There is another way to blacken brass besides painting it. The folks who
do Tiffany glass work use a chemical treatment to blacken their copper. It
will normally work on brass as well. There are different recipes for this
stuff and some are better than others so I suggest a trial before using it
on the real camera. Some versions make a gray rather than blacker finish.
If you search for recipes intended for optical parts, which should be very
black, you could do even better, though you may be making the stuff
yourself (No doubt there are sources for the finished product if you can
find one.) It is my feeling that these treatments are less prone to chip
than paints, especially under concentrated loads as might occur on camera
rails.
One other possibility is two-component paints. Some seem to be based on an
epoxy formula. These can be more rugged than normal paints, though baked
finishes might be the best, if you get the right one.
If you do try the blackening of the brass itself instead of painting it,
you can still protect the result with a clear finish.
Who knows, the same methods may be just right for the interior metal parts
or even the exterior parts!
Does anybody know how good quality commercial products, like cameras, are
coated? These paints can be quite robust. Are we able to buy them (I
tried once and was told I had to buy massive quantities compared to what I
can use before it goes bad, if I wanted two-component finishes in
industrial quality.)
Bob
Dr. Robert Mueller
Institut für Festkörperforschung, FZ-Juelich
D-52425 Juelich, Germany
phone: + 49 2461 61 4550 FAX: + 49 2461 61 2610
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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