There was a post a while ago documenting the accessories needed for a do it yourself job to polish an aluminum frame.

I'm on the way to the local Home Depot. What do I need to buy?

Thanks

what grit of steel wool is best to use?

anybody? I am all ears as well!!

I've been pondering the same thing. I have never done this before, so somoene correct me if this the wrong approach:

Strip the frame with some sort of extermely caustic paint dissolving agent.

Then polish with a buffing wheel. I found this site:

http://www.bright-works.com/

that offers a kits for use with a bench grinder or a hand drill(which I am planning on using).

If I could find someone local to me who does soda blasting I would strip that way, but I have had no luck with that.

titian is the grandmaster of diy aluminum polishing technique. HEEYAH! CRACK! OOOOOWAH!

You know those soap filled wire wool pads that are supposed to be for cleaning stuff in the kitchen like the cooker... Well a little warm water on those and a good rum works wonders. plenty of effort is requires but it will not scratch the frame up. Then a good polish over with some chrome polish should do the deed. I have never done a BMX frame but I have done enough car parts in my time and it has always worked well.

ORB

take it to an automotive paint shop that does media blasting and that will give it sort of a soft polish found on the gt and robinson racing frames from 99

Back in the early 80's we used to remove the colored anodized finish on alloy parts with EASY OFF oven cleaner and then polish with an SOS pad. We'd get a really nice polished finish. If you want the mirror finish, you should definitely try a buffer.

I have done a few parts( amp heatsinks,a ruger 10-22 rifle, a billett grille and a few other things) I had to wet sand some of the parts that had a lot of "milling" marks. I used a wet paper that is used for color sanding auto finishes. then I used a 6" tightly woven polishing wheel to get the scratches out and then go to 6" loose polishing wheel to get the final polish.
I use the polishing sticks that come in a polishing kit for all metals there are a couple of different types of sticks in the kit but they are usually marked for what type of metal they are used for.And I also use Mothers mag and alluminum polish on the parts and it works wonders! you might also need the little wheels and Q-tip looking wheels for the tight places.
Be prepared to take some time to get the final result and don't get discouraged take your time.
It is usually trial and error. but it is well worth your time to do it yourself because you can take pride in your own work not sombody elses!
if you are doing a lot of parts you could take them to an auto motive machine shop to get them media blasted also. I started a couple of amp heatsinks for a show car I did for a friend a while ago like that.

I am sure I missed something, if you need it in a word file e-mail me, tburris@climatemaster.com.
Here is my rendition in a nut shell...


Polishing Aluminum
By Titian Burris

Materials needed:
Sand paper 80-600 grits (depending on the condition of the metal)
Terry Cloth towels (the softer... the better)
Safety Glasses
Your favorite BBQ apron
Dust mask (unless you like aluminum dust)
A reputable aluminum polish (I use Eagle One, http://www.eagleone.com/_products/index_whe.asp)
Dremal Tool or pneumatic hand drill (high rpm) with hard cotton polishing wheels
Palm or Mini-Finishing Sheet sander pneumatic or electric (This is a must)
Time and Patients (As well a must, a must have to get good to excellent results)

Cleaning up the metal, if you are dealing with rough or raw aluminum you will want to follow these sanding steps (I use all of these steps when restoring OSBMX Aluminum, note: not all OSBMX manufacturers products were polished to “high luster” or show standards... Phil Wood Spiders for example were not OEM high luster):

Warning: Do not over sand... aluminum is soft and when using pneumatic or electric sanders, you can thin out tubing etc reducing the structural integrity of the component or possibly “sand through” the tubing /component. Do not sand out factory welds or factory markings, this reduces the historical value of your component.

Sanding Steps:
Using pneumatic or electric sanders can greatly reduce your man hours...

80-120, grit Medium Smoothing of the surface, removing deep imperfections and marks.
150-180 grit, Fine, removing smaller imperfections and marks and leveling out dips in the aluminum.
220-240 grit, Very Fine Sanding
280-320 grit, Extra Fine
360-600 grit, Super Fine Fine sanding of the finish to remove some luster or surface blemishes and scratches.

Once you have put more aluminum shavings up your nose than the guy in “Blow” snorted illegal drugs, follow these procedures:

Take your terry cloth towel collection, cut the towel to fit your Palm or Mini-Finishing Sheet sander like you would a sheet of sandpaper, slather on the Mag & Aluminum Polish and polish away... you might need to do this several times to get a scratch free mirror shine. Use your hand Held Dremal Tool or pneumatic hand drill (high rpm) with the polishing wheel attachment to polish welds and those hard to get to spots (use plenty of polish).

After you have made a huge black mess of everything on you work bench, and you are 110% satisfied with the look of your hard work an time (in other words you could use it to shave with instead of a mirror in the mornings), use a common Silicone Glaze car wax to seal and protect the aluminum, this reduces natural tarnishing. The car wax will work, but I found another product that I have been happy with, Eagle One Billet Aluminum Polish Cleans, polishes and waxes to a mirror-like shine. The choice is yours, they both work great.

Titian’s disclaimer: I have polished allot of aluminum... this is the best way I have found to do it. I am by no means an expert. Do this at your own risk. Like mentioned above, this takes allot of time and patients... these two factors will be crucial in the outcome of your project. Prepare to get dirty! Good Luck!

Cool, thanks for the info. I have a Dremel here and never even thought of using it for this.

I did this to my R-1 with nothing more than 400 to 900 sandpaper and mothers aluminum polish. The key is keep a clean spot on the rag at all times.

Titian,

Good lookin' out with the step by step DIY tips. I picked up a couple of itmes from OSH Hardware and PepBoys so I'll have a weekend project to do. I'll post the photos when I'm done. Thanks again, you rock!

Following my posted steps on aluminum polishing, here is a project that I am working on for a fellow vbmxer... the results are good once again... anyone can do this.

There are always so many questions.... I wanna keep this going for the future questions.

TZNUTTS,

That phil wodd star looks awesome. I am trying to follow your step but I have had one too many tonight. Can you do this with rims too? I would imagine it would be much harder! Awesome job. How long did the phil wood take? I am just curious at what I would be loking at.

Thanks Bappy Time to run to the fridge I am empty

Damn I can't even spell!

alot of time... around 4 hours... you can do it to anything...Rims, Frames, anything aluminum

hey titian,

what kind of maintenance is required to keep stuff looking like that after the initial job? does a clearcoat work? is it better just to maintain it?

fyi, your diy got a sticky at the car forum i posted it on. as the darksiders say, "big ups dawg"!

thanks,
-philip

Thanks man... use a wax to prevent oxidation.