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Bertram31.com General Bulletin Board
Re: Anodizing question
Posted By: Vic Roy In Response To: Re: Anodizing question (Hal S. Lovato)
Date: Monday, 1 August 2005, at 5:21 p.m.
Hal - I had the same issues with the footrest arms on my aluminum/teak Release chair, and for that matter, with all the aluminum parts on it. I took the parts to a very experienced anodizing guy and he said trying to reamodize without smoothing it out is a waste, and remachining the parts would cost as much as a a new chair. So I experimented around with ways to polish it up myself and hit a method that worked really well. First, acid wash the aluminum parts real good, say two or 3 times to get all the oxidized aluminum off and out of the pits. You will be surprised how good it looks after the acid. Then scrub the aluminum with a stainless pad to rough up the surface, using WD 40 as a light lube/cutting oil. One of the few things WD 40 is good for. Then wet sand using a palm sander with 180 grit and on the curved parts you can't get a palm sander on, use 00 steel wool (make sure it's off the boat or the steel wool will make a mess). Next, polish out to a mirror finish with 0000 steel wool and Flitz. I followed that up with 3M 09010 fiberglass cleaner & wax - has a very light compound in it - using an orbital buffer with a terry cloth bonnet. Then wash good with soap & water, let dry, and coat with Corrosion X. Looks better than any anodizing. Not as much work as it sounds like, especially if you remove from the boat and do in an a/c shop.
UV
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