clear coating polished alum

[hybred]

i posted about powder coating alum parts after polish in the pc. section but i'm also currious about using an automotive clear like kwik clear ect. on polished alum. parts. my questions are: polishing alum i usually sand then buff with jewlers rouge, wouldn't spraying clear on a part buffed with rouge be like trying to spray over a waxed substance? also i've heard spraying over polished alum. tends to dull the finnish. any suggestions.

[sswee]

Clearcoating aluminum is done all the time. I've done it many times. As with almost all coating, plating and finishing you have to clean the part of wax, grease and other contaminates or it will have a negative end result.

I would not say that clearcoat dulls the shine but it does give it a different look. Many aluminum parts for mc's and autos have a factory clearcoat that covers different finishes. If you decide to spray clear, make sure the clear is compatable with aluminum, some are not.

My preference is PC in clear or a candy. Caswell also has Zoop seal that is suppose to be good but I personally have not tried it.

SS

Clear coat is you best freind... I use a super mirror clear 500+ gloss rated and the polish part look's wet and crystal claer for year to come...

[hybred]

thanks.. i'm a body/paint man by trade. i use transtar on most all base clear jobs i do. never tried to clear a polished alum part. i think i'll do some practice peices and pc them and then try a piece in clear. i posished a rear swing arm a while back. i used the standard method of sanding then tripoli brown then white. it came out beautifully but it couldn't even be touched or you'd leave prints. i'm working on a 79 kz1000 w/custom turbo. i'd like to completely black everything out except the rims wich i'd like to polish. i'm looking into what i can do with the fork tubes also. need to black them out without any build up but they come hard chromed from the factory. posted the question in the other section. thanks again for the quick response

i found that powder clear work's better than automotive clear.. the automotive paint tends to dull the shine some

[hybred]

sounds like an plan. using a standard method of polishing ie, sanding/tripoli ect. will i have any problems pre-heating the alum part after being polished before aplying clear? it would seam the tripoli would hinder the outgasing of the alum? anyway, thanks for the input. i haven't pc'd in about 2 years. closed my auto shop and need to get a new oven. have a good day guys

As long at it is cleaned good you should have no problems now for oven step on over to the powder coating section

Cheap and easy to build ... and it was quick
http://www.caswellplating.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=3993

That and a compressor and one of them 25 buck guns caswell is selling will get you up and running but you need a blast box

Don't take me wrong i polish to and i have made lots of cash from it but powder coating is my main thing now...