Alloy polising, What do you use??

[Mad Racer]

Well I want a alloy polishing device.

Till now i use old fashion elbow grease ( Hard work)

I have a small bench grinder and thought about getting a polish buffer attachment for it with some compound. Am I on the right track??

What do you use?

Cheers
Mark

[nvxwax]

Thats what i use, 6" buffing wheels and some compound (Not sure what grits) it works good but some parts fly across the garage lol, i have been know to loose a few

[8rad]

I have had success with a dremel buffing wheel and Tamiya polishing compound for plastic models. Works really good for small stuff. Would not work for big stuff like chassis.

[shodog]

For polish i have used mother's mag wheel polish, wenol, flitz and semichrome. They all work about equally well but mothers is the least expensive. I also have a 6" buffing wheel on a bench grinder.

[LTO_Dave]

Simichrome polish, a soft cloth and elbow grease. Sometimes I use a dremel buffing wheel/cone in a hand drill for smaller areas.

[THUNDERSTRIKE1]

Buit what about small fine scratches? What grit sandpaper do you use and whats the final grit to use.I started with red scotchbrite pad to get grime and some marks off from machine shop shear machine.It shines better than the parts not scuffed off yet,but fine scratches still there.DON

[shodog]

Buit what about small fine scratches? What grit sandpaper do you use and whats the final grit to use.I started with red scotchbrite pad to get grime and some marks off from machine shop shear machine.It shines better than the parts not scuffed off yet,but fine scratches still there.DON

Start with 600-1200-various steel wools. Once super smooth and siljy then hit it with the polish

[Lowgear]

I'm surprised how many of you use a bench grinder as all I ever seem to read about is sanding.

I normally use a bench grinder as well. The only problem is it's nearly 30 years old and has seen better days including the wheels. On one side it has your standard cloth buffing wheel, and on the other side it has some sort of mystery wheel that I don't know what it is. It's probably as old as the grinder itself. The label on it is still intact and says it was made by Scotch-Brite along with a bunch of part numbers. Seven years ago I sent an email to them with the information to see if they could tell me what it was but the woman who replied was clueless. She requested I send it to them so they could possibly tell me. I said screw that as I had a feeling I'd never see it again. I'd like to get a new one as this one is just about worn down to where it should be replaced. Plus it has a large chunk taken out of it which doesn't help. The closest thing I found which might be it from looking at pictures is whats called a metal deburring wheel. Anyway, I use that wheel first to knock down the surface of the aluminum which smooths out the grain to prep it for the buffing wheel. For compounds I use a standard buffing wheel compound set which includes Emery Cake, White Rouge, Red Rouge, and Tripoli.

Not to toot my own horn but I feel as if I'm pretty proficient when it comes to polishing as I've done a ton of it over the years. I always see people claiming that a part is "mirror polished" when its not really at all in my opinion.


Now this is what you call mirror polished:


Two boxes of raisins.

[murphy3428]

Lowgear , 3m makes what you are looking for http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/convolute-non-woven-wheels/abrasive-wheels/abrasives/ecatalog/N-i9l?op=search&sst=subset

[Diamond Dave]

Now that is some serious polishing, look at the reflection!

I use some of those compounds at work, the red and green rouge, and tripoli for gold and silver.

I can turn a really badly scratched gold or silver band into something close to your work there Lowgear.

[jwscab]

what is that chassis with the hornet gearbox in it? Or are we looking at a chassis with the reflection of a gearbox in it?

[kaiser]

mothers mag or mother billet, both work great. i've used everything from a dremel to a bench grinder, depends on what the peice is.

[Orange]

The color rouge's and the tripoli compounds work best... Have one medium buffing wheel and one soft. Use the compound on the medium wheel and no compound on the soft. The medium wheel and compound is used for initial cutting and the soft is used for final polishing. Use gloves, parts get hot and expect to feel like you have cobwebs up your nose, ears and any other crevice... I really don't know how it gets in some places, I also recommend a full face shield and an apron. And hold on tight, as was mentioned, when a buffing wheel catches an edge, well... Just don't be buffing in front of a window or anything breakable,

[Lowgear]

Lowgear , 3m makes what you are looking for http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/convolute-non-woven-wheels/abrasive-wheels/abrasives/ecatalog/N-i9l?op=search&sst=subset

Yeah, thats what I was thinking the wheel might be but I want to make sure as theres several different varieties, and did you see those prices? I think I'm going to try sending Scotch-Brite another email but this time with pictures.

what is that chassis with the hornet gearbox in it? Or are we looking at a chassis with the reflection of a gearbox in it?

It was an unfinished puller project I bought around 10 years ago. I finally finished it last year and then sold it right after. It was really all show and no go as it wouldn't of made a very good puller. It didn't have any weight bars, there was no way to lock the gearbox besides epoxy, and I had to (Jerry-rig) reverse mount Lunch Box / Midnight Pumpkin rims for them to fit. The finished product looked really cool though. I'll have to see if I can find the pictures I took.

[Lowgear]

Found the pictures I used for the eBay listing:






















One more for good measure.