Cleaning and refinishing alum mast steps
 

wrote in message
...
I have a bunch of folding mast steps - the kind made from 2 cast alum
pieces. I took them off the mast before I repainted it with LP - now
I'd like to clean them up and put them back. They're uncoated alum so
have a white powdery dusty feel to them now. What to do with them ??
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What you should do is get them bead blasted. (using glass beads) This will
remove all the oxidation. Them get them anodized. End of problem. However,
you will find that doing this will probably end up costing you about the
same as just purchasing new ones. I believe they cost around 28 bucks a
piece new. My recommendation - purchase new ones.

Or, best of all - do nothing at all as the white powder looking stuff is a
good coating in and of itself.

Wilbur Hubbard

Cleaning and refinishing alum mast steps
 

In article , cavelamb himself wrote:

I would think about it carefully before deciding to powder coat a mast.

Besides the simple logistics of an oven large enough, the issuese of
weight aloft and the coating chipping due to mast flex would be stoppers.

Best protection for aluminum is a two part primer followed by a topcoat.

I've always had good sucess with Randoplate or EpiBond for the prime
coat. Tehn paint as desired.

It's lighter, won't crack or chip, won't have little divits where the
coating didn't stick, and is most likely a LOT cheaper.

For what it's worth...

The OP wasn't talking about powder coating a mast, only the 2-part cast
aluminium mast steps that are bolted to the mast.

Justin.

--
Justin C, by the sea.

Cleaning and refinishing alum mast steps
 

Justin C wrote:
In article , cavelamb himself wrote:

I would think about it carefully before deciding to powder coat a mast.

Besides the simple logistics of an oven large enough, the issuese of
weight aloft and the coating chipping due to mast flex would be stoppers.

Best protection for aluminum is a two part primer followed by a topcoat.

I've always had good sucess with Randoplate or EpiBond for the prime
coat. Tehn paint as desired.

It's lighter, won't crack or chip, won't have little divits where the
coating didn't stick, and is most likely a LOT cheaper.

For what it's worth...


The OP wasn't talking about powder coating a mast, only the 2-part cast
aluminium mast steps that are bolted to the mast.

Justin.


Sorry all, I missed that. But I'll stick to my choice for aluminum
protection.

I've had serious trouble glass bead blasting epibond off of metals.

Gooooo-oood stuff!

--

Richard

(remove the X to email)

The democracy will cease to exist when you
take away from those who are willing to work
and give to those who would not.

Thomas Jefferson

Cleaning and refinishing alum mast steps
 

Aluthane http://www.epoxyproducts.com/aluthane.html

Gordon

Cleaning and refinishing alum mast steps
 

There have been a lot of replies to this thread, but I would like to offer
two thoughts of interest. First the best, cheapest, durable and most
attractive solution is professional powder coat. It makes no sense to do
this at home because it is not less expensive and unless you have made the
seriously expensive investment in preparation tools and equipment, it won't
be as good. The cost of professional end to end powder coating is less than
the cost of high quality paint ignoring your time and labor. Secondly, if
the corrosion in the aluminum is pitted and then professionally bead
blasted alone any new coating, including powdercoat will fail because of
salt deposits within the crevices of the corrosion. This problem can be so
severe that placing a virgin piece of aluminum on top of this corroded and
prepared piece will cause the virgin piece to start to corrode within hours
of intimate contact. The only solution to this problem that I have found
that I know works is thoroughly wash the prepared piece after beadblasting
with vinegar, then flush with fresh water. This appears to effectively
neutralize any residual salts.
Steve

wrote in message
...
I have a bunch of folding mast steps - the kind made from 2 cast alum
pieces. I took them off the mast before I repainted it with LP - now
I'd like to clean them up and put them back. They're uncoated alum so
have a white powdery dusty feel to them now. What to do with them ??
-----------------
www.Newsgroup-Binaries.com - *Completion*Retention*Speed*
Access your favorite newsgroups from home or on the road
-----------------

Cleaning and refinishing alum mast steps
 

Here is another brand that has a link to the manual in PDF format.

http://www.harborfreightusa.com/usa/...ateg oryName=