Re: painting anodized aluminum
There's a point in there that you should be aware of. First off its a lot easier to have whatever it is sand blasted than it is to sand it and there are other reasons to use the gun rather than the hand to do this - time. After its been sand blasted paint it immediately with the zinc chromate, and in no event let it go more than 4 hours - and faster is much better. If you won't be able to prime it immediately after sanding don't even bother to sand or paint it, you are just wasting your effort and money.<br /><br />By the way, this has really suprised me. Last winter I had an engine bracket (Gil bracket holding a 225 Suzuki on it) sand blasted and them I painted it. I used NAPA Zinc Chromate from a spray can for a couple of coats and followed that up with Awl Grip's 545 primer. I lightly sanded that and then use plain old Rustoleum spray paint to finish the bracket. I put on many light coats, sanded between each one, and the result was pleasing. However that is not what really suprised me. What got to me was that when I took a long hard look a that bracket last week - after 9 months of salt water use and 9 monts of summer sunlight on the Outer Banks of NC the coating looked just as good as the day it was finished. There has been no blistering, no fadeing, no problems at all with it. I honestly expected to have to remove the bracket and have it redone this comming winter, but that will not be necessary at all. Came as quite a suprise to me.<br /><br />Thom
