Painting Aluminium

Pheebs · 20-12-2010, 22:40

Quick question... what on earth can I use to paint aluminium metal?!

Making Coca Cola Christmas decorations and need to paint parts of the tins but it's a right blighter!

Are there any standard paints out there I can buy that will actually work?! As opposed to scratching, using acid and the rest of it?! Or have I set myself an impossible task!?

Thanks people

Fayshun · 20-12-2010, 23:00

Primer first?

Fayshun · 20-12-2010, 23:01

Google says "etch primer" first.

Fayshun · 20-12-2010, 23:01

HTH.

Von Smallhausen · 20-12-2010, 23:14

Dear me. Rusty as owt but I was a paint chemist in a former life.

Aluminium is a very difficult substrate to paint on and will require an etch primer before a top coat goes on.

Even a scuff with light abrasion paper is no guarantee that a top coat will adhere.

divine · 20-12-2010, 23:17

This would be why aluminium is often anodised i suppose?

Darrin · 21-12-2010, 01:55

And why you hardly ever see a car with aluminum body panels...

Jonny69 · 21-12-2010, 13:38

That's actually down to it being more expensive and slightly harder to recycle

volospian · 22-12-2010, 11:27

And, although it is the most abundant metalic element in the earths crust, it was, until the very late 19th century, so difficult to extract that it was considered, in Europe at least, more valuable than gold. Indeed, it was considered such a rarity that the Emperor Napoleon III apparently reserved his aluminium cutlery for his most honoured dinner guests, while the lesser diners had to make do with cheap gold stuff.

Now I drink lager out of it.

Goose · 22-12-2010, 14:45

I assume if you drink lager from aluminium containers , if I ask for diet coke it'll come in a gold container? Can I come and visit?

20-12-2010, 22:40	#1
Pheebs Deep Throat Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 6,512	Painting Aluminium Quick question... what on earth can I use to paint aluminium metal?! Making Coca Cola Christmas decorations and need to paint parts of the tins but it's a right blighter! Are there any standard paints out there I can buy that will actually work?! As opposed to scratching, using acid and the rest of it?! Or have I set myself an impossible task!? Thanks people __________________ http://www.spiffingdesigns.co.uk

20-12-2010, 23:00	#2
Fayshun Rocket Fuel Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Adrift in the Orca Posts: 6,845	Primer first? __________________ We must move forward not backward, upwards not forward, and always twirling, twirling, twirling...

20-12-2010, 23:01	#3
Fayshun Rocket Fuel Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Adrift in the Orca Posts: 6,845	Google says "etch primer" first. __________________ We must move forward not backward, upwards not forward, and always twirling, twirling, twirling...

20-12-2010, 23:01	#4
Fayshun Rocket Fuel Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Adrift in the Orca Posts: 6,845	HTH. __________________ We must move forward not backward, upwards not forward, and always twirling, twirling, twirling...

20-12-2010, 23:14	#5
Von Smallhausen I'm Free Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Tyneside Posts: 3,061	Dear me. Rusty as owt but I was a paint chemist in a former life. Aluminium is a very difficult substrate to paint on and will require an etch primer before a top coat goes on. Even a scuff with light abrasion paper is no guarantee that a top coat will adhere. __________________ " Well, old bean, life is really so bloody awful that I feel it’s my absolute duty to be chirpy and try and make everybody else happy too." David Niven, 1910-1983.

20-12-2010, 23:17	#6
divine Moonshine Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Southampton Posts: 3,201	This would be why aluminium is often anodised i suppose? __________________

21-12-2010, 01:55	#7
Darrin Dirteh Kitteh Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Hiding out in Mormon Country Posts: 1,629	And why you hardly ever see a car with aluminum body panels... __________________ A bullet may have your name on it, but shrapnel is addressed "to whom it may concern".

21-12-2010, 13:38	#8
Jonny69 Noob Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Socialist Republik of Kent Posts: 5,032	That's actually down to it being more expensive and slightly harder to recycle __________________

22-12-2010, 11:27	#9
volospian Vodka Martini Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 786	And, although it is the most abundant metalic element in the earths crust, it was, until the very late 19th century, so difficult to extract that it was considered, in Europe at least, more valuable than gold. Indeed, it was considered such a rarity that the Emperor Napoleon III apparently reserved his aluminium cutlery for his most honoured dinner guests, while the lesser diners had to make do with cheap gold stuff. Now I drink lager out of it.

22-12-2010, 14:45	#10
Goose The list is long, but distinguished Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Århus, Denmark Posts: 1,643	I assume if you drink lager from aluminium containers , if I ask for diet coke it'll come in a gold container? Can I come and visit? __________________