Thread: Painting Aluminium Plate

Hi guys, following on from a previous topic that i ran regarding finding a sealer for the brushed aluminium plate that i wanted to use for the drawer fronts on my new kitchen Island Bar.

I have fixed the 3mm sanded Aluminium plate drawer fronts to the Bar, but i am not happy with how it looks, especially with the light granite laminate benchtop, so now i think that i will spray paint the Aluminium fronts in the same color as the colorbond Mini Orb, which is called Jasper.

I don't want to remove the drawer fronts from the metal drawers because they have been riveted already using Jasper colored rivets, so i will simply remove each of the 12 drawers from the cabinet and put them on a bench, wrap the drawers with newspaper and tape, then spray them.

I will go to the Taubmans trade centre tomorrow and check out the White Knight range of spray paints, as they have a Satin touch up paint (acrylic) that is available in the colorbond range of colors (in my case Jasper) and i will take a sample piece of the sanded aluminium plate to show them, but i am hoping they may have a better option that is more robust.

https://www.whiteknightpaints.com.au...coat/touch-up/

Is there anything i should know on how to prepare properly, as well as offerings for other spray paints that would suit my needs.

Cheers

For painting aluminium you will need something that keys the paint into the surface, Alodine in commonly used for aircraft painting prep, typically parts suppliers at airports carry such or you maybe able to scrounge a little from an aircraft painting company. Etch primer (green / chromate) colour can also be used. Good luck with it. Alan.

Clean well and then spray with an etch primer. Killrust works well for me.

I bought 1 can of this Acrylic satin touch up paint today, sprayed it on a piece of my sanded aluminuium plate without etch primer just to see how well it adheres, went on beautifully and left a very nice finish, exactly like you get on Colorbond roofing sheets.

https://www.whiteknightpaints.com.au...coat/touch-up/

I will check it tomorrow after it has had 18 or so hours to dry, then i will get some etch primer and try that before spraying the Jasper coat over the top.

I don't really like pressure cans to spray with as the pressure is not that good, not like using a spray gun which ultimately gives a far better finish, and it is also very difficult to maintain an even spray pattern so the paint goes on evenly without running.

I tried doing one piece with multiple thin coats, but it doesn't give the same result as doing it in 2 thicker coats.

There is an automotive paint shop in town that apparently mixes Acrylic car paint to your required color and puts it in a pressure pack can, costing about $25 for a large can, so i might go talk to them and ask them for some advice, as i think that i would prefer to buy a pot of Jasper paint and hire/borrow a proper spray gun and do it that way, pressure pack cans will work out fairly expensive, and a waste of cash if i can't get the finish right.

Can someone recommend a decent high pressure spray gun for suck purposes.

'Star-770' for big jobs like spraying a car or 'Star-710' for small jobs like painting native bee hive boxes. Up here in Qld they are available from Trade Tools but I don't believe they are in Tassie.
These guns should be available from other tool stores though. Not sure what size compressor you have but I drive both these guns with a 6cfm compressor without any problems. You should be able to buy etch primer in tins for use in a spray gun but you may need to go to a paint supplier rather than a hardware store.

Hi, i just thought i would post a photo of a piece of the sanded Aluminium plate that i sprayed last night with 1 solid coat of that White Knight Jasper touch up paint with no etch primer applied, and as you can see, the finish turned out fine, and after more than 24 hours i scratched the paint with a key, and the paint seems to be a lot harder than i thought it would be, and it seems to have taken to the Aluminium surface very well.

As it is now, maybe using pressure pack cans will be ok after all, and i think i may only need to buy 2 or 3 cans to do all 12 drawer fronts, as i think each can is supposed to paint around 1.5sm, and the total area of the drawer fronts would be about 1.5sm, so 3 cans should be more than enough.



I have not tried this paint with etching primer yet, not really sure if i need it to be honest.

Another option is to just spray paint the Aluminium strips around the cabinet carcase that the drawer fronts close onto, as this may look nicer than spraying all the drawer fronts, which i really did want to keep in its sanded form.

Decided to remove the aluminium strips around the front edges of the island bar carcase and sprayed them in Jasper, and stick them back on with heavy duty double sided melca tape, and i got some more Jasper rivets this arvo and finished riveting the drawer fronts in place on each corner.

tomorrow i am spraying the ugly black handles in Jasper to see what that looks like, if no good, i will be using 96mm Aluminium handles instead.

I highlighted the parts that i am finishing off in the photo below, will upload a photo of the completed job as soon as it is done.

So glad i decided not to spray the actual drawer fronts.

Hi, probbly not relevant any more, but thought i would post a pic of the finished Island Bar, with the brushed plate drawer fronts left as they were, with the aluminium trims around the carcase edges sprayed with 2 coats of the White Knight Jasper touch up paint, as well as i sprayed the black handles using the same paint as well.

So far the paint has held up great, and it takes a few days for this paint to harden properly, but once hard, it is actually very durable and not easily scratched, and it seems to have adhered to the sanded finish of the aluminium very well without using any primer.

To be honest, this spray pack paint looks exactly like powdercoat, cannot tell the difference as long as it is sprayed evenly and not too thin of a coat.

I have had an order for one of these bars already, except the Mini Orb sheets and paint will be done in a color called Monument (colorbond) with the same aluminium trims, charging $2000.00

I would be priming the one you are going to sell

Originally Posted by China

I would be priming the one you are going to sell

Actually you read my mind in a way, and i omitted to mention that the aluminium handles and the flat bars around the drawers on the next one will actually be powdercoated, as the local powdercoat factory near me has told me that they can include my pieces with one of their many Monument jobs that they do every day, because Monument is one of the most popular Colorbond window colors, so this will save me a fair bit compared to having my Jasper color done, which was going to cost me a fair bit as it is not a color that they commonly powdercoat, so it would be charged as a "one off" job.

There will be a few other minor changes made as well.

Cheers