Inconsistencies in buffing methods...

[FirstYearDeek]

Okay, just beginning to do my engine parts prior to coating them and I decided to compare my methods to the methods of the fellas here... something is amis and I thought it might be a good idea to clear it up.

In roady's Making Shiny Parts thread: ..Start with WR1-White paste and finish with JR1-Jewelers Paste...

In Bryan MD's Polishing Aluminum thread: ...= red, black, and white (red to black to white; most to least abrasive) ...

Paultjack's Polishing With a Grinder thread: ...I began using the black stick as it's the most aggressive....After I get it shiney with the black I moved on to the Red stick... Then, finished off with white...

In sunny's Polishing Aluminum in Eighteen Hundred Steps thread: ...4. Polish step 1 - Tripoli...5. Polish step 2 - White rouge... 6. Polish step 3 - Anal - India Ink...

Confused? I was. Until I realized the confusion between BROWN Tripoli compound and RED Jewelers Rouge... So which one up there is right?

And the winner is... uh, no one uses all the steps! So here it is; in order from MOST to LEAST abrasive, if you want to use every step in the aluminum polishing/buffing locus:

1) Emery (BLACK in color)
2) Tripoli (BROWN in color)
3) Rouge (WHITE is the one you want for aluminum. The liquid stuff is nice.)
4) Rouge (RED "Jewelers rouge")
4a) India Ink (I'm not going to argue with NASA! Or sunny for that matter.)

Parts in good condition might be able to skip the Emery. Previously polished parts may be able to skip the Emery and the Tripoli.

Now this isn't to say the other methods wouldn't work... it's all just different levels of grinding on a very fine scale anyway. But, if you're like me (not too smart) and get confused easily; there it is, right in front of you.

By the way, Caswell Plating has a really good Introduction to buffing and polishing... I trust Caswell because they've been in the business for a LONG time and they even sell a kit specifically for polishing aluminum.

-Deek

[Track T 2411]

Thanks, Deek, for this link. I downloaded the "booklet" for future reference!

Todd

[stuka151]

I wet sand with 600 grit to get rid of any pitting on bad parts and that eliminates the emery step anyway.

[sunnbobb]

For me, Most parts in decent shape go:

Emery
White rouge
Flitz

[Spence]

Polish? What mean polish?

[FirstYearDeek]

Polish? What mean polish?

pol·ish

Pronunciation:
\ˈpä-lish\
Function:
verb
Etymology:
Middle English polisshen, from Anglo-French poliss-, stem of polir, from Latin polire
Date:
14th century

transitive verb

1 : to make smooth and glossy usually by friction : burnish
2 : to smooth, soften, or refine in manners or condition
3 : to bring to a highly developed, finished, or refined state : perfect

intransitive verb : to become smooth or glossy by or as if by friction

â€â€

[Roady]

I thought it was a fat, spicy hotdog.

Excellent observation there, Deek.

I'm gonna steal your scale and put it in my thread.

[Spence]

Oh, THAT! Thanks for reminding me, Deek! Actually, all kidding aside, I worked at the Cincinnati Gold and Silver Refining Company for 17 years, and in that time I polished literally thousands of sheets of dental gold alloys, gold solders and casting golds. I used a 3hp, 3,500rpm Cincinnati dual wheel buffer with 10" white cloth wheels. It went like this: Anneal the metal to cherry red and air cool. Load wheel #1 with white compound. Clean the wheel with the cleaning tool (made from the handle of a stamped steel skillet). Lightly coat the wheel with white compound. Place the gold sheet on a polishing board made from buffed Temperite and grip the top of the gold and the board VERY tightly between thumb and forefinger middle knuckle. Gently buff the metal using a circular motion, being VERY careful no to allow the wheel to grab the jagged edge of the metal (which not only shot the gold into the wall at high speed, requiring you to start all over, but usually required a trip to the hospital for stitches. I have the scars to prove it!) After completing the white compound buff, which brought the metal to a "cloudy" polish, this process was repeated on wheel #2 using red compound, which gave the gold a complete mirror-like finish. The important thing in all of this is I always used each wheel only for it's specific compound and always cleaned each wheel prior to each use. This avoided cross-contamination with the compound's abrasives and a lot of unnecessary work. And, finally, I always kept the wheels covered with plastic bags when not in use.

[sunnbobb]

Yeah, I forgot to mention Horsepower..

[1CrazyMoFo]

I don't know if this will help all of those in search of shine. The polishing is the easy part, it's the the left over polishing compounds on the parts that was a drag. Icky stuff, well when I took a jewerly class I learned the secret to it's removal. STEAM!!!!!! I have a hand held steam pot that I use for cleaning various pieces of "glass art", it blows the gunk right off your parts. A good thing as you don't what the gunk to interfer with your polishing as you go finer and finer.
Peace,
Frank

[FirstYearDeek]

...the left over polishing compounds on the parts that was a drag. Icky stuff, well when I took a jewerly class I learned the secret to it's removal. STEAM!!!!!! I have a hand held steam pot that I use for cleaning various pieces of "glass art", it blows the gunk right off your parts...

That's a great idea! I wonder if our wallpaper steamer could be modified for this purpose?

I've been using acetone but that really just breaks up the grease/wax so you still have to do soap/water after the fact.

-Deek

P.S. My kingdom for a 3 horse buffer... the little 1/2 horse Harbor Freight job makes for slow going!

[Entropy]

I don't know if this will help all of those in search of shine. The polishing is the easy part, it's the the left over polishing compounds on the parts that was a drag. Icky stuff, well when I took a jewerly class I learned the secret to it's removal. STEAM!!!!!! I have a hand held steam pot that I use for cleaning various pieces of "glass art", it blows the gunk right off your parts. A good thing as you don't what the gunk to interfer with your polishing as you go finer and finer.
Peace,
Frank

Lacquer thinner. Stuff just disolves the polish residue right off. I don't feel like trying and needing to buy more polish but I almost think if I poured lacquer thinner right on my brick of tripoli it would just disolve into a pile of black water and evaporate.

I use it to remove the tripoli residue. I don't use it on the white compound because it takes some of the luster off... unless I'm using red rouge, then I do.

Otherwise I just leave the little bit of white rouge residue move to a final hand buffing with a off-the-shelf product like Mother's Billet Aluminum or some such polish which gets wiped off by hand. The white (and the red rouge) don't leave as much residue or as tough a residue as tripoli sometimes does.

There seems to be a lot of different things you can use in the final step. Red jewelers rouge works the best I've seen but requires a buff and die grinder or something (easy on the bench, hard with a part mounted on the bike). Using the Mothers polish actually ADDS more haze and dulls the finish after that, but you have to hold two pieces next to each other to see. Really kind of an anal difference.

Red rouge is for gold and silver technically... Eastwood sells a yellow rouge as a final luster compound specifically for aluminum but I haven't tried it. I don't really think emery is needed on aluminum at all, and I'd never skip the tripoli on aluminum either, because it does most of the work.

[sunnbobb]

Mineral spirits take the residue off without leaving a haze. I'd like to hear from someone who has tried the yellow bar. I intermix tripoli and emory, don't find much diff there. Seems we all agree on White rouge. The heat idea is interesting. I wonder if the residue isn't just a wax binder for the bar?

[JBz]

the residue is animal fat i believe.jb

[1CrazyMoFo]

EEEWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!
Just thinking about all those vegetarians running around with jewelry polished with animal fat...he he