brushed aluminum look

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Flash445

Weaksauce
Joined
Mar 26, 2007
Messages
68
so i know there are ways to give yoru case a nice automotive shiny paint job, now im wondering if there is a way to give it that good brused aluminum look. would using a wirewheel on low speed work? any other ideas?
 
arrrgh... There was a worklog on bit-tech.net of a guy who made his own projector. But I can't seem to find it. He used sand paper to give his case a brushed aluminum look. Basically what he did was clamp a block to the end of the sheet of sandpaper. the block would act as a straight edge running along the edge of his piece of aluminum making it possible for sandpaper to be moved along the surface in a straight line.
 
If you are going to give your own brushed aluminum finish by hand, you are definitely going to want to use some sort of guide. I'd suggest using a sanding block, but carefully clamp down a piece of wood to use as a straightedge. Careful clamping though, as you don't want to dent the case - perhaps put a cloth or sponge between the clamp and the case.
 
I done this on a brushed aluminum case that I had repaired that had holes in the side panel that I wanted covered. What I did was used a test piece to try the right grit sand paper that matched the grain marks. I placed the tower against a wall and shimmed it tight so it wouldn't move. I used the wall as the guide for a large sanding block I made out of plywood. I glued a few sheets to cover the whole block and proceeded to gently sand the case. It is really hard to not be able to tell on a repair job so I ended up doing the whole case. I ended up painting the case because the welds were to visible but if you are doing a clean case then it will work perfect. I have no pictures because it was so long ago and digital cameras were still like a million dollars. It is kinda self explanatory though.
 
wow thanks for the link to that article. if i dont want want to do that to bare alum and want color, i should sand first before painting correct?
 
Yeah, sand first. I'm not sure how well the brushed metal look will show through paint though. Perhaps using something like x-metal paint will have the results you want. Traditionally to keep a brushed look and still have color you anodize aluminum.
 
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