Raw carved finish you can see layer lines and it is really good as is. The bead blasting is almost certainly decorative as it gives a more matte finish to the coloring. We receive the parts “as-machined” and do several cleaning steps to remove grease. Then bead blast to achieve the matte finish in the end. This bead blasting also smooths the surface to give a more uniform look to the part. This removes any carving lines that are left behind. Fractions of a mm difference in how the machine was trammed can leave lines that can not be felt but only seen. The bead blasting clears that out and provides an even surface.
The bead blasted surface is now heavily exposed. Grease, and other contaminants even from just touching with your bare fingers can leave smuges. After bead blasting we can’t even touch the parts unless we have gloves on.
We then do a few more rounds of degrease cleaning and a deox dunk which etches the parts so it receives anodization well. Then onto anodization, dyeing, and sealing.
Overall a well anodized part will last a lot longer. Easy to wipe grease off, and a great looking surface with the matte black look. Pair that with the black anodized aluminum extrusions and your machine looks really good. Our first machine was silver anodized aluminum extrusions and next to the black anodized plates also looks awesome.
The black dyeing does hide some imperfections which is why we don’t offer silver anodization just yet. We’re very new to the anodization process and with each round of parts we’re getting better and better with our results. The black hides minor things that would be very visible on a silver part.