Had a few hours of experimentation with that aluminum ring I had printed, initially.
The Shapeways printed aluminum polishes well, but my concern is getting into the nooks and crannies of the more complex ring designs. I’m wondering if it would be easier to polish the aluminum rings with a rotary tumbler and a polishing medium. Does anyone here have experience with that sort of thing? What would be the best way to neatly remove the textured surface layer of the printed aluminum, so that the rings can be polished to a shine without too much elbow grease? Based on the results of today’s test, I’m sure it’s possible to get good results by hand, but it would likely take hours of work. And then there are those hard-to-reach nooks and crannies.
I also gave the quickly-polished ring a few coats of the candy-emerald transparent paint I bought. Exactly the nice, metallic green I was hoping for. I’m gonna hold off on clear-coating, since I may strip the ring and use it for further tests, especially if I end up getting a rotary tumbler. Any recommendations a tumbler/medium good for smoothing out aluminum without losing detail?
The Shapeways printed aluminum polishes well, but my concern is getting into the nooks and crannies of the more complex ring designs. I’m wondering if it would be easier to polish the aluminum rings with a rotary tumbler and a polishing medium. Does anyone here have experience with that sort of thing? What would be the best way to neatly remove the textured surface layer of the printed aluminum, so that the rings can be polished to a shine without too much elbow grease? Based on the results of today’s test, I’m sure it’s possible to get good results by hand, but it would likely take hours of work. And then there are those hard-to-reach nooks and crannies.
I also gave the quickly-polished ring a few coats of the candy-emerald transparent paint I bought. Exactly the nice, metallic green I was hoping for. I’m gonna hold off on clear-coating, since I may strip the ring and use it for further tests, especially if I end up getting a rotary tumbler. Any recommendations a tumbler/medium good for smoothing out aluminum without losing detail?