Help Painting Aluminium

Could someone give me a few pointers re painting aluminium. Which products should I use that can be found easily in UK. Thanks for any suggestions.
Bill

Hi Bill

Assuming you want to paint with standard aerosols then the important thing is to use an etch primer first, should be available from auto paint suppliers in aerosol form - just be careful to follow the instructions when using it. There are of course many other specialist paints such as Hammerite etc, which have versions suitable for aluminium.

David

Depends on what kind of finish you want, and what the raw surface is like - if it's unpolished, it should paint OK, but you can't just sand it down like you could with wood - in industrial settings they use some kind of chemical etching solution to clean off the oxidation layer from the surface. If you're buying it new in sheets, I daresay you can get away with painting directly onto it.

You can find a variety of paints in various finishes, suitable for painting onto aluminium surfaces, at most good DIY stores - B&Q, Wickes, Homebase etc. Hammerite paints are good, although they mostly leave a specifically metallic finish which may not be what you want. Spray paints seem to give a better finish than brushed paint, at least in my experience.

You might consider at U-Pol Acid #8 Primer - Halfords and some motor factors sell it in aerosol can form.

Haven't used it myself yet - But I have used their high build primer - Which is excellent.


Best Regards,

Rob

Thank you very much guys. I am trying to paint what will be the aluminium cover to my homemade throttle quadrant .So its off to Halfords/Homebase/BQ today.
Bill