How to make "brushed metal finish" properly?

[TVwazhere]

3 hours ago, PotatoCanDo! said:

to this v

 

Spoiler

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

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Holy shit that's amazing!

[Tonberry]

9 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

Holy shit that's amazing!

Thankyou sir!

 

I'm humbly honored to be linked to your status update.

[Energycore]

That's an awesome finishing job!

 

Personally, I would have only used the sandpaper for the last couple passes to get the finish you want. You can remove the paint much quicker with a power tool like a dremel if you have one, and a flap wheel like this one. Grab a decently large one like 2x1".

 

EDIT: further reading reveals you did use a sanding wheel. Well I guess I'm late to the party!

[Tonberry]

1 hour ago, Energycore said:

That's an awesome finishing job!

 

Personally, I would have only used the sandpaper for the last couple passes to get the finish you want. You can remove the paint much quicker with a power tool like a dremel if you have one, and a flap wheel like this one. Grab a decently large one like 2x1".

 

EDIT: further reading reveals you did use a sanding wheel. Well I guess I'm late to the party!

Man, I was originally about to use a belt sander, but Im not an experienced DIY person who have all the DIY power tools, instead I just use my old small sanding wheel I have.

 

So for the 1st phase, I sanded it with 400 grit sand paper and paper and paper and paper and paaaaaaperrrrrrrs, using a sanding wheel till it shows as bare aluminum.

I didn't expect that anodized coat is actually very very very thin coat but really hard to beat using sanding machine without eating the metal too deep.

After done with sanding off all the paint, then to make the brushed finish on it, I grinded the bare aluminum surface with whetstone I have in one way stright strokes. I grabed the whetstone and stroked it on the surface and poured water quite often to make it easier to do. The weight of the whetstone helped me apply consistent pressure to the surface.

The next step is sanded it again with a 200 grit padded sand paper manually by doing again one way stright strokes, but before that I sprayed WD-40 on the surface of the bare aluminum and also on the sand paper, then I wiped it with dry clean cloth when there is residue build-ups, and repeat till I got the result I wanted.

 

Finally I washed them with water and detergent mix to clean out the surface from the WD-40 and dry them, for the final touch I sprayed them with clear coat as protection.

 

I hope this answers some question on how I did it.

 

Warning! Hours and hours and hours and hours has been spent, and determination with big chunk of patience has been consumed along the process only to get this scratchy looks.

 

Happy mod!

[Energycore]

10 hours ago, PotatoCanDo! said:

Man, I was originally about to use a belt sander, but Im not an experienced DIY person who have all the DIY power tools, instead I just use my old small sanding wheel I have.

 

So for the 1st phase, I sanded it with 400 grit sand paper and paper and paper and paper and paaaaaaperrrrrrrs, using a sanding wheel till it shows as bare aluminum.

I didn't expect that anodized coat is actually very very very thin coat but really hard to beat using sanding machine without eating the metal too deep.

After done with sanding off all the paint, then to make the brushed finish on it, I grinded the bare aluminum surface with whetstone I have in one way stright strokes. I grabed the whetstone and stroked it on the surface and poured water quite often to make it easier to do. The weight of the whetstone helped me apply consistent pressure to the surface.

The next step is sanded it again with a 200 grit padded sand paper manually by doing again one way stright strokes, but before that I sprayed WD-40 on the surface of the bare aluminum and also on the sand paper, then I wiped it with dry clean cloth when there is residue build-ups, and repeat till I got the result I wanted.

 

Finally I washed them with water and detergent mix to clean out the surface from the WD-40 and dry them, for the final touch I sprayed them with clear coat as protection.

 

I hope this answers some question on how I did it.

 

Warning! Hours and hours and hours and hours has been spent, and determination with big chunk of patience has been consumed along the process only to get this scratchy looks.

 

Happy mod!

Sounds like a lot of work, I'm glad it was fulfilling!

[dual290x]

Sometimes to get the best results, you have to do it slowly by hand. I think it turned out great. Unless you have done it multiple times, using power tools is not the way to go.

[Tonberry]

10 minutes ago, dual290x said:

Sometimes to get the best results, you have to do it slowly by hand. I think it turned out great. Unless you have done it multiple times, using power tools is not the way to go.

The most demanding work to do on this was get rid the original anodize coating. Powder coat and other spray coating methods can be easily stripped with that liquid paint stripper just by pouring it on the surface you want and wait for 5 mins and you can easily scrap the paint effortlessly. Anodize coating is different, it won't come off with liquid stripper, it needs power tool and alot of sand papers.

[PriitM]

On 12/5/2019 at 5:49 AM, PotatoCanDo! said:

The most demanding work to do on this was get rid the original anodize coating. Powder coat and other spray coating methods can be easily stripped with that liquid paint stripper just by pouring it on the surface you want and wait for 5 mins and you can easily scrap the paint effortlessly. Anodize coating is different, it won't come off with liquid stripper, it needs power tool and alot of sand papers.

This is for the record: 

Hardest part is taking off the finish. I think its well covered in this thread, tho I recommend using caution with solvents. You can stain aluminium with the wrong solvent. 

Getting the "brushed" look tho: satin finish pads. Spongy pads, available from the paint section of your local hardware store. There are several kinds, but most often you find two: brown for soft materials like wood and plastics and green for stainless steel/metal. Advantages are: even pressure over surface and uniform depth of "cut". Better for finishing curved surfaces.  

[Virgule]

Just wanted to drop by and say how beautiful of a job you did on that panel. You are now officially a pro.