Favorite books/videos on working with aluminum?

[scobeyr]

Does anyone have any "favorite" videos or books that they would recommend on working with aircraft aluminum? I'm looking for cutting, drilling, deburring, and finishing techniques.

After cutting, drilling, and deburring an alumuminum plate, what can be done to the surface? Polishing, buffing, or what?

Thank you!

[StanFoster]

Skob- You can polish aluminum like a mirror. I use Purple polish as it does an excellent job. Polishing aluminum is like most anything--you get more out of it the more you put into it. You can take Purple directly to aluminum and get it to shine, but the best mirror deep shine comes from sanding the aluminum with progressively finer grit. I went to 1000 on my rotorblades. The finer the job of sanding you do, the deeper the mirror shine, and it will be easier to maintain that shine as you have a much smoother base that doesnt oxidize near as fast. Stan

[JEFF TIPTON]

I like the FAA AC 43.131a series. You can download individual sections at the FAA at

http://www.faa.gov/regulations_polic...cumentid/99861

Or the full Advisory Circular a t Rivetbangers.com

http://www.rivetbangers.com/documents/AC43.13-1b.pdf

[Jazzenjohn]

Currently, this build thread is my favorite spot for working with aluminum...

http://www.rotaryforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22081

[Dean_Dolph]

Though I haven't done any building for some time, there are three books that I've found indispensible over the years. The FAA AC 43.13 books Jeff mentions, and Carroll Smith's 'Engineer to Win' and 'Nuts, Bolts, Fasteners and Plumbing Handbook'. I've recently picked up EAA's 'Sheet Metal Building Basics' that I believe I'm going to like.

If everyone had these books at their disposal then I believe we would see fewer questions here about construction techniques and best building practices.

The EAA home building hints shown in another thread is also a handy resource. This is the link http://www.eaavideo.org/channel.aspx?ch=ch_hints