Polishing Aluminum

[FatherBear]

We machine a variety of aluminum parts that we use to build small robots. We anodize the aluminum after finishing the parts with a brushed grain finish. We currently use an orbital sander to remove deep scratches and then finish with ScotchBrite. This is very labor intensive. We tried a Timesaver once, but this left deep grooves in the metal which was unacceptable. Does anyone else have experience with this type of finishing?

 

[SteveMeisel]

We cast and machine our own aluminum parts. Those that are not sand blasted are anodized. We use vibratory bowls with differant types of media. Drop the part in and wait a few minutes. Not much labor involved (2 operators for 4 vibratorys). We have some small ones (3-4 ft dia) made by Sweco that may be of interest.

http://www.sweco.com/Finishing.html

Cheers,

Steve