Painting 6061 Aluminum Armor

spearweasel · Post by **spearweasel** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 6:05 pm

I have the plates cut, drilled, and bent... now I need to paint them. I have already primed about half of them, the hip and shoulder assemblies. But I find myself in a quandary.

What sort of paint can I use, that can be obtained at a typical retail place and applied by a garage-tinkering mook such as myself, that will hold up to some of the beating that is typically inflicted on armor in the SCA?

The primer is actually already a color close to what I want, and I could easily live with it. Do I just "clear coat" spray it with 4-5 layers? Is there a particular type of paint that works best?

Help!

spearweasel · Post by **spearweasel** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 6:11 pm

Samurai armor, if it matters.

GuntherofOrkney · Post by **GuntherofOrkney** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 6:50 pm

get it powder coated. otherwise paint it with whatever is cheapest i think because its gonna come off and you will have to touch it up alot. get a paint that you can match it with some paint brush paint for touch ups.

If you could powder coating it the best solution and aluminum takes powder coating very good.

spearweasel · Post by **spearweasel** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 7:08 pm

GuntherofOrkney wrote:get it powder coated. otherwise paint it with whatever is cheapest i think because its gonna come off and you will have to touch it up alot. get a paint that you can match it with some paint brush paint for touch ups.

If you could powder coating it the best solution and aluminum takes powder coating very good.

What's a typical ballpark price for a powdercoating?

caladin · Post by **caladin** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 8:51 pm

Dunno cost to get it done, eastwood sells kits if you are willing to sacrifice an oven to the powder coat gods (or make a kiln etc)

they have variously priced kits, here's a link to the colors

http://www.eastwood.com/ew-powder-coati ... chart.html

Cal-

Adric13 · Post by **Adric13** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 9:54 pm

Anodize it! No chips, no touch up, nice bright colours.

Odd · Post by **Odd** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 10:07 pm

Anodizing will wipe right the hell off under rattan. The best purpose it has aesthetically is to keep the black off your white clothes.

Best, Cheapest, Easiest in a garage?

Believe Nissan uses spray enamel applied on heated metal. As in take a heat gun to it and crank it for a bit, makes the paint cure faster and harder. Sticking better. Not saying Nissan is cheap or easy, but he DOES use painted samurai armor in SCA combat.

Konstantin the Red · Post by **Konstantin the Red** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 11:03 pm

And your spray enamel is probably gonna be Rust-Oleum. Been around forever, not ungodly costly, easy to use in the garage, works about as well as any paint can.

Louis de Leon · Post by **Louis de Leon** » Mon Jun 28, 2010 12:24 am

Another vote for rustoleum. My shield is aluminum and I've had it for half a dozen years. Most of the paint is still on there.

Plus it's easy to touch up. Cheap too.

Nissan Maxima · Post by **Nissan Maxima** » Mon Jun 28, 2010 9:22 am

I use Krylon. Heat the plates up first some with a heat gun. The surface should not be too smooth. Hit it with a little sandpaper first. Two or Three thin coats of paint.

You will have to repaint occasionally. Once or twice a year depending on your vanity vs. laziness factor.

mrks · Post by **mrks** » Mon Jun 28, 2010 11:14 am

try testing 3 coats of contact cement as a base. let dry for a day and then spray paint it.

the paint wont chip and will last a much longer time than using primer.

the paint on my Ti and alum shields lasts forever.

raito · Post by **raito** » Mon Jun 28, 2010 11:34 am

Paint is cheap and easy to maintain. But it does require maintenance, and spraying after lacing doesn't always work well. Enamel paint pens are your friend. Haven't tried the contact cement thing. Might be worth trying.

Anodizing looks like ass on Japanese stuff. Not remotely like lacquer. It also scratches pretty easily, even though the oxide layer itself is pretty hard.

Powerdcoating lasts longer, but not forever. And when it needs maintenance, it never quite looks the same, unless you get it completely redone. Cost varies, but because coating armour is rather unusual, you may be able to piggyback onto someone else's order, if you're using the same color. Might have to wait a bit, though. It does look really good while new, though.

Fortunately, as you're using aluminum, you're doing your coating (of whatever type) strictly for decoration, rather than rust protection.

spearweasel · Post by **spearweasel** » Mon Jun 28, 2010 2:29 pm

raito wrote:Paint is cheap and easy to maintain. But it does require maintenance, and spraying after lacing doesn't always work well. Enamel paint pens are your friend. Haven't tried the contact cement thing. Might be worth trying.

Anodizing looks like ass on Japanese stuff. Not remotely like lacquer. It also scratches pretty easily, even though the oxide layer itself is pretty hard.

Powerdcoating lasts longer, but not forever. And when it needs maintenance, it never quite looks the same, unless you get it completely redone. Cost varies, but because coating armour is rather unusual, you may be able to piggyback onto someone else's order, if you're using the same color. Might have to wait a bit, though. It does look really good while new, though.

Fortunately, as you're using aluminum, you're doing your coating (of whatever type) strictly for decoration, rather than rust protection.

I'm waiting on a quote from a local powdercoater. If the price is right, I'm gonna go that route.