The Abrasive & polishing process
In this blog I’m going to give you a step by step guide on how to polish a piece of aluminium to a mirror finish and all the products can be bought from my website. www.waxonwaxoffltd.co.uk.
If the shop is not up and running by the time you read this get in touch and I can get the equipment.
It doesn’t matter if the piece you’re polishing has anodised coating, medium scratches this process will guide you through.
This is what you’re going to need.
. If you don’t own a polishing machine or a converted bench grinder a hand drill will do.
. Abrasive work you’ll need 2 xcolored stitch mop, 150, 240 grit sateen.
. Polishing work you’ll need sisal mop, white stitch mop and a calico G with grey supercut compound, white compound and blue compound. I also use wet & dry 600 1000 1200 but that is optional
To start with you got to prep your colored stitch mop, the best way to do it is start your machine or drill and wait for it to get to speed then turn off and apply the 150 grit satene in a dabbing motion. keep doing this until the mop is lightly coated, because it is a new mop you will have to wait 5 minutes or until the sateen has turn hard then do the same again until it has a full coat. Take the other colored stitch and do the same process with the 240 grit sateen.
Abrasive work
So the mops are prepped we get to work, using the 150 grit turn machine on or if you’re using a drill you’re going to have to clamp piece to be polished. We take the piece and work top to bottom going from one side to the other, so all the piece has been worked on then turn it 90 degrees and follow the same process until the scratches or anodised coating has been removed. This could take some time so be patient and try not to press to hard.
Now we use the mop with the 240 grit following the same process and by now you will start to see a difference. What were basically doing is making a series of smaller and smaller scratches. Try not to get the metal to hot as this will cause a ripple effect and you will have to start the whole process again. After I’ve finished this process I would normally give it a light rub with wet 600 grit wet and dry and this would give me an indication of how well I’m doing. Are there any deep scratches or tiny pieces of anodised coating that you missed?
Now we use the sisal mop with supercut using the same process of loading as before but without leaving it to dry or set. Bear in mind this should not be as heavily coated as satne so just do it the once.
Once you’re happy with the amount on the mop which is a light coat follow the process as before going up and down left to right and working the metal until the black smudges disappear and now you will start to see a difference in the metal, it will look semi bright. I must stress how important it is not to get the metal too hot now because it will ripple which you might not see and if it is hot you’ll have to start over again which is a pain.
This part is now optional
Rub it over with the wet 1000 grit wet and dry
Now take the white stitch mop using the supercut again with the same loading process until a very light coat, follow the same cutting process up and down left to right and it will get a bit brighter and looks a smoother finish. DONT get it hot.
This part is optional
Rub it over with wet 1200 grit wet and dry
Now take the calico G and load it with a dab of white compound, with the white and blue its best to use a little often and follow the same process up down left to right. Don’t rush and don’t get it hot and if the mop is fraying snip the frays off because these can cause scratches when they slap the metal. When finished this will be a semi mirror finish.
Now load the mop with the blue compound following the same process as white compound and same technique. A little and often. DONT get it hot and don’t rush because this is the final stage and when you have finished it will look mirror finished. Bright gleaming and if you aint got it hot no ripples. A tip would be to practise on something until you have mastered the motion of polishing. Be patient because you will get there in the end.
Any questions visit my website and ask. Im going to post a video up soon of the process from start to finish. Thanks for reading and good look.
Saturday, 24 October 2009
Saturday, 10 October 2009
tips for polishing
If you have any questions about polishing any metal. contact me on
enquiries@waxonwaxoffltd.co.uk
enquiries@waxonwaxoffltd.co.uk
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
Part 1 basic guide to polishing
Polishing techniques
How we produce a mirror finnish is down to hard work, skill and a little common sense.
Take aluminium, its a very dirty material to work with, producing lots of black dust when being polished, but the end result and sense of pride far outways the hard work and sweat put into it. Just patience and commitment is all thats needed.
To get a show like finish or show finish, well thats a whole new ball game.
So what is a mirror finnish? If you were to look at a mirror finish under a microscope it would look like a mountain range. But because the peaks and valleys are so small and close together and rounded off, they reflect light and the surface appears smooth and mirror like, although its not.
Absolute flatness is actually impossible to achieve but we can get pretty close. therefore all we are actually doing is making a series of finer and finer scratches untill we eventually round of the peaks. This is achieved by going through the abrasive grades untill we get to the finish we want. The three methods used are: Abrasive finishing polishing, Buffing or bright finishing and colouring.
The first stage is often described as 'emery bobbing' or 'scurfing' this involves the use of abrasives which cut away the surface irregularities and imperfections. It can also be done by the use of abrasive belts, flap wheels, hand rubbing blocks or abrasive cloths and papers.
The second stage is polishing or buffing and requires the use of polishing compositions and mops to produce a bright smooth finish. The term COLOURING is applied to the final polishing of metal part when again use is made of mops and polishing compositions. After all the scratches have been polished out the metal is finally 'coloured' . To make it clean and brilliant, a lime-based or rouge composition is used on the finishing mops.
