do any of the sponsors do polishing? i need my corsas repolished and i suck at it. i dont think joshua polishes anymore because i pmed him and got no response.

 

nobody???

 

My new job no longer gives me time for the side business.

Thanks tho...

 

thats cool i figured you had gotten too busy.

 

hmm look at the list, whoever sells polished TBs, maybe they can do it?

bo white?

 

If you do not have the proper tools, or the additional ambition needed to compensate for lack thereof, consider contacting a local metal plater. I would think they would be able to polish them for you, or even chrome them.

Stainless is much more difficult to polish than aluminum for the DIY'er. I had a Bassani stainless tip that was badly gouged during shipping. I used a palm sander to sand them out, going from ~150 grit to ~800 grit. Then I used emery/Tripoli at a buffing station (converted bench grinder) and then white rouge. Turned out perfect. On the other hand, I tried polishing the inner lip of some all stainless Corsa clones because they were never prepped properly. Since I had no abrasive attachments that could rapidly and smoothly remove material, I sanded by hand forever and a day, and still could not make it chrome-like after buffing.

 

^^ i tried polishing one of them and it looks like crap. so, i figured id try here. if i cant find anyone ill just suck it up and buy a polishing kit

 

What method did you use?

 

Remember, prep is the key. You cannot buff and polish a poorly prepped piece to a mirror finish.

 

i wetsanded, put on some metal polish, and buffed. i couldnt get the fine scratches left from wetsanding. it was more or less just me seeing if it could be done half assed. i learned that it couldnt be done half assed.

 

We are at a disadvantage to the shops. I have some helpful tools, but I do not have the crazy helpful stuff the shops have. I think I remember ~Joshua mentioning that he used a 10hp buffing station with great big honkin wheels. I feel fortunate to have a 1hp bench grinder I can use as a buffing station. The “pros” probably have a veritable arsenal of tools and accessories to do the prep work. Stuff like numerous sizes and grits of flap wheels and low grit compound/wheels can really speed up the prep work. Good luck.

 

yeah i might go ahead and bite the bullet and buy a bench grinder. i think itd be too time consuming doing it by hand.

 

If you want mirror-like results doing it by hand is not an option.
For under $15 you can get your tips looking almost perfect.

What grits do you have?
Do you have any air tools or a drill?

As far as a bench grinder, it's the best polishing tool I've used.
However, you're limited to the areas you can reach with a bench grinder, a 6" wheel won't fit into small spaces.

 

i have about every grit of sandpaper there is. i didnt think about the drill. ill have to see what i could use with that.

 

That's good that you have the paper. I usually sand up to 1000 for stainless.
Just like bsf said, it's all in the prep. Take your time sanding in alternating directions between grits.

Check out Eastwood's (sponsor -->) tech library under buffing.
It's worth the 15 minute read and they have excellent starter buffing kits.
If you don't want to go through Eastwood PM me.

 

Stainless is a very hard metal, it can be done with sandpaper and a bench grinder, but it will take forever to get good results. Most shops use large machines, usually 15hp and large buffing wheels, 14-16 buffs. The compounds used aren't generally purchased at your local hardware stores. Here is some stainless I recently done, 15hp machine with a 16" buff. Sand it once, and buff it twice.

 

that looks real nice

 

That is awesome. With a buffing station like can you cheat on the prep work?