Metal Finishing Advice Overview –
When you are trying to create a product with a particular appearance or specific features, we provide metal finishing advice to help you achieve the desired outcome.
For just one product or part, the finishing process can be complicated and require a variety of techniques. Whether you are looking for matte or shiny color, a brushed look, a textured appearance or a mirror finish, specific processes are necessary to arrive at the desired results.
Many finishes can be applied depending on the metal, the characteristics expected for the final product and your budget. Processes may include sealants, powders, paint, media blasting, plating, coating, buffing, polishing, and more. Oftentimes, there is more than one way to finish a product to accomplish the objective.
Metal Finishing Advice Stainless Steel
A customer recently sent us the above photo to determine how he could achieve this beautiful finish on stainless steel. His examples were aluminum bright dipped, anodized, dyed and sealed.
Stainless steel is a material far different from aluminum and unfortunately, it cannot be anodized. Stainless steel can be electropolished to make it look bright, mechanical polished and mirror buffed, and it can be black passivated, which is not be a quality solution because it would scratch and wear off in a short time. Less economical options would be to finish with black nickel or black chrome.
A powder coat finish would be the best choice based on this material. It is a durable finish that is available in a wide variety of colors and various levels of luster. The powder coat finish can also be used if the stainless steel is replaced with a different metal.
Finishing is both an art and a science and we are here to help you achieve the best results.
Send us an example or a photo and let us know the material you intend to use, and we will let you know what options there may be.
