A way to polish aluminium
#1

I would like to erase those engravings on the aluminium parts of calculators. I have several of them with the name of the former owner on them. Has anyone been successful at erasing those marks from aluminium parts ?

#2

nothing works completly, but scotch brite rubbed in the direction of the grain may help. if you want to POLISH aluminum, thats a different thing. Try semichrome for that.

#3

Hi Inaki,

If the engravings are deep at all, you may need to use a dremel tool, or dental handpiece with an abrasive rubber wheel.
Best regards, Hal

#4

Hal;

If your dremel idea doesn't do it, he could go with a 1" cold chisel and a 3 pound hammer. If that doesn't work, an air arc or a jack hammer would probably do the trick. Wait; thats just stupid. Jack hammers are notoriously hard to control. Bosch makes a 9" hand operated grinder that should function well. I know that a longitudinal diamond resurfacer of the type you see gooving roads and freeways will bring the surface evenly down to the bottom of the engraving however the setup fee may be high.

God i love power tools. - d

#5

A Red Green show solution:

DB, I think you were on the right track with the grooved roadway... why not duct-tape the plate to the tire of a car and then make some wheels locked stops? The skidding action on the grooved roadway will provide the desired lengthwise etch lines in the aluminum. The hard part might be locating an older vehicle without anti-lock brakes.

#6

you could use the scotch brite and singer oil. keep the movement always in the same direction.
the oil helps to avoid scratches too deep.

painful and slow death to the calcĀ“s mutilators.

#7

Quote:
If your dremel idea doesn't do it, he could go with a 1" cold chisel and a 3 pound hammer.

I don't think so, Tim.

Al

#8

Quote:
Quote:
If your dremel idea doesn't do it, he could go with a 1" cold chisel and a 3 pound hammer.

I don't think so, Tim.

Al


MORE POWER!!! R-R-R

#9

I've used toothpaste and a cotton bud to clean up the surface scratches on the metal work of an HP 15c. Basically takes away the top layer, removing the scratches with it.

#10

But does it polish deep enough to remove an engraving?

Andreas

#11

Someone posted a while back about fabricating a new bezel out of brushed stainless steel. Why not draw out the specs yourself and get a few quotes from your local machine shops?

I still think ordering a short production run from emachineshop out of brushed stainless could be a nice way of going.

#12

The only way to remove an engraving from anything is too remove enough material from the surface until you reach the depth of the engraving. Your best bet would be to remove the bezel (can be hard to do without bending it), The bezel is held down with double sided sticky film. I have used a stong thread soaked in UnDu (heptane).

Next sand the surface down with coarse sand paper. Lay the paper on a hard, smooth surface and work the bezel back and forth. Be careful no to snag and bend the bezel. When you get close, switch to ever finer grit. To get a good final surface you may need to polish it shiny with Flitz, etc then use steel wool or ultragrit sandpaper or a fine wire brush to apply the final brushed aluminium grain pattern.

I bet it will never look right.



Possibly Related Threads…
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Software for Reverse Polish Notation Calculator JC Howard 4 1,662 03-27-2013, 03:25 PM
Last Post: Mike T
  Reverse Polish Notation Calculator Thomas Klemm 1 1,023 12-24-2012, 12:18 PM
Last Post: Paul Dale
  Reverse Polish notation calculator Thomas Klemm 0 740 08-27-2010, 03:47 AM
Last Post: Thomas Klemm
  Protective layer of the aluminium part on voyager series. jbssm 7 2,000 06-30-2010, 09:07 AM
Last Post: jbssm
  Display polish on vintage calculator displays? Arne Helme 7 1,844 08-01-2005, 12:18 PM
Last Post: Paul Brogger
  How to polish the aluminum bezel of a HP 11C Voyager Irqan Rodriguez 1 824 03-25-2002, 03:52 AM
Last Post: Hans Brueggemann [GER]

Forum Jump: