I have a large aluminum guitar pedal board for mounting my effects pedals which is swiss-cheese drilled in rows by the manufacturer for mounting. I would like to paint it a solid color so that it is not the stock aluminum color but have little experience painting metals. What would be the best process for achieving a smooth clean finish on this material? As you can see in the photos linked below, the aluminum is not entirely buffed and smoothed out but it isn't all that rough either. I assume I should sand it first, but I don't have a sander so I'm not sure the best way of doing it with all these holes in the way without tearing up the sandpaper sheets. Photos: [url]https://imgur.com/a/Hqztg[/url] My first thought for paint was spray paint, but not sure if there's a better method for something like this, especially for preparing the surface for the paint and how many coats, etc. Thanks for any advice and help you might be able to offer!

I'm making a set of bed rails to convert the head-board and foot-board of a crib into a full size bed (to avoid buying the $200 conversion kit). I have the 'claws' to attach to the ends of the rails and engage with the head-board and foot-board. I also have a rigid box spring to extend between the rails, so I don't necessarily need slats. I'm looking for recommendations on the lumber type and dimensions of the two rails? The span (length) is roughly 76" and the rails will eventually be painted. I'm trying to balance cost v. over-engineering it. I believe 1"x6" oak should be sufficient for the weight, but is it overkill? I could also use 2"x6" (or 8") framing lumber I believe. Any thoughts are welcome.