Topic: Painting polished Aluminium?

[Boehler]

Hy, i saw some nice shots of Painted and polished aluminium tanks and other parts, but , how is this done?
has someone a clue how they prepare the surface?
is the color sealed with clear? or is the whole tank sealed with a coat of clear?

here are some shots of what i mean:
stolen from bikeexif:

[KingCustomCycles.com]

Aluminum will polish to look like chrome, but in that condition, no clear I know of will bond properly.  If that were possible, the antique aircraft guys would be all over it.  That tank looks like a nice polish job kept up with waxes and an occasional metal polish.

[Toxic]

I'm curious as well, how do you get the paint to bond to the polished ally?

[bollingball]

I doubt the painted part was polished. It sure looks good.

[haill]

why don't you ask the guy over at bikeexif? the builders oftend field questions about their work.

[Retro Rocket]

You can clear coat anything, i don't think that tank is too highly polished, what they do is get the alloy blemish free and really clean and then clear coat it. A lot of that shine is brought out by the clear, the tank doesn't have to be that shiny too look shiny, its the clear that creates the shine. I have repaired a clear coated surfaces that were worn by lightly sanding it, this makes it look very cloudy but when  the new clear coat is applied it  brings the transparency and shine back. It can definitely be done. You would have to look at something like polyurethane UV rated clears, like they use on some boats, there are even some good epoxy 2 part clears that are very good. I work with industrial clear coats and epoxy products, if you look around you will find something that will do the job. I have also seen highly polished mag wheels {on an old GSXR} that had been clear coated and looked great although i don't know how long the finish lasted....
 I plan on looking further into this on one of my projects but it will be a way off yet....

[greenjeans]

A couple theories -

1.  Polish the entire tank, then mask off the areas that won't get paint, then scuff/sand or lightly sandblast the remaining area so the paint has something to adhere to.   After it's painted, a pinstripe could help cover the edge of the painted area.
Not too hard.  You could make stencils at a local sign shop.

2.  Although I think it's probably painted,  it's possible that it is a printed vinyl decal that has been applied to the polished tank.  The lettering has some shading as well as shadows.   While you could airbrush those,  it would be pretty easy to design that and have it printed & cut to shape.

To me, it seems like it has a clear over the entire piece.   The "shine" seems toned down just a bit.  A piece of aluminum that is fully polished to a mirror shine will be a bit brighter than one that has a clear coat.


Very nice, clean and tasteful look.  I might have to borrow that for my current build.

[Boehler]

hmmm strange, nobody has done this before here?
I tried to google this, but with no usable results.
So i posted the question on bikeexif today, probably i will get a answer.
If someone answere overthere, i will post it here.

[seaweb11]

Looks a bit like a decal to me as well.

[Silverback]

It looks like a decal to me, but the description says that it is painted on. With the correct stencils and artist, that paint job is not unobtainable. Like anything complicated it takes skill, time and patience to do it right. You can paint/clear on any surface if you use the right technique and take all the necessary steps. I have cleared metals before, but it take several sessions of dusting clear over the parts, lightly sanding and repeating as necessary to get enough build up to lay down a heavy coat. I spray lacquer over metal parts all the time. It seems to be a much easier process than automotive clear coat. This protects the aluminum and maintains the shine.

[Operator]

You can clear coat the polished metal, but you need patience to do it right. Light coat, sand, light coat sand, 3-4 times and then you should be able to lay down a heavier coat.