Topic: So I want to polish some stuff.

[shane]

Whats the best tool for the job?

I want to polish my fork tubes, maybe my spokes and some other little parts on my bike. Is Dremel the best way to go? Any particular polishing or grinder bits I should get? I have some Turtle Wax polishing compound, will that be fine?

I was at home depot and they had a Dremel 300 and Dremel 4000. I almost bought one, but wasn't sure. The 4000 was 15 bucks more.

Here's links to the particular Dremels I was looking at if you have any advice on those.

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xhc/R-202035317/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xhc/R-202035314/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

[bird]

http://www.englishcustompolishing.com/

Have a read of Tips and other sections.
Good luck.

[Scott S]

 I have an off-brand "Dremel" tool and, honestly, it's not that great for polishing.

 I've had my best luck with an old polishing wheel set up I bought off Craigslist. That and plain old hand polishing with 0000 steel wool and chrome and/or aluminum polish. Neither of these quite gets me professional results, (and the hand polishing will leave your fingertips sore for days!), but with the right buffing wheels, compounds and experience, you can get acceptable results.
 The key is speed, the right compound and the right buffing wheels.

[nokrome]

i would recommend something along the lines of scott s's set up for polishing anything other than the smallest parts, a dremel is going to get frustrating real fast
  also, polishing is dirty dusty work, trying to do it with the parts still on the bike might be counter productive because of all the clean up involved

[Accolay]

I'd say it depends on how badly scratched your covers are. My forks looked like they had been "polished" with a wire brush, and there were numerous other scratches on the rest of the side covers. I took off the Honda coating with aircraft stripper. I took a dent on the alternator cover out with a file, then used a palm sander to sand everything smooth before taking it to the buffer.

I went with a bench-top polisher. Use separate wheels for separate polishing compounds.

[hondaface75]

thread jack-
   Anyone polished the cases before? I noticed while stripping and sanding mine that there are a few imperfections in the casting that might stop one from doing so. But I'm just curious. bet it would look nice, being such a beautiful motor already.

[Steve F]

I have an off-brand "Dremel" tool and, honestly, it's not that great for polishing.

 I've had my best luck with an old polishing wheel set up I bought off Craigslist. That and plain old hand polishing with 0000 steel wool and chrome and/or aluminum polish. Neither of these quite gets me professional results, (and the hand polishing will leave your fingertips sore for days!), but with the right buffing wheels, compounds and experience, you can get acceptable results.
 The key is speed, the right compound and the right buffing wheels.

I have something similar, though hard to find nowdays.  If you find something like this, make sure you get one with LONG wheel mounting arbors to allow you to get at things you can't with short spindle ends.
On a side note, I googled looking for these things and came up with this:
http://books.google.com/books?id=M9gDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA188&lpg=PA188&dq=belt+drive+polishing+wheel+spindle&source=bl&ots=F6WiZ0Avvt&sig=AeFx0rQ8Bpm74BYKHdLbr7V7JOY&hl=en&ei=k7k7TMClD8OGnQex6KTYAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CD4Q6AEwCA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Really funny AD if you scroll to the bottom of the article where they have an AD for ITT institute....bragging about making $200 a week being a draftsman 

[Stev-o]

Polishing 101...click here>>> http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/buffman.htm

Good Luck.

[paulmac]

On aluminium cases and fork legs I first use 600 emery paper followed by AUTOSOL METAL POLISH. This polish brings them up like new and also protects them.

[scroggins5000]

I learned that Carpy applies talc powder after polishing to prevent corrosion.

[shane]

I could've sworn a lot of people were using dremels to polish stuff. No? Anymore links on polishing?

[Stev-o]

no

[lone*X]

I could've sworn a lot of people were using dremels to polish stuff. No? Anymore links on polishing?

Yes, if the item is small or intricate.  I could see how you could polish the valve cover caps maybe.  Not if the item is as large as the engine covers.  The small size of the buffing wheels for the Dremel tool would make it impossible to have a consistent result across a large surface.  You would also burn through a small fortune in dremel buffing pads.  Buy the muslin buffing wheels with a quarter inch mandril and polishing compound and just use your hand held variable speed drill if you don't want to spring for a dedicated buffer.

[Accolay]

I could've sworn a lot of people were using dremels to polish stuff. No? Anymore links on polishing?

I bet you could, but it would take a long time. Some have used drills though, and it seems to work for them.

There are lots of articles on polishing. Search here, or use the power of Google.

[buttcan]

I've been polishing a bunch of stuff lately. I came across a Fordom brand rotary tool which is like a badass Dremel on steroids if you will.
I'm way far away from being an expert on polishing but it aint that hard as I have proven. I have a tendency to screw up most things I touch.

I clean all the crap off the part like roadgrime and paint ect. with brake cleaner or parts washer and then hit it with steel wool to make sure there arent any big nastys that I missed then go with a moderate to fine grit waterproof sandpaper depending on how bad the part looks. Some of my stuff has been buried in someone's back yard for twenty years so I sometimes hit it with a plastic toothed rotary brush to dig out the gouges ect. Once that is done I use a lambswool buffing wheel on the Fordom with white rouge and get after it ! This is the dirty part. lol.

 The thing to remember when taking the surface down is that if you put a scratch in it , in order for it to shine real purty like you'll have to buff that scratch out. I'd suggest you experiment on an old cover with different grits and buffers first before doing one you intend to use.
As far as tools all I currently have is the Fordom but am planning to get a bench grinder for the larger parts. I would think that a Dremel would work well for the hard to reach places though and there are a bunch of those.

I hope this helps. Let us know how it works for ya.
Here's some pics of my polishing endeavors.

http://s382.photobucket.com/albums/oo261/nheckler/polishing/

[Accolay]

Here's some pics of my polishing endeavors.

I think those coils need a little bit more shine on them 

[george]

Hey Buttcan, I need you to show some shine to my rack ! I really like the purty shiny stuff !

[buttcan]

Lol. Gimme yer rack and I'll shine it George !

I actually have to finish the lesters then I'ma do my rack then I can get yours.