trinityamps.com

Does anyone have any experience in Aluminum platings? We're looking for a good looking, economical finish to protect our chassis.

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Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

You might check with Micky C. at Soultone. He did some plating stuff on his amps. However , he just pulled all of his posts off of 18watt after a blow-up.


LeeMo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soultone

Thanks, I remember he did something with his chassis but there was nothing on the web site that helped.

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Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

Powder Coating maybe,

http://www.alternatorparts.com/what_is_ ... oating.htm

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product. ... &ihtoken=1

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http://www.burningheart.com/_lib/util/s ... =2517&s=hi

Thanks guys. I'm going to stick with bare aluminum for now.

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Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

I think that you are good with sticking with bare aluminum for now. Any coating / plating / chemical film / conversion process that I can think of also electrically isolates the aluminum and would probably cause grounding issues.

The only issue with the bare aluminum is the black oxide that forms on the surface that comes off on your hands. But once the amp is built, it spends most of the time in the cab, and when it doesn't, I think you'd be hard pressed to tell the black oxide from the dust collected on the surface. Besides, when soldering, you really should be washing your hands a lot to prevent accidental ingestion on lead.

Stephen,
You could try Alodine. You brush it on, wait several minutes, then wash it off with water. It is used in the aircraft industry to prevent corrosion. You can attach ground connections to it as it is conductive. Some of it is clear and some turns the aluminum gold. It can be painted over like a primer. If you sprayed it on you will get an even color.

I looked into Alodine and it was promising but the chemicals pretty caustic, so no coating for now.
Thanks

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Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

Chromate is the way to go. It dresses up the chassis and keeps its conductivity (unlike anodizing). It is a little difficult to get the color right, though...

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--s2
www.s2amps.com
www.category5amps.com

Thanks s2. I thought chromate was good for steel and was heading that way for a while, but in the end, stuck with the plain Al for the next batch of chassis.

I'll look into this more tho.

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Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps