polishing

[boofy44]

been polishing a powerdisc for ages and cant get rid of the tiny fine scratches,any tips people?

[Retrodan72]

Pm Bendy, he's ya man.

[boofy44]

cheers Dan.

[boofy44]

anyone else,want to get it finished in the morning before i do me chores.

[stidds]

The proper way to polish an item and get rid of the scratches is to initially use finer and finer grades of wet and dry paper, I go through the grits up to about 2000 grit.  Then I put it on the bench polisher and use 3 grades of mop, this will produce a mirror shine with not scratches.

It does take a lot of effort and time to do it right though.

[BENDYCAT ELEVENTEEN]

sorry very ill at the mo but will try and answer if I can 

If you start of with a harsh coarse low grade sand paper/wet/dry - then you will put more line into that is needed - the common thinking is that less work is to use some thing to take it off quicker - in fact you need to start low and with a higher grade paper - it will take longer but you will get better results and wont have to work on any more marks you may put in ?

if you are using a bench grinder on polishing up the disc - on the mop will be particles of dirt and metals and used polish - this will mark the surface no matter how much you keep going over it

next try Peek by hand - clean cloth and a bit of time - just work it well and then keep going till it shines

then use a Goddards cloth to buff up and then a yellow duster

- so don't go to harsh when sanding
- use clean wheel mops when polishing
- take time to keep going when hand polishing - the longer and more time you take, the better it will be


it's not a simple quick game for the best looking stuff - take you time and have clean work parts to use

cheers B 

[boofy44]

think its the wheel mop,its covered in crap.i'll get the blow torch out and clean it up.cheers fellas.

[HARORIDER]

how bad are the scratches? when you get it to the point where you can see your face in it,it is very hard to not scratch it !!! you can even scratch it by using lime powder with a soft cloth to clean off polish residue 

[BENDYCAT ELEVENTEEN]

or just get some fresh mops and keep the old for harder jobs

but do try peek by hand in the end as well  

[boofy44]

got some peek,think i need a new mop head.got a good mirror finish just the scratches are quite noticeable.

[leehunt1]

Lots of rapid right hand action required, were's Beard..??

[MaD-RoK]

Probs polishing his forebrow. 

[jT Racing]

if you are talking about the very faint fine lines, they're called drag lines, what you need is a fat bar. we use bars of(sheep) fat to stop the mop making drag lines. It's very normal to get them, you can use brasso and some elbow grease, you really have to rub with the brasso, simply applying a bit a buffing off won't work. But tbh, i'd stick to the fat method. You end up with a cloudy looking pices, but when you wash the fat off, the drag lines are no more.

[jT Racing]

it's official term is polishing grease btw, and some vienna lime to clean it off at the end would be useful. Just use the fat with your fine finish compound, a little bit with your rough compound wouldn't hurt on ali either. Ideally you need separate grades of mop and different ones for different stages. I tend to cycle them backwards, as in the finish mop works it's way to down the chain to first cutting mop before it becomes bin fodder. a sisal mop for getting the deep scratches out is ideal, then a bunch of calico (stitched and loose flap) for the other stages.
If you are getting tons of black waxy grease, you're putting too much polish on.
Not worth the dosh for one or two bits, but long term in this hobby, a full, ahem, borrowed from work pro polishing kit has been invaluable
I've done this for a living from time to time also although mainly finishing stainless steel above copper, chrome, brass and ali.

[boofy44]

cheers J.T. got a new polishing kit the other day and started again.

[jT Racing]

Tip.
Get some old rags(we use old sanding discs but I doubt you will have endless supplies if them) when you have polished, carefully, that is to say don't leave long flappy bits that can get tangled, put a few layers of rag over say a scraper for example and use this to get the build up off your mop in between hits. Try and keep the piece warm but don't burn your polish.