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How to do white finishing on aluminum

July 14, 2009

Hi,

I am trying to get the whitest looking finish I can without painting.
Raw bead blasted aluminum is a really light gray and we like that because it close, but when you clear ano is turns slightly darker gray. I noticed when with bead blasted then nickel plated it give it a different look. SO my guess is that if I bead blast then TIN plate that is may come out white looking?
Anyone with experience in this? Are my assumptions correct? or any better suggestions to achieve a white looking finish?

Jimmy Amaral
engineer - San Jose, California, USA

Hi, Jimmy. I think silver plating is whiter than tin plating. I would suspect that a bead blasted surface, silver plated, is about as white as you can get from metal.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
July 14, 2009

Excellent! Thanks for the advise!
How well do you think it will hold up in an outdoor application? How quickly will it tarnish and how bad will it look?

Jimmy Amaral
- San Jose, California, USA
July 20, 2009

TRy old expired USA patent(white conversion coating on aluminum)-patent number 3,849,208(site www.uspto.gov).Hope it helps and good luck!

Goran Budija
- Cerovski vrh Croatia
July 23, 2009

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