Refurbishing base plate.

[Mike Kennedy]

I have a couple of old beaters and their base plates are pretty scratched up. Would I use an aluminum rubbing compound to eliminate these marks?

Thanks

 

[Gerald Koch]

If the baseplates are made of aluminum then they are probably anodized. This process forms a hard coating of aluminum oxide on the surface of the metal to protect it. Using any abrasive on them would destroy this coating and do more harm than good. Consider the scratches as badges of honor.

 

[Mike Kennedy]

Thanks. Glad I asked before I started.

Mike

 

[Greg_E]

The same might apply to any of the metal base plates. You might find that they have some sort of metal plated onto the base material.

 

[Ian Grant]

I'm in the middle of restoring a pre-Anniversay Speed Graphic, the base plate is aluminium, however the corrosion was severe and unless all traces are removed would continue to deterioate rapidly.

So in this case the base plate and back needed to be heavily cleaned with coarse wet & dry, then a wire wheel brush on a drill used to clean the badly corroded areas.

The aluminium parts were then spray painted with an appropriate primer which keys with the rough coarse finish. Then filler was used to repair the deep areas which had corroded, finally finer wet & dry and more primer and the parts are ready for 2 or 3 coats of semi-matt black.

Ian

 

[Greg_E]

You could send the parts out to be anodized. There are a few other ways to make aluminum harder too.

 

[barryjyoung]

Hi Mike:

I use a surface plate (big thick and extremely flat hunk of granite) with progressively finer grits of aluminum oxide sandpaper taped to it. You can do the same with a piece of plate glass or a 12x12 marble tile.

Then you can do your own anodizing by following the simple and inexpensive instructions here:

http://www.warpig.com/paintball/technical/anodize.shtml

Never think there is something you cannot do. Some things just require more attempts than others.

 

[barryjyoung]

I'm in the middle of restoring a pre-Anniversay Speed Graphic, the base plate is aluminium, however the corrosion was severe and unless all traces are removed would continue to deterioate rapidly.

So in this case the base plate and back needed to be heavily cleaned with coarse wet & dry, then a wire wheel brush on a drill used to clean the badly corroded areas.

The aluminium parts were then spray painted with an appropriate primer which keys with the rough coarse finish. Then filler was used to repair the deep areas which had corroded, finally finer wet & dry and more primer and the parts are ready for 2 or 3 coats of semi-matt black.

Ian

Hi Ian:

Hammerite paint will rescue the crappiest surfaces. After the corrosion is killed and maybe before.

 

[Charles Webb]

Has anyone tried "powder coating" on aluminum camera parts? Really don't see why that would not work, it is not really hard to do on a small scale from what I have read. Just wondering?

Charlie...............................

 

[John Koehrer]

Hate to burst bubbles around here but most cameras don't use aluminum for their covers. Brass is pretty common on black paint cameras. Sme of the M cameras used a pewter casting that was plated.
Usually some sort of alloy involved besides aluminum.

 

[barryjyoung]

Hate to burst bubbles around here but most cameras don't use aluminum for their covers. Brass is pretty common on black paint cameras. Sme of the M cameras used a pewter casting that was plated.
Usually some sort of alloy involved besides aluminum.

Bubble burster!