Painting Triumph Logo
- Thread starter Judagar
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Thats an easy one. Ever polished aluminum? Remove the piece. Then just shoot black or whatever color enamel you want in the embossed logo. You can get it on the outer area because you'll be sanding and polishing that. Let the paint dry and cure well, maybe a few days. Youy could even bake it for a few minutes to harden it quicker. Once good and dry, take a piece of about 1000 grit wet and dry sandpaper and sand the entire piece keeping the sand paper flat and not letting it into the embossed logo. Once the paint is off the outerarea and tghe aluminum is sanded fully smooth, take some metal polish and go at it. Elbow grease or a dremel with a cloth wheel and metal polish. Either way when u r done it will look similar to chrome but deeper.richer looking and the sunken logo will be black. Polished aluminim's beautiful gloss fades in time, so If you want to preserve the aluminum's new finish w/o having to re-polish it every so often you could clear coat the whole thing. They used to sell a aluminum coating called zoop seal but i think thats no more. Might be another similar product out there. Clear enamel may work but i'm not sure how well it will adhere and last, so a product made for aluminum would probably be best.
Of course an easier way that is a LOT quicker and easier would be to just get one of those little bottles of testers hobby enamel and a small brush and just fill the embossed letters by hand. Might not look as clean tho unless you really fill the letters till the enamel pools so it will lay flat.
Of course an easier way that is a LOT quicker and easier would be to just get one of those little bottles of testers hobby enamel and a small brush and just fill the embossed letters by hand. Might not look as clean tho unless you really fill the letters till the enamel pools so it will lay flat.
I would use enamel. Not sure what country u r in but If you brush it you can get a small bottle of testers at a hobby shop here in the states at least for about a buck. Little tiny bottles maybe 1/2 ounce or such and they will have small pointed brushes too, tho you can probably just use a toothpick or something to spoon it in each letter till it pools up. Or if you spray it most hardware stores have cheap cans of enamel.
Judagar
Member
OK, need some help. got the letters done by masking and using spray paint. black looks good. I sanded with 1500, 2000 and 2500 grit. But now i have a black haze in some places i can't get up. I'm using a hard cut polish first and then i used flitz. and it's not moving. any ideas. I'm afraid i cut into the anodizing and messed part of it up
In your initial pic i see no anodizing and it looks to be raw aluminum. Can you post a pic of it now to clear things up?
Still not sure what you are saying. there appears to be no paint in the letters and i don't know what anodizing you mean. And i can't really tell much from the pics. I'd suggest just sanding the while thing with about 1000 grit wet and dry then polishing it and filling the letters with a brush and enamel rather than spraying. The way i polish aluminum thats not very smooth is to wet sand it then polish. If theres black you can't get off it, tho i can't tell from the pic, wet sanding will take it off easily.
I don't know what you mean by blend it, but just wet sand the entire visible surface. Of course u don't have to sand the underside that doesn't show. Just sand it till anything that is on it (tho i see nothing but bare aluminum) is gone then polish it. Then fill the letters with black enamel thick so it pools smooth and level.
I think you got way in over your head on what should have been a very simple project.
You should never have gotten into all that sanding and spraying because you just created a lot of problems for yourself.
But it's too late now and you can't turn back.
This is how I would have done it:
Protect the general are with an old towel or something similar.
Clean the recess with a toothbrush and strong detergent to clean out any dirt or film that may have formed over time.
Rinse and dry it thoroughly and then offer enamel paint into the recess with a small hobby paint brush, toothpick or whatever works for you.
Let the paint even out and fill the recess evenly. Work slowly and carefully and you shouldn't make a mess.
Have a cloth and maybe some turpentine or Varsol handy to wipe away any mistakes.
This isn't a very good picture, but this is how I painted the Triumph impression on the timing cover and tank badges on my 1970 Triumph 20 years ago and the paint is still like new.
You should never have gotten into all that sanding and spraying because you just created a lot of problems for yourself.
But it's too late now and you can't turn back.
This is how I would have done it:
Protect the general are with an old towel or something similar.
Clean the recess with a toothbrush and strong detergent to clean out any dirt or film that may have formed over time.
Rinse and dry it thoroughly and then offer enamel paint into the recess with a small hobby paint brush, toothpick or whatever works for you.
Let the paint even out and fill the recess evenly. Work slowly and carefully and you shouldn't make a mess.
Have a cloth and maybe some turpentine or Varsol handy to wipe away any mistakes.
This isn't a very good picture, but this is how I painted the Triumph impression on the timing cover and tank badges on my 1970 Triumph 20 years ago and the paint is still like new.
I feel bad for you since this turned out to be so ugly and so much work.
I hope it turns out well in the end.
I hope it turns out well in the end.
Sorry about that. I didn't realize what the degree of your ability was, but i assure you nothing i told you is anything i haven't done many many times with great results. I assume you ARE wet sanding? And with the proper paper? (wet and dry 1000 grit or higher? You can always go to a courser grit like 600 if you're having a hard time taking it down, then going to 1000 or higher. That'll take anything off and after polishing look like chrome with a richer look. But you have to do it the way i said and be sure to wet sand, not dry. Then a good metal polish like mothers mag and aluminum polish or blue magic. It should be very easy to make it look awesome and far better then stock. Then filling the letters should be dirt simple.
If you take notice of the aluminum on my Triumph in the picture, that's how I did it; wet sanding and lots of elbow grease with Mothers.
This what one valve cover looked like before I started.
And the final finish.
Heres an example of how chrome like it can be once sanded to a fine enough finish then polished.
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