Painting aluminium checker plate

[Pedro_The_Swift]

exactly.

via spray cans.

any reccommendations?

its fairly weathered.

undercoat?

[Tank]

Will need to be cleaned of any weathering (oxidisation) and then Etch Primer applied before a top coat, Regards Frank.

[Koukandowie Brangus]

undercoat with zinc chromate, works on planes.

[JDNSW]

Same as for any aluminium - remove any loose oxide or other corrosion products, degrease and start with etch primer. Depending on the desired finish you can simply apply a good quality acrylic over this, or you can go the whole hog, but if you apply too thick a paint layer, it will not improve the appearance of the tread plate, as it will fill up the angles to a noticeable extent.

However, while aluminium does not require painting for protection (I have an unpainted alloy dinghy that has survived for thirty years in a saltwater environment!), tread plate in particular, because of the raised lumps, is very prone to having the paint rubbed off the tops, and while this won't hurt, it does not look real flash. My attitude is to leave it unpainted unless you can cover it with something a bit more resistant to rubbing, such as powder coating.

John

[rick130]

<snip>

However, while aluminium does not require painting for protection <snip>

John

oooh, that's a bit of a generalisation for you John :o

Some of the high tensile grades, depending on the metallurgy aren't very corrosion resistant at all, hence why the 12'x 4' sheet of 2024 T4 I have sitting in my shed is Alclad (anodised) :p

OK, OK, common old checker plate (chequer ?) is plain Jane dead soft relatively pure but I couldn't resist :D

[andies landies]

Zinc Chromate is the best undercoat for Al. but it's really not good for you, only use with really good ventilation, overalls and high-quality respirator!!!

Also, it pays to spray chequer-plate with lots of light coats from many angles so that the paint doesn't build up too much on any particular side of the bumps.

Andrew

[JDNSW]

oooh, that's a bit of a generalisation for you John :o

Some of the high tensile grades, depending on the metallurgy aren't very corrosion resistant at all, hence why the 12'x 4' sheet of 2024 T4 I have sitting in my shed is Alclad (anodised) :p

OK, OK, common old checker plate (chequer ?) is plain Jane dead soft relatively pure but I couldn't resist :D

You are right of course - but the copper containing alloys you mention are rarely described as "aluminium", and the alloy used in Landrovers, as well as any checkerplate you are likely to come across are close enough to pure aluminium (or at least don't contain metals a long way off electrochemically) that paint is not needed for protection.

Note: Alclad is not the same as anodised, although alclad may be anodised as well. Alclad is the proprietary name for corrodible aluminium alloy coated with a thin layer of pure aluminium. Anodising is the process of forming a hard, durable layer of aluminium oxide electrochemically to protect aluminium. It is much thicker and more cohesive than the layer that forms naturally when aluminium is exposed to air, which normally prevents further oxidation, but the anodised layer, being thicker, is less easily damaged.

John

[VladTepes]

Pedro don't you hate it wqhen you post a simple question and get a complex answer ?!

Happens to me all the time.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

:lol2:
just sitting here with a large box of popcorn,,,
:D

[rick130]

<snip>
Note: Alclad is not the same as anodised, although alclad may be anodised as well. Alclad is the proprietary name for corrodible aluminium alloy coated with a thin layer of pure aluminium. <snip>
John


I'll argue the toss on the 2000 and 7000s series alloys not being called aluminium, but you are correct on the Alclad part. I was very wrong to describe it as an anodising process.



Alclad is a trademark of Alcoa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoa) used as a generic term to describe corrosion resistant Aluminium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium) sheet formed from high-purity aluminium surface layers metallurgically bonded to high strength Aluminium Alloy core material. These sheets commonly used by the aircraft (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft) industry[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alclad#cite_note-0).
Described in NACA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NACA)-TN-259, of August 1927, as "a new corrosion resistant aluminum product which is markedly superior to the present strong alloys. Its use should result in greatly increased life of a structural part. Alclad is a heat-treated aluminum, copper, manganese, magnesium alloy that has the corrosion resistance of pure metal at the surface and the strength of the strong alloy underneath. Of particular importance is the thorough character of the union between the alloy and the pure aluminum. Preliminary results of salt spray tests (24 weeks of exposure) show changes in tensile strength and elongation of Alclad 17ST, when any occurred, to be so small as to be well within the limits of experimental error."


















Any popcorn left, Pedro ? :D

[mcrover]

Remember....preparation will save you in the end, any impurities will cause paint to flake or flare.

Use an Alkaline cleaner (Edit-I use a product called Alkasteam and have used one called Rip off but most oven cleaners are Alkaline) first as this will remove any corrosion and/or anodisation from the alloy.

It will though stain it black if you leave it on for too long.

It will bubble up like baking soda on a battery terminal and then wash off with lots of fresh water then use heaps of wax and grease remover before priming with the stuff previously mentioned (which is just an etch primer) but only use a light coat and only 1 coat of primer.

You can then use several coats of top coat but do it as mentioned before in heaps of light coats from different directions allowing to dry in between as it ends up looking crap if you get build up on 1 side of the checkers.

Ive done it heaps of times this way and it always came up good.

But what is better and sometimes cheaper and deffinatly less time consuming is just send it to the powder coaters :D

[harry]

oooh, that's a bit of a generalisation for you John :o

Some of the high tensile grades, depending on the metallurgy aren't very corrosion resistant at all, hence why the 12'x 4' sheet of 2024 T4 I have sitting in my shed is Alclad (anodised) :p

OK, OK, common old checker plate (chequer ?) is plain Jane dead soft relatively pure but I couldn't resist :D
i'll bet it's 't3', and not anodised, just 'clad.

[harry]

pedro, why do you want to paint it and what is it you want to paint?
most of the real preparations involve an acid [not alkali] process to clean the metal, but this does have the risk of seeping under the chequerplate where it may be rivetted to something. it is better to remove the ally bit and treat and reprotect then paint and refit.
however an acid treatment may be better [than painting] then just polish it back up.

[rick130]

i'll bet it's 't3', and not anodised, just 'clad.

I'm going off memory as the texta wore off a few years back but did think it was T4, and yes it's definitely 'clad only (and a peel off plastic)

[Pedro_The_Swift]

would like to paint the camper---
so taking it apart it a no-go
but it all seems a bit difficult,,

was just going to use this
::: White Knight Paints (http://www.whiteknightpaints.com.au/product/view/s-l-s-etch-primer#)
and then spray over the top---

[rick130]

a dilute phosphoric acid wash to get rid of the oxidation (rust converter is ideal) then the the etch primer, etc.
Phosphoric acid cleans up aluminium beautifully. It's used in industry all the time.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Thanks EVERYONE:D

Rick,, where would I get hold of a couple of litres of THAT---

and the MSDS sheets to go with it---:p

[Bigbjorn]

Note: Alclad is not the same as anodised, although alclad may be anodised as well. Alclad is the proprietary name for corrodible aluminium alloy coated with a thin layer of pure aluminium. Anodising is the process of forming a hard, durable layer of aluminium oxide electrochemically to protect aluminium. It is much thicker and more cohesive than the layer that forms naturally when aluminium is exposed to air, which normally prevents further oxidation, but the anodised layer, being thicker, is less easily damaged.

John

Your reply beat me to the draw, John. You are correct. Alclad was the term used for duralium with a thin layer of aluminium each side for the purpose of preventing/delaying corrosion. Came out of the WWII aircraft programmes.

[rick130]

Thanks EVERYONE:D

Rick,, where would I get hold of a couple of litres of THAT---

and the MSDS sheets to go with it---:p


rust converter Pedro ;)
Any automotive paint shop will have it.