Denatured Alcohol? Polished Aluminum?

[azoldbill]

Hey gang,

OK, was experimenting (read: screwing around) with an cast aluminum intake I got from a ricer shop. In order, I have done the following....

Took the raised striping and lettering to the mill to take the rough cast off the top of those items. I then polished them.

Baked the item at 450* to get rid of all the leftover smoke and crud. (Lots of smoke!)

Cleaned REALLY well with lacquer thinner, then brake cleaner.

Shot with AG Yellow, spent WAY too long trying to wipe the powder off the polished spots, then baking to find out that some powder stayed on the polished spots and that I didn't get great coverage anyhow. No troubles with fisheyes, stray garbage, and whatnot which is a plus to this experiement.

So....I've now got the extra specs of powder off the polished spots. I plan on taping off the polished areas this time, reheating, then hot coating to get the bad spots fixed, and recuring. If all goes well thusfar, a clear coat will be applied as well. Reading through some old posts leads me to believe that I can pull this off.

Anyway, there is a question here. Has anyone used denatured alcohol to do a final clean on an already coated part prior to reapplying more powder? I don't want to risk ruining the old powder with lacquer thinner or brake cleaner.

Also, any thoughts on what I've done and am going to do? Just a noob trying to get results, and your advice is appreciated.

TIA
Thad

[cdaeme]

I use windex to clean any time I am doing multiple coats.

http://www.autocyclepc.com/RED.jpg


http://www.autocyclepc.com/twin.jpg



Jason

[azoldbill]

That is almost exactly the intake I'm working with! Few minor things where the throttle body goes, must be from a different year, but otherwise that's it.

Could you give me a rundown on the steps you did so I can see if I wasn't too far off?

Windex huh? Hmmmmm....

[mtnbiker]

I have used brake clean between coats a few times. No problems. Just get the stuff that doest leave a residue.

[cdaeme]

This is a very rough cast intake so I used Roloc pads to knock down the tops of the raised areas. Outgassed the intake then sprayed with super chrome, let it cool and masked all the raised areas with high temp tape. Cleaned with windex to remove any dust and oils from handling. I heated the intake back up to 250 then sprayed with safety red put it back in the oven until the powder flowed out. I then pulled it back out let it cool just enough to handle and removed the masking tape and completed the curing. This is a display piece so i did not clear it. If it had been a customers piece i would have cleared it right after it came out from the red cure cycle. This was one of the first pieces I done starting out and I have pics of the process somewhere i will find the and post later.

I have had trouble cleaning with brake cleaner between coats if you dont get it wiped or blown down fast enough especially on metalics.

Jason

[azoldbill]

Originally Posted by cdaeme

This is a very rough cast intake so I used Roloc pads to knock down the tops of the raised areas.

Yeah, I found that out. I'll have to remember that trick. I'm hoping that just recoating it with more yellow and then some clear will do the trick.

Thanks for the advice!