Common Finishing Services For Great Looking Parts

Finishing services are often needed after metal parts are fabricated to harden a color coating, remove imperfections, or prepare the surface for painting. These are usually done through heat treating, buffing and polishing, and abrasive blasting. Read on to discover several common finishing services and how they’re used.

Heat Treating
Sometimes the paint on a component needs strengthening to be more durable. To do this, painted or powder coated metal parts are often heat treated. This involves heating the parts to extremely high temperatures to change the physical or chemical properties of the coating. Overheating the coating could cause weak points and lead to premature wear, so precise temperature control and timing are needed to achieve the right outcome.

Buffing and Polishing
Much like when caring for the paint of a car, buffing and polishing are used for removing minor surface imperfections and shining metal surfaces. And although they’re commonly used interchangeably, buffing and polishing are different processes.

Polishing is more aggressive, using a grit infused pad to remove a greater amount of material, while buffing uses a loose grit and spinning pad to create a smoother, brighter finish. Polishing is used to remove rust, surface defects, and create a reflective surface, whereas buffing is what creates a mirror-like finish.

Abrasive Blasting
When a hard surface needs cleaning or paint preparation, abrasive blasting (commonly called sandblasting) is typically used. Abrasive blasting is the process of propelling a stream of abrasive media such as aluminum oxide directly on the part, or in a wheelabrator that mechanically cycles steel or iron shots around the parts.

Abrasive blasting is often used to smooth a rough surface, add a degree of roughness, or remove surface contaminants. All three are useful for for better paint adhesion when it comes time to finish a surface.

Depending on the part and its intended function, finishing services are usually needed to prepare a surface for painting, strengthen a paint coating, or simply for cleaning. These methods may vary, but the result is the same: a smooth, durable surface ready to withstand whatever comes next.

To learn more about our finishing services, visit D&D Industrial Coatings, Inc. at ddindustrial.net or email us at info@ddindustrial.net today.