What type of polisher are you guys using? Not to sound dumb or anything, but are you using basically a grinder fitted with polishing wheels? Also, what type of polish are you using? I plan on buying one and givng it a whirl.
Thanks for any help, Nick

[ July 31, 2006, 07:51 PM: Message edited by: Moosegoose Nick ]

nick I polish with mothers chrome and aluminum polish and some good quality towels. some aluminums have a clear coat so might have to wet sand first. i want to get a wheel setup and some good polishing bars for differant metals

It's been quite some time since the material below was posted here, and I think it deserves revisiting as it is a fine method. This was prepared by a board member here some years back:

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)
Dremel 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 Patience (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 patience... these two factors will be crucial in the outcome of your project. Prepare to get dirty! Good Luck!

I use 2 micron paper if it doesnt need and blemishes removed I do all of my polishing by hand I use Mothers alum polish dont be afraid to slather it on and go to town and its a dirty dirty job but it will turn out in the end like no other . Heres a pic of something I polished

i use 2000 grit for finishing and then either a dremel or the buffing wheel on whatever it is im using. if i have nicks in the part i get an air tool with an aluminum wheel on it and get the spot out before moving on.

hey standard... where do you find 2 micron paper? they say not to use dremell tool over 10,000 rpm so adjust you speed.

another one for ya standard... what are using to sand with? pnuematic, electric ? thanks

220-320-600-sometimes 1200 all on a DA (air sander). Then use a red rouge brick. High speed grinder with a 3 inch wool pad does it for me. They make a 3 inch buffer but it`s not fast enough. A clean terry cloth is a must for clean up. The better the quality metal the better and easier to pollish.

I am not ignoring you Nick, I am just avoiding the inevitability of long answers on this one.



Eventually I hope to put something together with my 2 cents, to share on this topic. It is just easier with comprehensive photos, which takes some time.



For now, I offer only a taste. Busy, busy, busy....I'll shoot for sometime soon.

I have to at least toss you a bone, or 2, to not feel like a heel, leaving you high and dry...

1. Flat, flat, flat.........sand flat. If you don't have a mill, then start with a belt sander. Move on to a piece of marble or a flat steel plate. Rotate the part.

The flatter the surface the better the mirror.

2. Round wheels for round parts. Flat tools for flat parts.

3. Wipe off the goo with 100% cotton. Polyester scratches.

Ted, you are the king of bling!
I use a bench grinder with the hard and soft cloth wheels and the brown and green bar polish.

Ted must wear gloves... My hands never look that clean...

I'm really surprised you guys sand off the finish, chemical stripping is much better if the part is in good shape and just neads the finish removed.

Seann, we do. You use lye to remove the anodizing. Then you start sanding. You can't polish a part until all the marks and scratches are removed.

The finish on most all aluminum parts is far from being able to polish after the anodizing is removed.

Heat up the oven, go to the store and buy some easy off oven cleaner (not the no fume kind) heat the part and spray away. I've never heard about using lye, how well does it work? The easy off uses caustic soda which is nasty but does the job quick.

Lye is 100% caustic soda.

What form do you buy it in and how do you apply it? I never realised they were the same, I just knew easy off was easy to get locally. looked it up and came up with sodium hydroxide as the chemical name.

Correct.

Red Devil Lye. In crystal form. Next to the Draino in the hardware store.

http://www.vintagebmx.com/cgi-bin/ultimate...t=004338#000000

excuse my ignorance, but can u pollish any metals? lets say i found a set of cranks that were powdered, stripped em, and they were bare metal. could I pollish them to a mirror shine?

and what about these mongoose rims? not sure the name of them. has anyone ever polished these type of rims before? or did they come new with a semi luster look?

A good place for polishing/buffing supplies and how-to info is Eastwood. Their website is www.eastwood.com and their phone number is 1-800-345-1178. They sell anything and everything like buffing motors, rouge, buffing compounds, small wheels and cones for polishing with a die grinder or drill and tons of other stuff. They sell even sell powdercoat guns and ovens, sandblasters, metal fab tools, and everything else to completely restore a car/bike/truck/whatever you want. They'll send you a free catalog if you call or fill out a request online. I've had really good luck with their stuff and good service. JUst thought this might help you out.

Brian

What kind of Dremel? I have one of those real small dremels that you can use for engraving etc... I have used the cotton wheel on it to polish some stuff. Would a larger one work much better?

sorry i hand polish all my stuff and dont use pneumatics unless its beat up bad then let the air fly ..

Ted, Lou, Standard...how about I just send you some things and let ya'll do the work. Those were some SCARY awesome results.

Getting those hammer marks and side nicks off that stem is take-my-breath-away cool.

I'd really like to get into restoring some of the swag I've been hoarding lately. Just can't get to a point where I have the workspace/tools yet.

So are any of you guys taking orders?

lol, thanks for the props.

You wouldn't believe what some of the stems looked like that I have turned around.

I know lou has done some polishing for guys here.

I can say that I really spend a lot of time on the stuff I do, and it is not a very profitable endeavor. You would get sticker shock on one of my quotes, lol. But they are about as perfect as you can get them when I am done.

I guess my answer is no. ....But I am still hoping to get a chance to post some things on the topic. Time is my enemy lately....

T