Need advice for smoothing aluminum before paint....

jtrom

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Apr 21, 2010
Messages
220
Ok...I did a small test on my aluminum boat. In one area I stripped the paint with a wire brush and paint stripper disc on a high speed electric tool....on another area I used Zip Strip. I then painted both areas with black paint to see what the finish would look like. The area that I used mechanical means to strip looks terrible (dimples/high spots/low spots)....The zipped stripped area looks smooth as glass! Looks like I will zip strip the entire boat. How can I smooth the rough area out that I screwed up??????
 

Woodonglass

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 29, 2009
Messages
25,929
Re: Need advice for smoothing aluminum before paint....

High build primer will help some but... Highs and lows must be BEAT out or filled if you don't want them to ultimately show.
 

jtrom

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Apr 21, 2010
Messages
220
Re: Need advice for smoothing aluminum before paint....

ok maybe I'm exaggerating a bit...I guess my question is what do I sand the aluminum with to smooth out all the slight dips from the wire brush???
 

Woodonglass

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 29, 2009
Messages
25,929
Re: Need advice for smoothing aluminum before paint....

Use a finer grade of sand paper down to about 220 then make sure to use 2 coats of primer and it will all disappear.
 

jtrom

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Apr 21, 2010
Messages
220
Re: Need advice for smoothing aluminum before paint....

Thanks Wood!
 

MichaelP

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Apr 26, 2010
Messages
1,190
Re: Need advice for smoothing aluminum before paint....

I'm almost done stripping mine and had the same issue at first then I started using a scotch brite pad on a 4 1/2" angle grinder. Works pretty good but you still have to be careful. I found zip strip to be one of the best strippers, but then there was Mia...Oh never mind about her. LOL. Check out my resto thread for more details.
 

kevinbrown10

Recruit
Joined
Jul 26, 2011
Messages
1
Re: Need advice for smoothing aluminum before paint....

Yes, I think also this that applying primer on the rough surface would be a better solution but primer solution you will should be a little thick.
 
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