Aluminium Polishing

[18RZZ]

i am in the process of making an alloy gauge cluster for my dash i will take some before and after pics to show you the procees i take. if you guys would like. might be over a few weeks as i will have to do it in my lunch hours but if you lot want to see i will be mo\re than happy to help you out.

this is me after 4 hours of polishing.

Edited September 11, 2007 by 18RZZ

[GeeTR]

i am in the process of making an alloy gauge cluster for my dash i will take some before and after pics to show you the procees i take. if you guys would like. might be over a few weeks as i will have to do it in my lunch hours but if you lot want to see i will be mo\re than happy to help you out.

this is me after 4 hours of polishing.

Hahahah Ill forgive the photo because of the mass of experience you've written up! HAHAHA

[Yawn]

LOL

[Craved]

hahaha

oh dear.

Cheers, might get some of the green compound bar and give that a shot.

I am using the bar type compounds which seem to be reasonably hard. now to find some time to get back to it

[18RZZ]

compound bar is the way to go liquid compounds work but are far to Messy and takes more effort

you should see the shower at night after i polish all day LOL

[GeeTR]

I’m never polishing anything again, at least nothing as complicated as an RB26 inlet plenum!

I calculated around 40 solid hours to complete, and I didn’t even complete the bottom of it!

- Paint stripped it

- File finished the whole thing, casting marks, letters, deep pits from the sand cast

- Used the above mentioned “fan like” paper sanding drum on the end of a drill, with a small 1” one for between the runners.

- Worked way from 400 600 800 1000 grit. Then went straight to the stitched cotton buffing wheel drill attachment. The finer cutting compound was enough ( I think because I went right up to the 1000 wet and dry)

- Came out really good, I should post some pics up.

I would never ever attempt this again, unless paid an insane amount of money.

Iv heard ppl do a little each night in front of the TV, with it on their lap, but I prefer doing it wet, the paper lasts a lot longer and doesn’t clog.

Get some pics up Michael

Still not completly done and happy with it, but its not on the car yet. Will go over with 800 > 1000 again, then buff with compound.

In the end, its about time; the thoeroy is there, it just takes time. I couldnt get a sanding tool into between the runners, so its all about how quick your fingers repair from being sore and "finger printless" Just do a few hours every day and use the idea of the pictured product to keep the enthusiasm up haha.

Edited September 15, 2007 by GeeTR

[aphid]

lol i swear these forums are aj city..

i got half an hour into attempting to polish my gee reddy ripoff plenum before f**king it off today

what do people usually use to get into all the nooks and crannies associated with plenums and more tricky jobs?

Dan

You Learnt That At Kamp-Pooka?

Didnt ya.

Andrew

[GeeTR]

A small paddle wheel on a air tool could work, otherwise its your fingers, and a lot of time.

[J'z-R33]

use a dremle.. only $70 from bunnings and does a great job. theres heaps of polishing and sanding attachments and there small enough to get in between the inlets.

Good luck

[Trooper]

Haha Kapooka

I remember good ol pooks, go RAAC, shame we still had to polish the brass up.

We got busted taking a fan apart, sticking wet and dry to the fan centre and using it to polish brass - result: no fan for anyone, 40+ degree days, lots of sweaty nights.

I am in the process of polishing a stock plenum too...WAY too much work, but I have spent too much time to give up now.

lol i swear these forums are aj city..

i got half an hour into attempting to polish my gee reddy ripoff plenum before f**king it off today

what do people usually use to get into all the nooks and crannies associated with plenums and more tricky jobs?

[RustyR32Gtst]

I polished my new water pump today (only the top half which will be seen).

I used 400, 800 then 1500 wet and dry and then polished with autosol and a Dremel.

It came up pretty good.

After polishing this small part i can now justify the $300 i paid to have my custom stainless intercooler piping mirror polished !

Before

After

[r33cruiser]

that is insane.

how many hrs did it take?

[Craved]

Here is some tips and hints etc for polishing that should become handy

http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/buffman.htm

and here is a funny walkthrough for polishing bike frames

http://forum.caswellplating.com/showthread.php?t=1755

-snismo - that waterpump looks good

[GeeTR]

I polished my new water pump today

Nice work man!! That’s a pretty intricate shape

[RustyR32Gtst]

Nice work man!! That’s a pretty intricate shape

Thanks, next mission will be the altenator and the cas, then brake master cylinder......................

[r33cruiser]

thanks alot for that info craved. using those tips really helped, especially running a wet buffer over it to finish it

cheers

[Lazy-Bastard]

I picked up a spare crossover pipe for cheap so decided to have a go at polishing.

Deleted the seams on either side as well as some "unnecessary" fittings just to neaten it up a bit. Then gave it a once over with a 120 grit sanding disk using a drill to get rid of the really rough stuff, then by hand with 180, 400, 800 and 1200 (contemplated 2000 but CBA), then just polished it with some Autosol.

It's by no means perfect, but I'm happy enough, and it almost matches the sheen of the cooler piping.

[Craved]

Defying your name sake with all that effort Warwick looks relaly good though

no worries - r33cruiser - its what the fab section is for looks good

[Sheng]

Haha Kapooka

I remember good ol pooks, go RAAC, shame we still had to polish the brass up.

We got busted taking a fan apart, sticking wet and dry to the fan centre and using it to polish brass - result: no fan for anyone, 40+ degree days, lots of sweaty nights.

I am in the process of polishing a stock plenum too...WAY too much work, but I have spent too much time to give up now.

Pooka is Pooooo, we polished our brass everyday, and didnt even get the use it for march-out!

oh well typical army f**k around

[H@ME]

wow! all the peices looks really good, i was going to get into over the uni holidayz and i think i just might looks like alot of effort but well worth the finished product (i hope) i going to buy a small bench ginder tomorrow (it is 125mm, 150watt, is this too small)??

Edited November 16, 2007 by H@ME