How to make "brushed metal finish" properly?

[Tonberry]

Can anyone guide me how to get rid off original paint on aluminum and brush it properly to give it a brushed metal looks?

 

And what kind of coating which can prevent it from oxidation but still have the brushed texture/looks without masking it too much?

[Radium_Angel]

5 minutes ago, PotatoCanDo! said:

Can anyone guide me how to get rid off original paint on aluminum and brush it properly to give it a brushed metal looks?

 

And what kind of coating which can prevent it from oxidation but still have the brushed texture/looks without masking it too much?

Paint remover will remove the existing paint.

There is a Japanese paint company called MrMetal that makes some fantastic paints that give that brushed on look, that you can actually hand polish for an even better look.

After that, a nice semi-gloss cost applied with an airbrush and you are golden.

[GrockleTD]

5 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

MrMetal that makes some fantastic paints that give that brushed on look

personally, i would just use fine grit sandpaper tbh

[Tonberry]

12 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

Paint remover will remove the existing paint.

There is a Japanese paint company called MrMetal that makes some fantastic paints that give that brushed on look, that you can actually hand polish for an even better look.

After that, a nice semi-gloss cost applied with an airbrush and you are golden.

What kind of paint remover?

I would like to do this by myself, but if you know some tutorial videos how they do it, that would be a big help too.

 

6 minutes ago, GrockleTD said:

personally, i would just use fine grit sandpaper tbh

How fine is the size which is ideal to removing the paint?

 

What tool is actually the best to make brushed looks for DIY?

[GrockleTD]

well, iirc, for things with thicker metal such as furniture, they use a grinding wheel. and i believe the sandpaper i've used is 3000? (idk it was 300 or 3000, whichever is really fine)

[Tonberry]

12 minutes ago, GrockleTD said:

well, iirc, for things with thicker metal such as furniture, they use a grinding wheel. and i believe the sandpaper i've used is 3000? (idk it was 300 or 3000, whichever is really fine)

I was thinking of that grinding wheel too, but I need to grind a wide surface area and keep the uniformity of the grind marks on the whole surface. So I need a grinding wheel and wide abrasive wheel/sandpaper with consistent pressure while grinding/sanding it.

 

If I rub it with sandpaper manually with bare hands, I'm not sure if can be consistent in applying the presure which can make it have different luster intensity on the surface if the pressure is not consistent. cmiiw

 

What grinding wheel can be mounted with a wide abrasive?

[Radium_Angel]

1 hour ago, PotatoCanDo! said:

What kind of paint remover?

Depends on the paint.

Oil or water based will require different types of paint remover...

[Tonberry]

@GrockleTD @Radium_Angel I found a well done simple tutorial to make the brushed finish on aluminum.

But I can't find the proper way to strip off the original paint/coating without making any scratches. All I can find the tutorial to strip off the paint are mostly with a proccess which leaves scratches that might ruin the brushed finish.

[GrockleTD]

7 hours ago, Radium_Angel said:

Depends on the paint.

Oil or water based will require different types of paint remover...

it'd probably be powder coat stuffs, sinces its a computer

[Tonberry]

2 minutes ago, GrockleTD said:

it'd probably be powder coat stuffs, sinces its a computer

I found these guides

Do you think we can just water spray those popped off paint away rather than scrap it with scrapper?

[GrockleTD]

2 minutes ago, PotatoCanDo! said:

9 minutes ago, GrockleTD said:

it'd probably be powder coat stuffs, sinces its a computer

I found these guides

Do you think we can just water spray those popped off paint away rather than scrap it with scrapper?

yeah probably. i'd catch the paint in a bucket if you can, it is probably best to not let that leach into the rivers and lakes of the world

[Tonberry]

7 minutes ago, GrockleTD said:

yeah probably. i'd catch the paint in a bucket if you can, it is probably best to not let that leach into the rivers and lakes of the world

Yeah, I might get some strong paint strippers to let me wash out that popped off paint with water gun to be free of random scratches, and turn it back as original smooth plain bare aluminum for me to start brush it.

 

Let's do this!

