Alloy Polishing

hi

i have just polished my PHR fuel rail today.its a MESSY DIRTY job.but good knowing you done something yourself.Dont think its a quick 2 min job and its all done with. Here are some pics before and after of fuel rail. It took me about 3 hours today.going to spend another hour on it tommorow to get it perfect.Im chuffed it came up so good.I polished fuel rail & had a couple of small pin holes so sanded them out & re polished it.

What i used was

Clarkes 250 Watt 6" Metalworker Bench Grinder £35

6" Polishing Mop £8

polishing wax (had some from last time i did polishing)

fine sandpaper wet and dry (had some from last time i did polishing)

safety goggles £5

metal work safety mouth and nose mask £4

pair of thick suade gloves £3

Thats all i used from today.Last time i did polishing i went through 2 bench grinders and 2 mini dremel type tools.The bench grinders are not really up to the job.but you can buy industrial polishers from £150 up to £800.

The dremmel type tools are great with the round sander atattchment it works great at getting the cast marks out of pipes.You can use a bench grinder with wire wheel to clean the alloy up.

You can get different colour waxes.I used the white wax.Turn grinder on with polishing mop apply some white wax to wheel & hold your alloy

against wheel holding part you polishing tight.Dont press alloy too hard agaist the wheel or you will overload motor and burn it out eventually.Keep putting wax on wheel every now and again till you get the finish you want.Dont be afraid to sand down and start again it will come up great if you take your time.

I will see how this cheap grinder goes and may look to buy a industrial polisher if it saves on time.

Not saying i know anything like the pros,but i think it has turned out great for me,It is a dirty job,but worth it knowing you done something yourself.

Things I Have Polished Before

water outlet pipe

cam covers

turbo pipework

stock fuel rail (very involving work)

blitz alloy induction pipe

blitz fmic piping (very soft alloy)

cusco strut bars

PHR fuel rail (nice easy design for polishing)

Things That Need Chroming

rad clamps

battery clamp

power steering tank

engine lift out hooks

cusco strut bar ends the blue bits can be chromed

If you not too fussed about polishing.you can clean the dirty alloy pipes up with a wire brush,or on the grinder i got it had a copper wire brush and sandstone wheel,or you can get a flexible hose to go on drill and buy small copper wire brushes and clean areas,comes up pretty good.

Iam not really into show & shine,but was bored and wanted to start doing something.just built a mini micro workshop to potter about in.will try update with items that may help other people if they fancy having a go themselves,hope its of use.

Some before & after pics

ps the polished fuel rail brackets has 1 bracket polished and 1 is un polished to show the difference.

further info to update

BLING pictures

This Is AGood Source For Pics Of Polished Stuff,Even Brake Calipers

Loads Of Pics Of Polished + Chromed Parts

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We use a pillar drill at work to grip the polishing mop spindle. If we ever polish anything up.

Probably less likely to burn out like the bench grinder has been doing.

Still looks excellent.

Tip: If you went down to a 4" mop on that grinder you wouldn't put so much stress on the motor and could apply more pressure to the metal surface.

What type of Mop are you using Monkey ?

Also invest in a face shield, like a welding mask it is much better than safety goggles and keeps the coal miner look to a minimum.

Tip: If you went down to a 4" mop on that grinder you wouldn't put so much stress on the motor and could apply more pressure to the metal surface.

What type of Mop are you using Monkey ?

Also invest in a face shield, like a welding mask it is much better than safety goggles and keeps the coal miner look to a minimum.

hi

i bought the only mop they had in shop,its a bit floppy but did the job ok.

last time i bought a polishing kit with taperd spindle,but cant find spindle.still got the older mops they are firm.this grinder u put slightest pressure on and it comes to a halt.dad was saying that clarkes gear is a bit crap.see how long it lasts.

Grinder Specs

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/product.asp?p=060710038&r=2040&g=106

Grinder Pic

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/images/products/hi/MM060710038C.jpg

Polishing Mop

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/images/products/hi/MM060320120.jpg

This 40 fold pure cotton mop is designed to fit most 6" bench grinders and is ideal for polishing copper, steel, brass, nickel, silver and chrome plated products.

6" diameter

11/8" (28.5mm) bore

ps got a small 2" taperd mop that i got for using with drill.i thought a drill would not be powerfull enough for prolonged use.

looks great, well done. how long would you expect that finish to last, could you lacquer it to keep it shiny?

