most sheet metal shops have a "time saver". its essentially a big belt sander, parts go in one end and come out cleaned up on the other end. They usually do this after fabrication in prep for finishing. call your local sheet metal shop, thay may make a run for you.
Your local sheeet metal shop can guide you. They can "brush" finish using various grits for controlling roughness, swirl finish with a rotating brush in a pattern, Hand polish, etc. Anodizing will result in a matte finish, but holds up very well to wear. Alodining, chromate conversion and abrasive blasting are other options. Talk to your shop!
why not use the aluminium sheet metal with protected coating ? There may be no surface marks,scratches problems.
Hi Kevin136, The panels had a protective plastic coating when cut, however the hot metal 'cuttings' melted this coating. This was compounded by the manufacturer removing this coating before sending them to me, and this is responsible for most of the scratching.
I took the advice here for getting the panels brushed by a local company and then anodised. The end result is ok, but still a little rough. It has certainly been useful to go through this process once, so that I can get it right next time. Many thanks for all the advice given here.
