company did misunderstand the instruction. Then they found out
that the very good looking brushing grain was in the material/the alloy structure itself.
Instead of discussing how to take advantage of the effect, they rejected
any further testing. As you mentioned the grain by yourself, do you remember
which alloy it was. The sheet I used was sold as AlMg3, but as far as I know
this alloy does not show this natural grain...
Reason why I am asking: I mentioned bead blasting. But brushing is harder to be done
perfectly. If the „brushes“ are part of the alloy, a front panel of this material only needs
to be anodized
with the natural grain. Well, on one of my many attempts to have samples
beadblasted and anodized, the sheet did show a grain like being brushed.
Those morons made three attempts to bead blast as they thought that
someone in the company did misunderstand the instruction. Then they found out
that the very good looking brushing grain was in the material/the alloy structure itself.
Instead of discussing how to take advantage of the effect, they rejected
any further testing. As you mentioned the grain by yourself, do you remember
which alloy it was. The sheet I used was sold as AlMg3, but as far as I know
this alloy does not show this natural grain...
Reason why I am asking: I mentioned bead blasting. But brushing is harder to be done
perfectly. If the „brushes“ are part of the alloy, a front panel of this material only needs
to be anodized
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Salar, the grain I think Peter may have been referring to are the marks left by the extrusion process - I may be wrong.
egellings, the obvious way is anodising, but I've also used clear gloss spray used for sealing artworks and that works quite well.
Another method is to clean it very carefully with dish soap and water to make sure there are no greasy fingerprints then dip it in a dilute bath of caustic soda solution for a few minutes which leaves a protective finish, but it does look more 'frosted' - test on a scrap piece first to see if you like the effect. Start off with a very weak solution first, and strengthen it if needed.
egellings, the obvious way is anodising, but I've also used clear gloss spray used for sealing artworks and that works quite well.
Another method is to clean it very carefully with dish soap and water to make sure there are no greasy fingerprints then dip it in a dilute bath of caustic soda solution for a few minutes which leaves a protective finish, but it does look more 'frosted' - test on a scrap piece first to see if you like the effect. Start off with a very weak solution first, and strengthen it if needed.
One rather nice alternative to brushed finishes that I like is to use a random-orbit sander with increasingly fine sandpaper. I tend to like something in the 220-400 grit range for most projects, but sometimes I'll go up to 2000 grit wet-sanding to get more of a dull mirror look.
I tend to prefer this to brushed panels only because I see so much stuff using brushed aluminum panels that I find it to be a bit generic.
It's much easier to do than a brushed finish and I personally like the look of it.
I tend to prefer this to brushed panels only because I see so much stuff using brushed aluminum panels that I find it to be a bit generic.
It's much easier to do than a brushed finish and I personally like the look of it.
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