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clean/remove oxydation from bare aluminum

bigben

Not a newbie
I've made two signs with bare aluminum with just cut vinyl on it. The idea was to let the aluminum oxidize with time. Since we sub our installation, I left the signs at my installer house and he left them outside. The signs stayed there for about a week. Now I have two oxidation circles on each panel from the two panel been left together.

Is there something I can do to clean it off? I've found some ''3M ONE STEP ALUMINUM RESTORER & POLISH 18 OZ'' that seams to be the right product. But before doing anything, I'm sure I'm not the only one that had this problem in the past and thought I would ask here first.

Here is some picture of the circle. They are about 8in.
 

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artbot

New Member
aluminum is semi-porous. my assumption is the crystal formations in those areas have been altered deep enough that you might never get them "off the surface". they are in the metal. is the goal to skin them with a vinyl? if so, you'll still want to neutralize that spot with a very thin polyester or at least acrylic resin/spray. that area is now alive and will continue to misbehave even after buffing out.
 
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