[Tonberry]

@GrockleTD I tried to removing the paint with paint stripper/remover, and it didn't work. I found that the stuff I work on it is anodized. I leave the paint stripper for 30 mins but no reaction indicate that it takes the paint off from the aluminum.

[Radium_Angel]

2 hours ago, PotatoCanDo! said:

@GrockleTD I tried to removing the paint with paint stripper/remover, and it didn't work. I found that the stuff I work on it is anodize coated. I leave the paint stripper for 30 mins but no reaction indicate that it takes the paint off from the aluminum.

Take it to a machine shop and have them sandblast it then.

Then wetsand down the case, it'll leave it smooth as glass.

 

Warning: This will take a lot of work, time and money.

[Tonberry]

On 10/2/2019 at 7:48 PM, Radium_Angel said:

Take it to a machine shop and have them sandblast it then.

Then wetsand down the case, it'll leave it smooth as glass.

 

Warning: This will take a lot of work, time and money.

You were right about your warning that it takes a lot of work and time, but just a little money to buy some sand papers.

 

I ended up doing it all by myself, and I went all out, to do whatever possible to make this happen.

 

This is the result.

Spoiler

 

 

Don't worry, the curved luster is a camera effect. It's actually a really flat uniform brushed finish.

 

I think I managed to get a result I want.

[Tonberry]

.

[DoctorNick]

3 minutes ago, PotatoCanDo! said:

.

Wow good job! 

[Radium_Angel]

1 hour ago, PotatoCanDo! said:

I think I managed to get a result I want.

It's a fantastic job.

[Tonberry]

22 minutes ago, DoctorNick said:

Wow good job! 

 

20 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

It's a fantastic job.

Man, that was a really tedious work that needs ton of patience..

[Radium_Angel]

6 hours ago, PotatoCanDo! said:

 

Man, that was a really tedious work that needs ton of patience..

And now you see why people charge an arm and a leg to do it...

[Tonberry]

2 hours ago, Radium_Angel said:

And now you see why people charge an arm and a leg to do it...

How much the cost someone actually charge people to make them a brushed finish on metals like this?

[Radium_Angel]

51 minutes ago, PotatoCanDo! said:

How much the cost someone actually charge people to make them a brushed finish on metals like this?

Not a clue, depends on the size, time, etc. I assume that's a computer case. Assuming the entire exteriour looks that way, I'd have charged 2-300$ US to do that for a customer.

[Tonberry]

On 10/5/2019 at 6:16 AM, Radium_Angel said:

Not a clue, depends on the size, time, etc. I assume that's a computer case. Assuming the entire exteriour looks that way, I'd have charged 2-300$ US to do that for a customer.

Fair enough.

I did this for myself, and yes it's a Phanteks Evolv Shift case back panel. The inner side of the panel is much more difficult to do this as there are some screw holes that extended out higher than the panel surface. We need to be very very careful not to cut those extended screw holes with the sanding wheel.

 

I really wanted to get the gray one but they are out of stock everywhere in my country, only available the black. So I bought the black one and an idea came across my mind, why don't I make it gray/silver and make it looks more premium by give it a brushed finish. And there I go.. Modded my case for the next build.

 

Just did the back panel yesterday, next up is the front panel. I will leave the front bottom brand logo untouched to give it a bold black logo on a silver brushed finish.

 

It came from this..

Spoiler

 

 

[Tonberry]

After finishing the front panel for the new manually brushed finish (not yet coated because my patience is running out consumed by brushing it) and installed a pair of CoolStream SE 120 rads,

 

I'm ready for this.

 

[Tonberry]

After 3 weeks away from home for my job. I'm back and did little finishing touch and installed the panels to the chassis, and ordered some more EKWB stuff for it and still waiting them to arrive, I took some decent shots to show how it looks not from PC build perspective but from DIY case mod perspective. The result is beyond my expectation to be honest. I initially ready for some disappointments because this is my very first DIY case mod, I expected for some low results but ended up otherwise. No complains no regret.

 

On 10/5/2019 at 6:37 AM, PotatoCanDo! said:

From this ^

 

to this v

 

 

Some other shots from different angles after it's installed on the chassis.

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is really worth the time and efforts from my perspective.