ABRASIVES
There are three main abrasives which we use, emery, aluminium oxide and silicon carbide, aluminium oxide being the most popular. The abrasives can be obtained in various grit sizes, from flour which is the finest and comes in 1200 and 1000, right through to the most common of 320 and so on till it reaches 60 or sometimes can be coarser. For abrasive finishing we only need grit sizes 320 to 60.
Abrasives are used in metal finishing in the following ways:: On abrasive belts, flap wheels, cloths and papers, etc.: On dressed wheels, mops, felt bobs, etc.: In grease bonded and lime-based polishing compositions: Loose grains for grit blasting, vapour blasting and lapping, in flexible rubber polishing blocks, sticks, polishing wheels and mounted point .Abrasive belts and flap wheels are now extensively used for preliminary abrasive operations prior to the polishing of components.is made up of strips of aluminium oxide coated belt material and bonded circumfrentially around a central resin core which is mounted on a steel shaft. This can be used on any D.I.Y. electric drill and hey presto you have a portable abrasive finishing machine which can be taken anywhere there is a power outlet.The abrasive flap wheel has all the advantages of the abrasive belt machine but with none of the disadvantages of high cost, non-portability, size and inability to work in small internal recesses.
ABRASIVE DRESSED WHEELS
The wheels or bobs are dressed with abrasive grain (emery, aluminium oxide or silicon carbide) using glue or cement as adhesive. Felt bobs are the most popular wheel used commercially, for their long life, although they are quite expensive, Felt wheels can be turned to any shape to suit particular trades or duty, such as grooved bobs for tubular work, small cones and fingers for jewellery and knife edged.
Visit my website for all your Metal polishing needs:
http://www.waxonwaxoffltd.co.uk
How we produce a mirror finnish is down to hard work, skill and a little common sense.
Take aluminium, its a very dirty material to work with, producing lots of black dust when being polished, but the end result and sense of pride far outways the hard work and sweat put into it. Just patience and commitment is all thats needed.
To get a show like finish or show finish, well thats a whole new ball game.
So what is a mirror finnish? If you were to look at a mirror finish under a microscope it would look like a mountain range. But because the peaks and valleys are so small and close together and rounded off, they reflect light and the surface appears smooth and mirror like, although its not.
Absolute flatness is actually impossible to achieve but we can get pretty close. therefore all we are actually doing is making a series of finer and finer scratches untill we eventually round of the peaks. This is achieved by going through the abrasive grades untill we get to the finish we want. The three methods used are: Abrasive finishing polishing, Buffing or bright finishing and colouring.
The first stage is often described as 'emery bobbing' or 'scurfing' this involves the use of abrasives which cut away the surface irregularities and imperfections. It can also be done by the use of abrasive belts, flap wheels, hand rubbing blocks or abrasive cloths and papers.
The second stage is polishing or buffing and requires the use of polishing compositions and mops to produce a bright smooth finish. The term COLOURING is applied to the final polishing of metal part when again use is made of mops and polishing compositions. After all the scratches have been polished out the metal is finally 'coloured' . To make it clean and brilliant, a lime-based or rouge composition is used on the finishing mops.
ABRASIVES
There are three main abrasives which we use, emery, aluminium oxide and silicon carbide, aluminium oxide being the most popular. The abrasives can be obtained in various grit sizes, from flour which is the finest and comes in 1200 and 1000, right through to the most common of 320 and so on till it reaches 60 or sometimes can be coarser. For abrasive finishing we only need grit sizes 320 to 60.
Abrasives are used in metal finishing in the following ways:: On abrasive belts, flap wheels, cloths and papers, etc.: On dressed wheels, mops, felt bobs, etc.: In grease bonded and lime-based polishing compositions: Loose grains for grit blasting, vapour blasting and lapping, in flexible rubber polishing blocks, sticks, polishing wheels and mounted point .Abrasive belts and flap wheels are now extensively used for preliminary abrasive operations prior to the polishing of components.is made up of strips of aluminium oxide coated belt material and bonded circumfrentially around a central resin core which is mounted on a steel shaft. This can be used on any D.I.Y. electric drill and hey presto you have a portable abrasive finishing machine which can be taken anywhere there is a power outlet.The abrasive flap wheel has all the advantages of the abrasive belt machine but with none of the disadvantages of high cost, non-portability, size and inability to work in small internal recesses.
ABRASIVE DRESSED WHEELS
The wheels or bobs are dressed with abrasive grain (emery, aluminium oxide or silicon carbide) using glue or cement as adhesive. Felt bobs are the most popular wheel used commercially, for their long life, although they are quite expensive, Felt wheels can be turned to any shape to suit particular trades or duty, such as grooved bobs for tubular work, small cones and fingers for jewellery and knife edged.
Visit my website for all your Metal polishing needs:
http://www.waxonwaxoffltd.co.uk
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