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  for Metal Finishing since 1989
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A method to stop the bleeding of untreated aluminum

2004

I use aluminum trays to transport printing jobs through out our shop. They are not treated in any way and therefore the aluminum bleeds as they are used. They are slid on rails in aluminum racks for transportation. Ths aluminum gets on technitions hands and ends up causing smudging problems on the printed material. Is there a treatment available at a reasonable cost to prevent this bleeding? They do not need to look pretty, just clean. The tray size is 16" x 26" I have 60 in house now, but will need several hundred more in the near future. I would appreciate any help you can provide.

Thanks,

Ernest G. Weber
on-demand color printing - Rochester, New York

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I might be misunderstanding, or I might be understanding the question and still be wrong, but I would think that simply anodizing them would solve the problem. Why not take a few to a local anodizing shop and see if it fixes them.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2004

We have also got a similar problem with bleeding aluminum. We have aluminum mould bodies for injection moulds that require operators to handle them. The mould bodies are slid into and out of the moulding machine along a heated steel plate. While in the machine the mould is clamped between 2 heated steel plates (65 °C). The moulds need to be light so that they are easy to handle, and they need to transfer heat well so that the heated plates can heat the mould cavities through them. We anodize these mould bodies a few times per year because the finish keeps wearing off due to the sliding. When the aluminum bleeds, it gets onto the operators' hands and then onto the parts that they are making. Is there a way to coat or protect these mould bodies besides anodizing?

Shane Hicknell
Northland Manufacturing Inc. - Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
2004