Painting

[artdutra04]

Originally Posted by dtengineering

We've thought about putting finish on the aluminum frame components, but are worried that if we ever needed to do an emergency welding job at the competition that removing the paint/powder coat would slow things down.

That actually just reminded me of another type of material finish that looks good on FRC robots (and would be perfect for your situation).

Wirebrushing/Buffering:
Start off with a fine grit buffer or rotary wire brush, and with either an angle grinder or a hand drill and go to town. If you are doing it by hand, a random pattern looks the best. Although if you have a milling machine and want a pattern, put a really fine wire brush in there, and come down and make circles on your part every X inches to make a regular pattern.