Help with small aluminum finishing

[KellyB]

Hey all, new to the board and stumbled onto the site when I goggled for information on repairing scratches on aluminum.

What I have is a small piece of aluminum (bottom plate on a golf putter) with one significant scratch, a small gouge and scratches from general use. The piece is not thick, as can be seen from the pictures. What I am looking for is information on repairing the scratches and gouge, without investing a lot of money (the manufacturer offers a re-finish but i this case would like be $75-$100.00). I would appreciate if anyone has any suggestions how to clean this up so it is a little more presentable that it is currently.

Thanks,

[mpierich]

Originally Posted by KellyB

Hey all, new to the board and stumbled onto the site when I goggled for information on repairing scratches on aluminum.

What I have is a small piece of aluminum (bottom plate on a golf putter) with one significant scratch, a small gouge and scratches from general use. The piece is not thick, as can be seen from the pictures. What I am looking for is information on repairing the scratches and gouge, without investing a lot of money (the manufacturer offers a re-finish but i this case would like be $75-$100.00). I would appreciate if anyone has any suggestions how to clean this up so it is a little more presentable that it is currently.

Thanks,

This is what I call one of those "picky" items (not that you are) that has to be absolutely perfect or there's no sense doing it; a lot of detail and stuff in the way. I wouldn't touch it, myself. If the company does it all the time and guarantees it, it would be worth what they're asking. Maybe somebody else on here would tackle it, but I think I would decline.

[KellyB]

Originally Posted by mpierich

This is what I call one of those "picky" items (not that you are) that has to be absolutely perfect or there's no sense doing it; a lot of detail and stuff in the way. I wouldn't touch it, myself. If the company does it all the time and guarantees it, it would be worth what they're asking. Maybe somebody else on here would tackle it, but I think I would decline.

Well I don't think it needs to be perfect, for the most part the putter plate is facing down during its use, but with that it is still visible when you remove it from the bag, so in that sense I would like it to look nice. This is not a collectors piece by any means, so I am not looking for perfection, more importantly I am looking to bring it to a reasonable level with which I could game it (not that its not gameable now) and simply try to hide its most abvious flaws.

Thanks for the comments, appreciate any other suggestions.

Regards,

Kelly

[jrow]

KellyB,

I see a nick at the bottom of the "X" and a scratch to the left of the "X".
In order to get these out your going to have to sand them out. If the plates are flat then the metal you remove will leave a flat spot where you take the scratch and the nick out. So that means that you are going to have to sand the whole plate evenly. Depending on the depth of the scratch that may remove some of the lettering on the plate. If the plate is convex then that creates another problem as to what mechanical means can be used to get the scratches out without ending up with a bunch of flat spots.
Do you have the equipment to do this, if not how much money have you budgeted, to invest in equipment, to remove the scratches?

John

[KellyB]

Originally Posted by jrow

KellyB,

I see a nick at the bottom of the "X" and a scratch to the left of the "X".
In order to get these out your going to have to sand them out. If the plates are flat then the metal you remove will leave a flat spot where you take the scratch and the nick out. So that means that you are going to have to sand the whole plate evenly. Depending on the depth of the scratch that may remove some of the lettering on the plate. If the plate is convex then that creates another problem as to what mechanical means can be used to get the scratches out without ending up with a bunch of flat spots.
Do you have the equipment to do this, if not how much money have you budgeted, to invest in equipment, to remove the scratches?

John

The nick at the bottom of the X is deeper than the scratch, and to be quite honest, I could live with the nick, its the scratch I am not really happy with. They are not deep at all, I would say less than 1 mm. I have not budgeted anything to do a job like this, as I mentioned, if I can do inexpensively, great, I will give it a go, if I cannot, I will simply live with it. I have access to machines to buff and sand, it would be the costs of the materials to complete I would need.

Thanks for the input,

Cheers.