Subject: Re: Re:Q: Priming Aluminum

From: [email-masked] (Chris Kantarjiev)
Date: 19 Sep 1996 21:12:24 GMT

DuPont makes variants of their MetalPrep products specifically
for Aluminum. These are cleaners/etchers, not primers. 

Check out your local autobody paint and supply place; they
should have the DuPont stuff as well as good recommendations.
(It won't be cheap, of course.)

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From: Don Stauffer <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 08:44:29 -0500

One old trick popular with hams for treating panels and chassis is to etch the aluminum before painting.  Mix up a 
 solution with household lye (drain cleaner), about a gallon of water to a tablespoon of the lye crystals.  
Immerse the aluminum in that for five minutes or so.  Of course, clean thoroughly afterwards before priming, and 
do all operations with rubber gloves, and be careful disposing of solution.

-- 
Don Stauffer in Minneapolis

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From: [email-masked] (Garfield)
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 15:31:37 GMT

Since aluminum is widely used in aviation, you probably could find a
book at your local flight shop (almost all airports have one, even the
dinky local ones) that discusses metal prep & etch (alodyne). Remember
that on the aluminum on planes, they are very concerned about preventing
corrosion, which makes me think that what ever prep & paint steps they
use on aircraft is probably the most advanced and thorough you could
want.

Garfield

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From: [email-masked] (Garfield)
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 15:31:42 GMT

Garfield

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From: [email-masked] (Kevin AstirCS "1U" KO0B)
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 14:44:14 -0700 (PDT)

>use on aircraft is probably the most advanced and thorough you could

Don't bet on it.    Aircraft procedures are tightly controlled by FAA,
and the expense/difficulty of getting new processes and materials
approved tends to perpetuate practices that have long since been
superseded in other industrys.

The last pushrod installed in my sailplane, for example (a year ago)
was swabbed inside with boiled linseed oil as an anti-corrosion
measure...I doubt that is the best substance available, but that is
the FAA approved practice, the chapter and verse of which my mechanic
entered into my A/C log book..

Consider that a typical, normally aspirated, piston A/C engine
produces only  .5 HP/in^3  has a carberator from a 1940's farm
tractor, has only 8:1 compression ratio, but will detonate (ping) on
gas with less than 90 octane,  burns a quart of oil every 10-20 hours,
and must be overhauled at intervals that would translate to less than
75,000 miles in a car....Is that really state of the art?

-KF-