Topic: Another Polishing Question

[72cafe]

So I started polishing some aluminum bits tonight and I am pretty happy results. The only problem I am having is that I can't seem to get rid of the tiny swirls when I go from the emery rouge with the 'rope like' wheel to the spiral cotton wheel with the brown rouge. The finish is awsome, but those damn swirls in the metal. Also, I'm doing this all with an air compressor. What PSI should I run at???

[ProTeal55]

After the main polishing is done, I would get some real fine sandpaper, the finer the better, and go over the metal
to remove the fine scratches. If you dont feel safe doing this, go to a good bodyshop supply house and get some
3M buffing compound. That should take the light swirls out.

If all else fails, do what I do.
Paint it black.... 

[seaweb11]

So you are the guy who painted all the aluminum on my 350 project bike

[ProTeal55]

I love this stuff 

[seaweb11]

P.S. I have never used " 'rope like' " wheel. I either start with wet sand on stuff I really want to shine, or just go straight to the cotton wheel with dark polish for stuff I'm not to critical about.

[theunrulychef]

Are you using a die grinder?  Swirl marks make it sound like you're using a circular motion rather than the end of the wheel (as in a wheel on the end of a bench grinder motor).  If you're doing this handheld, are you buffing in a circular motion with the wheels? Has your brown rouge wheel ever been loaded / contaminated with emory rouge?

One thing you might try is to apply more pressure with the cotton wheel on the bottom end and bring it up (opposite the turning direction) - pretty hard to explain without pics.  Take a look here to better see what I'm feebly trying to explain. That will cut a little harder than the normal pressure passes you would normally do, and perhaps they would take out the swirls without putting too much new "noise" back in the finish.  Also, perhaps you could try very light passes with the rope wheel to see if that will diminish the swirls it's putting in - then move up to the brown rouge.

One more thought, are you stopping at brown - no white rouge?  Depending on how deep the swirl marks are, this might help give it that last push it needs to get rid of the offending swirls.

-Jay in Philly

[dusterdude]

3m makes a killer swirl mark remover,get some and put it on by hand.

[KB02]

Get it wet!!

I hand polished some custome made parts for my Ducati once and best results I got were from using a really liguidy polishing compound (Glitz, watered down) and super fine sand paper. I mean, I had that thing SOAKED. They came out really well. Almost looked like Chrome. Now I only wish I had protected the nice finish a little better... It needs polishing again.

[mylittleho]

Yeah, what are you useing to polish with? I usually use a bench grinder.. and then after hand sanding to 220 I usually use Emory with a sisel wheel for more cutting then move on to tripoli with a loose sewn wheel.. than I wet sand with a very fine fine sand paper and finish off with a different loose sewn wheel and some finishing compound.

[mk0094@hotmail.com]

hey, i just polished my headers, and they came out pretty darn good. i went from emmory compound on a cotton wheel to a Jewler's rouge (spelling?) on a different cotton wheel, and it made it look almost like chrome.

i bought both off ebay for like 5 $ each, so it is worth it to get the jeqwelers rouge

later

[BobbyR]

You can remove those marks with a polishing wheel and some WHITE rouge. The Brown is great for cutting through through the oxide. Now the White will actually polish the surface. The last step is to apply something like Mothers Aluminum polish on a low speed wheel for higher gloss and some protection. With the finest rouges and polishes the trick is a light touch at the end. I take a wheel with some white rouge and run it lightly over the fenders and other chrome parts, and you will be amazed at how they sparkle.

[mk0094@hotmail.com]

like the picture bobbyr. that is pretty sweet

[72cafe]

I'm using a sisal wheel with the black emory rouge on the end of a pneumatic drill. The same drill with the brown rouge and a spiral sewn wheel. It is possible that the emory rouge got mixed with the brown rouge while I started applying the brown. What do you ussually clean it with when you finish one compound?

[theunrulychef]

It's pretty hard to totally clean the wheels once you've applied a certain color of rouge because the cutting particles are so tiny - you can always go coarser, but never the other way around.  They sell rakes to clean off the wheels (remove excess wax, metal & polish etc), but these won't really get rid of enough emory that you could re-apply red or white on top.  Perhaps they make some sort of chemical that does it, but I've never seen it.

My guess is that you're probably getting the swirls because of the drill (I assume you're holding it in your hand?).  If you could find a good way to mount the drill to a table, or better yet, spend the $50 to get a bench grinder motor (you don't need a great one to start off with), you'll find everything is alot easier & comes out more consistant.  It's also better to have a stationary wheel so that you can use 2 hands to hold the piece (safety and more control over pressure & angle).  I have no idea about how fast your drill is spinning, but the electric motors spin pretty darn fast, so that might also have something to do with it as well.

[BobbyR]

Yes you will have residue from one compound to another on the wheel. When you are going from black to brown it is not a big deal since they are both aggressive and I mix them both on the same wheel. When you get to the white it is best to use a new wheel. The rouge sticks contain wax which can clump on the surface. This wax is easily removed with denatured alcohol. You will find the wax will collect around any pitting mostly on chrome. Wear some rubber gloves when using the Alcohol as it dries out the skin and is metabolized into formaldehyde in the body.

[KB02]

Yeah, what are you useing to polish with? I usually use a bench grinder.. and then after hand sanding to 220 I usually use Emory with a sisel wheel for more cutting then move on to tripoli with a loose sewn wheel.. than I wet sand with a very fine fine sand paper and finish off with a different loose sewn wheel and some finishing compound.

I did all that polihing by hand. Since then  have started using tools and hove not gotten results as nice. Just a matter of a new learning curve, really.