polishing metal help

[w41k3r]

Im wanting to have ago at polishing up a small piece of metal just wondering what i need? i know i will never get the effect ray gets as his work looks first class but id like ago myself to pass some time, im going to be using a dremmel so what pieces are needed to get the polished look?.

[shaky]

flat the alloy with 1500 wet and dry,then flat it with grade 2000 wet and dry,then buff it with metal polish,it will come up well,hope that helps,

[scotty71]

flat the alloy with 1500 wet and dry,then flat it with grade 2000 wet and dry,then buff it with metal polish,it will come up well,hope that helps,

 

spot on that Shaky, anything like this I also find requires preparation and patience plus the above as mention by shaky and it should turn out proper nice

[Neil-NA]

I have one of these (3rd one down) - http://www.thepolishingshop.co.uk/acatalog/Standard_Polishing_Kits.html

 

As your not far from me you are welcome to use it for a while.

[Dnk]

What material are you polishing ? metal covers quite a lot, i assume aluminium ?

 

It will also depend if the item is a casting rather than billet which will take a lot more work and youll need to start with much coarser flatting pads.

[w41k3r]

neil-na very generous of you thanks for the offer but think ill pass i have a tendancy to break things lol and DNK i was going to try doing the battery clamp on our cars see how it came out

[Dnk]

The battery clamp is made from a ferrous steel and will rust unless coated in something, most people get them powder coated or chromed.

[jackso11]

I found out about ferrous metal the hard way. Used vinegar to clean up all my rust screws in the engine bay, put them is it over night and the next day they all looked like new! amazing! put them on the car.......a week later they are all BRIGHT orange with fresh rust.

[colsoop]

First of all remove the paint coating from the clamp.

Nitromoors is good for this.

 

Applying compound, get the mop running and hold the compound against the mop softly for a couple of seconds. Little and often is the key.

 

Next step is to use a sisal mop and a compound called supercut 40.

This with time and patience will give you a dull but smooth finish for the second stage.

 

Clean the part.

 

Use a white stitch mop and a compound called sovereign green.

Using the mop go in the opposite direction to the previous stage.

This will give a nice shine and a good enough finish to go for chroming which i would recommend for the clamps.

 

You could go on a stage and use a calico g mop with a blue compound this has very little cut but will remove a few of the swirls from the second stage and give a final lustre to the piece.

 

Usual health and safety:

 

clamp the part down well

Use a mask and eye protection at a minimum.

Wear gloves

 

etc.

[Dnk]

If you get it powder coated you dont have to anything other than give them to a powder coater

 

He then would chemically strip the parts, shotblast them, then powder coat them, also theres lots of colours now available so more versatile than chrome which is a bit old hat in my opinion but obviously down to whatever look your after.