Another tip, get yourself a cheap 1HP electric motor, you can pick them up S/H for next to nowt, and get an adaptor for the polishing mop, i have had one for the last 8 years and its still going strong! polished quite a few bits, but it is a real PINTA! and if you want to polish anything with lots of lugs/odd shaped bits you will need something like a Dremmel or better!

Having done a fair bit of polishing i can quite understand why people charge what they do for polished bits! especially things like throttle bodies etc!

Monkeymark i sent you a pm.

I had a go at polishing my turbo pipework yesterday. It's slow going.

I ripped all the horrible white oxidisation off with a rotary wire brush in a drill then sanded the surface with an electric sander and a dremmel with SS brush for the nooks and crannys. Finally I polished with cutting paste and brasso.

I'm not very pleased with the results though. I have a shine but the surface is not very smooth - rather undulating.

A it takes forever.

to people who do this for a living!

might give this a try too

Monkeymark i sent you a pm.

if you dont mind getting dirty and spending ages trying to get finish u want give it a try.the fuel rail was easy to do as its a uncomplicated design.the stock fuel rail is another matter with way too many tight areas.

shine wont last forever but should stay clean a long time.every now and again give it a quick polish.

it would be easier to give to pro`s and come back looking perfect.if you bored and want something to try.just try see if we can help each other out with tips.will update thread with more info i find

just try see if we can help each other out with tips.will update thread with more info i find

Yeah, do it.

I have a pillar drill I've never used. I might give that a try as Steb suggested.

I'm also interested in experimenting with powder coating and/or sand blasting. Anyone know about either of these? I see a few cheap powder coating kits on eBay. Dunno if they'd be any good though.

Yeah, do it.

 

I have a pillar drill I've never used. I might give that a try as Steb suggested.

 

I'm also interested in experimenting with powder coating and/or sand blasting. Anyone know about either of these? I see a few cheap powder coating kits on eBay. Dunno if they'd be any good though.

And then all you need is an oven as the powder is mildly toxic....

Yeah, do it.

 

I have a pillar drill I've never used. I might give that a try as Steb suggested.

 

I'm also interested in experimenting with powder coating and/or sand blasting. Anyone know about either of these? I see a few cheap powder coating kits on eBay. Dunno if they'd be any good though.

Polishing is laborious and time consuming and you get dirty.

But if you want some tips send me a mail and i will see if i can help

Powder coating isn't very expensive really and unless you are going to do a lot of parts with it i wouldn't invest in a kit.

You will also need a compressor which for a decent one would be a couple of hundred on top, but you could use this with the sand blasting as well.

And you can't use a gas oven as the powder coat is flammable.

Do you guys want a basic guide with pics ?

Yeah

Paul

Yeah, do it.

 

I have a pillar drill I've never used. I might give that a try as Steb suggested.

 

I'm also interested in experimenting with powder coating and/or sand blasting. Anyone know about either of these? I see a few cheap powder coating kits on eBay. Dunno if they'd be any good though.

Yeah we use a pillar drill for big stuff and a windy drill (compressed air) for smaller stuff.

But being a machinist most of my stuff can just be done by hand. As it's obviously a machined finish rather than cast.

Personally anything that I have machined that needs polishing I use the following method.

Wet and dry to get the machining marks out.

Worn wet and dry,

Bertex (Scotchbrite i think it's also called),

Worn Bertex,

Then apply brasso and polish off.

I would say that the preparation is the biggest thing to ensure a good smooth finish. By that I mean the first bit with the wet and dry. The more marks you get out at that stage the better the end finish will be.

I find that the more time you spend on it the better the finish will be.

Although I have found in the past that normal ali does tend to scratch when being polished. We only use Dural at work which is an aluminium alloy, and this just seems to be a bit tougher and doesn't scratch as easily.

I ain't an expert but when I have done stuff this way it always seems to come out well.

just been out doing a bit when i was finished i looked like a coal miner,very dirty job. spent ages doing fuel rail brackets and got them looking like a mirror/chrome finish.nearly done the fuel rail to a mirror/chrome finish.well chuffed with the finish.jake use the dremmel type tool with the round sanding discs and grid down all cast marks and excess ally thats not needed.try sand the area down with smooth sand paper,then it will be easier to polish up with a mop and wax.also the turbo pipes are very pourus.sometimes i have spent way too much time on 1 peice.eg on water outlet pipe i spent ages getting it perfect.when you put all the parts back on car you cant see a lot of polishing.just got to get to a stage where you happy with it.

my car been stood ages and started to go all that powder crap on pipes.once its been polished it would only take a quick buff up maybe once a year.