Topic: Polishing, how the hell do you...

[pae]

... get right into the corners? Current job is polishing the rims on Comstars. How the hell do you guys get right into the corners where the 'spokes' join the rim? I've got some small felt wheels for the actual polishing, but due to years of neglect I'm on the coarse wet/dry first to break through the oxide and have a decent ali base to put polish on.

I can fold the wet/dry to get it into the corner, but with my fat fingers I can't actually get any pressure on the paper in the corner, so I'm always left with a 'grey' unpolished section 2-3mm wide around any obstructions. It don't look good when the rest of the rim is bright shiny.

I have tried with a bit of wet/dry on the end of a stick, but it didn't seem to help a lot. Yeah, it got a bit closer into the corner but I'm still not happy. And I don't think I'm being overly fussy.

So, what's your secret? Any better tools to use for the more abrasive stages, or shaill I just shut-up and spend more time on it 

thanks, Phil

[scunny]

can't help there, I've tried a few things and it still comes down to elbow grease.
I await better ideas as well

[736cc]

use a toothbrush w/ polish on it

[pae]

use a toothbrush w/ polish on it

Hey, not bad, although I'm still at the 400 and 800 grade wet/dry so need something with pressure to work it in. Perhaps I could try some abrasive polish on a small brass-bristle brush?

Will have a go.

regards, Phil

[cafe75-550]

A dremel tool with some polishing bits works really well too!

[Faol]

I'd like to second the Dremel Tool suggestion. The polishing wheels are useful, but Dremel also makes little brushes of a variety of materials, including metals, and also some fine grit grinding wheels that might help you out more at this stage. They aren't too expensive (around $2.00 - $10.00), and they will definitely cut down on the elbow grease quota.

[bradweingartner]

Have you tried some foam sanding blocks. These things are invaluble for polishing IMO. Gives you enough bite on odd shapes while keeping all the edges soft.

[333]

ScotchBrite.  Popsicle stick.  Trim the popsicle stick to a mostly sharp point> .  About a 90 degree point.  ScotchBrite comes in different "grits" from auto body supply houses or online from places like eastwoodco.com.  The popsicle stick is blunt enough to not punch through the ScotchBrite.  If you are really precise, you can cut the ScotchBrite into little discs for your Dremel.  They must be very round and the center must be true, or it will be out of balance.  The standard Dremel spins at 22,000 RPM.  This trick works best with a variable speed model at lower speeds.

The popsicle stick trick will work as fast as you can go.  And wood won't scratch.

[chung]

I carve little pieces of oak to fit a given profile and wrap the paper around the block. A table or beltsander works great to fine tune the block. If you rip the wood down to 1/4 inch or less in thickness, you can soak the wood in water and form an inside radius on the block rather than trying to spoon it out with power tools. Also a backcut on the end helps you only sand one surface.

[PoorboysFbomb]

Eastwood.com
They make perfect little buffers for the job.  They hook up to an air grinder and have the polishing compound to match what your looking to do

[ChefJoe]

Try a Dremmel with Flitz? I've used it to polish gun barrels and it bings it to a mirror shine.
Don't know how Flitz works on aluminum.

[ChefJoe]

Used some Flitz on my bike this weekend. Works great on aluminum!

[78 k550]

I have some of these on the bottom.
http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?itemID=434&itemType=CATEGORY&iMainCat=433&iSubCat=434&page=2


Paul