Has anyone ever refinished/sanded the aluminum trim on La Scala Industrial speakers?

[gilligan]

I’m thinking of doing it on mine. Starting off with a very fine grit like 320 and working my way up gradually to finer grit to get a nice smooth and even finish. I personally like the “road worn” look of my LSI but I think they will look pretty sharp if I can bring the trim back to what it looked like in 1987 when they were made. Any input, suggestions, comments, concerns or repudiation warmly welcomed 😎
 

-Gil

[chassell]

I just completed a pair of '78s that had really rough trim. I experimented with several methods. The easiest and best turned out to be a scotchbrite-type pad for my angle grinder available at Lowes. Get a couple of packs. I clamped trim to a saw horse and used the angle grinder. It's very controllable and takes the anodized layer right off. I did not try to remove all the deep gouges, but left them for character. It will leave faint swirls but I removed these polishing by hand with aluminum polish. Far easier than sanding. I was happy with my results. Also, those corner pieces aren't aluminum. They're some sort of plated metal...mine were peeling. I sanded and painted them. Plating or powder coating the corners would be options, but pricey.

[OO1]

19 hours ago, gilligan said:

I’m thinking of doing it on mine. Starting off with a very fine grit like 320 and working my way up gradually to finer grit to get a nice smooth and even finish. I personally like the “road worn” look of my LSI but I think they will look pretty sharp if I can bring the trim back to what it looked like in 1987 when they were made. Any input, suggestions, comments, concerns or repudiation warmly welcomed 😎
 

-Gil

ideally , these trim pieces should be sent to a plating shop  for Electroless  nickel phosphorous plating  and yes , it's expensive .

 

[OO1]

22 minutes ago, chassell said:

 Also, those corner pieces aren't aluminum. They're some sort of plated metal...mine were peeling.

 

 

the corner pieces are pot metal  ( zinc )-

[geoff.]

@chassell, that SMAHL is the cherry on top.

[MookieStl]

I did what @chassell did on some beat to hell trim on and HIP! So beat up, the trim was given to me.

I buffed with a DA sander then did the scotchbrite by hand. It is a fair amount of work but worth it.  I too did not go all the way down to get the deep grooves out, but just far enough to make them look presentable. They are supposed to look "industrial"!

[chassell]

2 hours ago, geoff. said:

@chassell, that SMAHL is the cherry on top.

When I got these LSI they were rough. One had a mouse-eaten woofer. @Dave Ahappened to have a K-43 so I drove down to Lynnville. I came home with the K-43, all the capacitors I needed for the AA networks and a set of tweeters. One-stop shopping.

[chassell]

@MookieStl I remember your HIP build. Very cool. How did you do your corner pieces?

[MookieStl]

The corners were not that bad and did not have any coating like what you described. Mine were cast pieces and so are the ones on my LSI splits. I did buff them slightly but not much.