Have a couple pieces of aluminum was wondering what everybody is using to blast them to give the best sandcast look?
I have used sand on T6061 billet I have machined to give the cast look. It turns out nice,and a light hit with light grit sandpaper to give a past polish look.
I saw a guy pass off his aluminum aftermarket intake manifold as a cast iron item. This was on a stock car, bending the rules a tad. The trick was to mix up some brake drum shavings in a quart of Chevy orange paint and slap it on the manifold. Apply more shavings when it was still wet, let it dry and give it another coat of paint. Didn't look bad and was supposed to pass the "magnet" test. Bob
Sand blasting and quick scuff to remove the high rough ridges will give you the surface texture. A sand cast part has characteristics all of its own, there is no dead flat or square areas unless it was machined after, every surface has some draft to it.
Agree with the "sand blast" but not the "Bead blast". Sand is coarse enought to replicate the sand cast look but all glass beads to is give everthing a satin finish. Sand will knock down corners and erode weld beads-glass won't.
A kid who works for me had his aluminum bicycle frame sandblasted. He used a powdercoater who has a big blaster,running at a pretty high pressure,coarse sand,etc. Left the tubes pretty rough,and it looks like it was cast now.
Started with a billet piece, after coarse sand blast it was soda blasted to knock down the sharp peaks, then primered & painted. P
I have used a hammer and sand paper to finish a repair on a triumph motorcycle case the trick was giveen to me by a old bike restorer. worked fantastic different course paper for the correct finish.
The Jalopy Journal
