Metal polishing?
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Thread Starter
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From: Harford co. MD
Well i played around with the top of the intake and put some mothers on it and it shined up way better than it was so i'm going to take all you guys recommendation and do it myself worst case it will look better than it does but i think with some sanding i can get a good shine out of it being the aluminum is smooth to begin with i will post some pic before and after!
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Joined: Nov 2011
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From: jacksonville,fl
Crash course on sanding /polishing anything.
You're basically sanding & smoothing out the surfaces with something that leaves scratches that look large to the eye, then progressively making smaller scratches to remove the larger ones till the eye can no longer see them.
That's the basic idea for any surface. Now what's involved & what method varies significantly with different materials. Many different selections of methods & supplies can accomplish a similar result eventually, some much slower than others.
I assume you're working on an aluminum sheet metal intake which I don't know the surface condition of, so I'm giving general recommended instructions Based on you NOT having professional compounds, buffing wheels & tools.. Something like mothers is ok once you have the base material smooth enough. Get an assorted pack of wet dry sandpaper & experiment in small sections. No need to sand rougher than needed to remove existing scratches, you can always step to a heavier grit & then back to finer. Try 1000 grit, sanding in a few directions in an area, & see if you can see any heavier scratches through it. If so go to 800, 600 or heavier if it's bad enough. If ok go finer to 1500 ,2000 & even finer if available. Then switch to a paste, cream or heavy liquid, then a finer product like white diamond for a final shine.
This was just a rough example of a plan of attack for sheet aluminum for someone with few tools. Someone like me with professional buffing wheels, a 1 hp motor & compound sticks may stop sanding at 400 to 800 grit & proceed with buffing tools. No one way to do this.
You're basically sanding & smoothing out the surfaces with something that leaves scratches that look large to the eye, then progressively making smaller scratches to remove the larger ones till the eye can no longer see them.
That's the basic idea for any surface. Now what's involved & what method varies significantly with different materials. Many different selections of methods & supplies can accomplish a similar result eventually, some much slower than others.
I assume you're working on an aluminum sheet metal intake which I don't know the surface condition of, so I'm giving general recommended instructions Based on you NOT having professional compounds, buffing wheels & tools.. Something like mothers is ok once you have the base material smooth enough. Get an assorted pack of wet dry sandpaper & experiment in small sections. No need to sand rougher than needed to remove existing scratches, you can always step to a heavier grit & then back to finer. Try 1000 grit, sanding in a few directions in an area, & see if you can see any heavier scratches through it. If so go to 800, 600 or heavier if it's bad enough. If ok go finer to 1500 ,2000 & even finer if available. Then switch to a paste, cream or heavy liquid, then a finer product like white diamond for a final shine.
This was just a rough example of a plan of attack for sheet aluminum for someone with few tools. Someone like me with professional buffing wheels, a 1 hp motor & compound sticks may stop sanding at 400 to 800 grit & proceed with buffing tools. No one way to do this.
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Joined: Nov 2011
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From: jacksonville,fl
Examples for inspiration;;;
Hand made the air intake from sheet aluminum a few years ago.
Currently working on the intake project featured in the 3rd gen external section here . Intake runners are stainless, plenums are aluminum. Neither are fully polished yet.
Hand made the air intake from sheet aluminum a few years ago.
Currently working on the intake project featured in the 3rd gen external section here . Intake runners are stainless, plenums are aluminum. Neither are fully polished yet.
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From: Harford co. MD
Thanks for the input I just picked up 400, 800,1000,and 2000 sand paper and some red compound to start. The aluminum is fairly smooth so just mothers made it look way better I'm just going to wet sand all the way up to 2000 and start polishing I think that should get me there!