Polishing/Sanding aluminum

slushie07 said:
so what is the solution?
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i think he means sanding down past the pittted areas, aluminum has to be as flat as possible to achieve that mirror shine,
 
Tim said:
Sanding mop - VERY handy.

mop.jpg


mop-9.JPG
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Man, I'm over making those wheels. The amount of sanding I've done lately. Thanks for the ideas.

Jay
 
im personally not a big fan of shiney things, its just too much work and not enough riding. like above car wax is a great way to keep it nice, but you have to re-apply after every ride. also, with time it may tarnsh if the cover is made of steel. now with aluminum, dont even bother putting anything on it. just keep it clean with a dry rag. im a metal foundry artist, how i get a high polish with aluminum is that i start with a die grinder and a metal wheel attatchment. make sure you dont make a deep grain in the metal. real light. after that start with your heavy sand papers. go through the ladder, in 200 grit intervals. move up to about 800 or 1000 grit. ( i may hit rough spots with some steel wool) after that get some turtle rubbing compound, and use a buffing attatchment on the grinder (a pneumatic handheld is awesome for this) and this is where you have to be patient. after the rubbing compound use the polishing compound. same procedure. after that buff dry, then poof! you have something just like chrome.
 
For the life of me, I can't find cloth backed sand paper anywhere. The closest I got was at the Home Despot. There, they only had emery cloth in coarse grit. The auto paint shop where I used to buy my stuff (back when we polished our sport bikes) didn't have any either. They looked at me like I was an idiot...
 
I ended up using the paper-backed "waterproof paper" type sandpaper... its pretty strong, and I got some really good results..

look at my 1970 bonneville project in the "show n shine" area.. I looked all over for the cloth backed stuff, but couldn't get any in store.. I also got the "what an idiot" look from the moroons at the Depot and Crappy Tire..

don't give up hope, try the waterproof paper out..

Sammo
 
When you say you used the water proof paper back type sandpaper, did you use it to make a sanding mop, or just for normal hand sanding?
 
i followed the instructions to make the mop that was described earlier in the thread.. turned out great.
 
please don't forget to wear a mask with all those fibres and abrasive weird stuffflying around. i was told by a friend of some long time experience that polishing compounds are carcinogenic and masks are essential.
FWIW, why not , even the standard paper thing will do .

it's alotta work, a lotta dust and material. be careful and safe :)
 
brian weir said:
please don't forget to wear a mask with all those fibres and abrasive weird stuffflying around. i was told by a friend of some long time experience that polishing compounds are carcinogenic and masks are essential.
FWIW, why not , even the standard paper thing will do .

it's alotta work, a lotta dust and material. be careful and safe :)
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for sure, i wear an respirator, googles, gloves and a full 1 piece suit, the parts get so hot without gloves you wouldn't be able to hold it,
 
I finally got around to trying the sanding mop idea. I like it! Beats hand sanding for sure. Just for shits and giggles, I made a miniature one for my Dremmel tool. I have to say, I think this is where the sanding mop really shines (Ha! get it?). I was not looking forward to polishing my cam cover because of its many contours, but the Dremmel really did a great job of getting in those tight spaces. It is kind of tedious cutting paper, though... :D

SandingmopDewaltdrill.jpg

SandingmopDremtool.jpg
 
biker_reject said:
I finally got around to trying the sanding mop idea. I like it! Beats hand sanding for sure. Just for shits and giggles, I made a miniature one for my Dremmel tool. I have to say, I think this is where the sanding mop really shines (Ha! get it?). I was not looking forward to polishing my cam cover because of its many contours, but the Dremmel really did a great job of getting in those tight spaces. It is kind of tedious cutting paper, though... :D

SandingmopDewaltdrill.jpg

SandingmopDremtool.jpg
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bet that saved you a year's worth of hand sanding,a lot smoother too,nice work
 
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