OK

So the hammered finish thing is not panning out so well. What other ways
have y'all heard of to put a deep organic texture on a sheet of 5052
aluminum 42' 106" x 1/8"? I'd consider acid etching, laser etching, water
jet texturing etc. if it were at all practical. A non impact process would
be better due to the distortion.

Ben

ben carter wrote:
OK

So the hammered finish thing is not panning out so well. What other
ways have y'all heard of to put a deep organic texture on a sheet of
5052 aluminum 42' 106" x 1/8"? I'd consider acid etching, laser
etching, water jet texturing etc. if it were at all practical. A non
impact process would be better due to the distortion.

Ben
Big wire wheel in 'artistic' hands?

--
http://www.rupert.net/~solar
Return address supplied by 'spammotel'
http://www.spammotel.com

You might experiment with ovencleaner or lye. It will cause some
interesting textures .. especially if there is some oil spots on it to block
the etch in places. Takes a few hopurs and heat helps.
How about a pack of cubscouts with bb guns
Glenn
"ben carter" wrote in message
news
OK

So the hammered finish thing is not panning out so well. What other ways
have y'all heard of to put a deep organic texture on a sheet of 5052
aluminum 42' 106" x 1/8"? I'd consider acid etching, laser etching, water
jet texturing etc. if it were at all practical. A non impact process would
be better due to the distortion.

Ben

"Tim Williams" wrote in message
...
| I've seen textures like that applied to glass. Sorta. So sandblasting
| might be worth a shot. Probably expensive since making the pattern might
| take a lot of artistic touch on the part of the operator (depending on
what
| kind of random resists they can do).
|
| Or still in the hammered vein, maybe a shot blast wheel would do it.
| Basically steel shot thrown into a centrifical blower, hurls it at the
work
| (usually scale and sand stuck to an iron casting, so you might want to
call
| a local foundry and see if the foreman is interested in helping out),
| leaving small dents. May or may not have the problem of warpage.
|
| Tim

Wheelabrator. Most of the shot and abrasive is small, but you might get
lucky. Call up Wheelabrator or your local foundry. These machines truly
come in all sizes.

This is not an easy thing to do.
The aluminum is soft enough it will warp, and it is tough, but not
impossible to get it back flat again. Big rolls- you will need 4' wide
rolls, that will roll 1/8", and run it back and forth a bunch of times,
and as long as you havent overdone it, and created some bowls, that
will take it back pretty flat.
My advice, though, is not to try to texture aluminum sheet yourself.
Consider a few other directions-
1- buy pre textured sheet. The big dogs in this field is Rigidized, in
Buffalo New York- they make pretextured sheet in a wide range of
patterns, in a variety of metals. Their main thing is stainless, which
is better than aluminum for this anyway- it takes a texture better, its
harder so it will wear better, its thinner, lighter, tougher, and
resists oxidisation better too. Aluminum will oxidise, and get white
junk on it, unless you clear coat. The stainless will just sit there.
However, if you insist, I am pretty sure Rigidized will roll aluminum
for you.
http://www.rigidized.com/
2-If you must texture aluminum, the way it is done is with textured
rolls- 4' wide, probably a minimum of 4" in diameter, with the texture
ground or pounded into it. Then the aluminum is fed thru, powered, of
course, minimum of maybe 3hp to do this. 1 shot, the whole piece is
textured. This is how rigidized does it. I realize, this is not cheap
or easy- but what you wanna do isnt common, and there is a reason for
it.
3-Other metals are gonna hand texture a whole lot better than aluminum.
I have been texturing a lot of stainless lately- I use needle scalers,
with a variety of modified needle shapes, and air chisels with modified
tips. Stainless is hard enough it doesnt wanna bowl near as much. Of
course, we still have to run it back and forth thru the rolls a few
times, flipping it, to get it flat again. But I have been having good
success with 1/8" 304 sheet this way.
4- I am not sure how your etching is gonna work- thats something I dont
know much about. But I have also done texturing of surfaces like this
with sandblasting- you can get this cool adhesive backed rubber sheet,
in rolls. You cut out your pattern with an exacto knife, and peel off
the negative parts, then blast. Works pretty well, with the time spent
blasting controlling the depth of the texture. You could buy the rubber
yourself, then pay someone who is setup to blast. The rubber stuff can
be gotten at big signmaking supply companies- they use it to make
sandblasted wood and stone signs. TP has it too.
http://www.tptools.com/

Never tried this but .. How about a big pavement roller? Lay the sheet on
exposed aggregate concrete or gravel and drive over it with that big steel
roller. Seems like it should stay flat or at least you could flip it over
and flaten it?

