polishing technique

[pistol13]

Alright, I'm finding it really difficult to get a good polished finish on a few silver parts, So do most use a mechanical devise or just hard labour to get the results. Wirewool? Brasso? Polishing compound? Dremel? Any tips would be great, Cheers

 

[andy.l]

I use scotchbrite pad and plenty of elbow grease,then as the surface gets better add brasso then buff with clean cloth

 

[B3]

I find Scotch Brite & Autosol to shift the hard marks then a soft cloth and Autosol to give a good shine, then use a good car wax to make it last.

 

[FairfaxPat]

polishing

I use medium fine steel wool and soapy water on Aluminum parts and frames and get a chrome-like finish, then coat with car wax to preserve it-repeat every few months.

 

[pinguwin]

I use a six-hundred grit wet/dry sandpaper, followed by a 1200 grit paper (I work at a place that does a lot of metal work, so they have this stuff around), and then finish it off with Mothers Aluminum Polish.

What I said above is all well and good, but most important is elbow grease. Turn on the music, a DVD, or just get into the zone and keep polishing (and polishing (and polishing)). I've had to put an hour and a half into polishing a stem and another time, since it was an already polished frame that just had surface oxidation, only an hour for an entire frame.

 

[kaiser]

I noticed nobody mentioning mops and compounds? Any experiences? Hope you don't mind me butting in pistol :roll:

 

[No Longer Registered]

There is a automotive restoration company called 'Frosts' who supply alloy polishing kits with three different mops and compounds. I've used this kit with good results. The end result will very much depend upon the grade of alloy you are polishing. It is a good idea to polished the component with furniture polish as the final stage as this coats the product with a thin layer of wax that will maintain the shine for longer as it prevents the surface layer from oxidizing.


http://auto.frost.co.uk/search?w=polish

 

[pistol13]

I noticed nobody mentioning mops and compounds? Any experiences? Hope you don't mind me butting in pistol :roll:

Hey man i wanna know too

 

[cce]

intricate parts can be hard to get a good finish using hand techniques - a dremel is good.

straight sections (handlebars, fork legs etc) can easily (easy difficulty, plenty of effort) be brought to a good shine using 600-grit sandpaper, fine wire wool and brasso

 

[pinguwin]

I just bead blasted a set of Syncros cranks today at work, so I'll be spending way too much of my evening polishing. Not sure how it will go with them being steel, but we'll find out soon enough.

'Guin