"Glenn" wrote in message
...
Never tried this but .. How about a big pavement roller? Lay the sheet on
exposed aggregate concrete or gravel and drive over it with that big steel
roller. Seems like it should stay flat or at least you could flip it over
and flaten it?

Folks keep recommending this method, but forgetting the top platen. You
cannot just hard-roll the sheet onto a pebbled surface, and expect to get
deep, well-defined textures.

Instead, place the sheet on the aforementioned aggregate slab (or make your
own with clean aggs on a clean, flat slab), then cover it with a single
layer of the same sized aggs. Then roll. The top and bottom aggs will
"nestle" within each other's gaps, yielding a heavy pattern.

You'll still have to do some flattening afterwards. But with both negative
and positive platens, you'll get deep embossing, and little "dishing".

LLoyd

Ben- I tried to email you directly, but CMU says that is not a valid
email address.

I have used a lot of rigidized over the years- both on architectural
applications like yours, and on sculptures.
There is a lot of rigidized stainless in my camshaft benches at the
Great Mall stop of the San Jose rapid transit-
16 ga stainless is used for the 4 foot diameter ends on the benches-
something like a dozen sheets of the stuff.
http://www.riesniemi.com/pages/pubart_vta.html
A lot of the stainless has been hand textured on my fence for the Del
Mar station on the Pasadena Gold line of the MTA.
http://www.riesniemi.com/pages/pubart_delmar.html
This was mostly done with needle scalers and air chisels, but some of
it was done hot, in a power hammer.

Clients always want it now, and for nothing, and when you are starting
out, unfortunately, you have to take some of those jobs.
But extreme metal manipulation takes experience, time, machinery, and
money. You cant do everything with hand tools by yourself. Interesting
that the big dog architects and the rich clients are always the ones
who want the most, but arent always willing to pay for it. Who else is
gonna do it? There are only a few fabricators I know of who do this
kind of work right, and they charge really big bucks- people like
Metalmorphosis in LA, or Fabrication Specialties in Seattle. If either
of them was quoting your job, you can bet it would be hundreds of bucks
a square foot. And their solutions might include things like casting
the sheet in a foundry.
Rolling big sheets flat again is always iffy- I have done a lot of jobs
where we cut a lot of detail out with plasma cutters, which puts
internal stresses and bends in the sheets- sometimes it can be rolled
out, sometimes not. Back and forth, with a slight curve, seems to work
the best.
Breaking the piece into smaller sections, with the break lines as part
of the design, would help a lot, as those big sheets are just a bear to
work with.

Good Luck

ries

Ben- I tried to email you directly, but CMU says that is not a valid
email address.

I have used a lot of rigidized over the years- both on architectural
applications like yours, and on sculptures.
There is a lot of rigidized stainless in my camshaft benches at the
Great Mall stop of the San Jose rapid transit-
16 ga stainless is used for the 4 foot diameter ends on the benches-
something like a dozen sheets of the stuff.
http://www.riesniemi.com/pages/pubart_vta.html
A lot of the stainless has been hand textured on my fence for the Del
Mar station on the Pasadena Gold line of the MTA.
http://www.riesniemi.com/pages/pubart_delmar.html
This was mostly done with needle scalers and air chisels, but some of
it was done hot, in a power hammer.

Clients always want it now, and for nothing, and when you are starting
out, unfortunately, you have to take some of those jobs.
But extreme metal manipulation takes experience, time, machinery, and
money. You cant do everything with hand tools by yourself. Interesting
that the big dog architects and the rich clients are always the ones
who want the most, but arent always willing to pay for it. Who else is
gonna do it? There are only a few fabricators I know of who do this
kind of work right, and they charge really big bucks- people like
Metalmorphosis in LA, or Fabrication Specialties in Seattle. If either
of them was quoting your job, you can bet it would be hundreds of bucks
a square foot. And their solutions might include things like casting
the sheet in a foundry.
Rolling big sheets flat again is always iffy- I have done a lot of jobs
where we cut a lot of detail out with plasma cutters, which puts
internal stresses and bends in the sheets- sometimes it can be rolled
out, sometimes not. Back and forth, with a slight curve, seems to work
the best.
Breaking the piece into smaller sections, with the break lines as part
of the design, would help a lot, as those big sheets are just a bear to
work with.

Good Luck

ries