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Polishing Stainless Steel from scratch.

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EAMOSPUD
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Whats your location?: The Rebel County ...
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Location: Blarney, Co.Cork.
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Polishing Stainless Steel from scratch.

Post by EAMOSPUD »

Hi Gang.
Looking to see if anyone has polished Stainless Steel from its bare state to close to a mirror finish.
What they found worked for them and what products used.
I have looked through the web and Im none the wiser.
Im trying to polish a flat bar for a small project Im working on.
Cheers
E


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Billy
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Re: Polishing Stainless Steel from scratch.

Post by Billy »

Is this for the 4 Cibie Oscars on the front of the poor 850?
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hughesmarkie
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Re: Polishing Stainless Steel from scratch.

Post by hughesmarkie »

Alright Lad,
I’ve polished a lot of the engine components for my RX7 from scratch its a long process and involves a lot of wet and dry sanding to bring the metal to the mirror finish, Stainless is easier than un treated steel but you could follow the process without the sand paper, treatment and buffing normally does the job, but if doing flat steel,

Here are the steps I used:
- Depending on the imperfections in the surface you will determine what grit paper you start with, I started with 600 grit for my UIM on the RX and moved upwards
- Gradually as I sanded the complete part I moved from 600 to 1000, to 1200 then 1600 all wet and dried
- You will see as you progress that the metal becomes smoother and all imperfections will start to be removed.
- Finally I used a metalpolish (Autosol) to buff the smoothened metal to a mirror finish.
To be honest its a lot of manual work but its worth it in the end :(

Before:
Image
Just After sanding and 1st buffing completed:
Image
And the other parts I’ve done including my turbo 
Image

hope this helps,

Mark
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The Marcos Graveyard
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1984 Mini Sprite
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Re: Polishing Stainless Steel from scratch.

Post by The Marcos Graveyard »

Nice results but too much work, you need to get yourself some 3M Radial Bristle Discs, I use them on gold and silver, lots of different sizes and grades. Use them with a flex shaft or a dremel, then polish with a rouge and mop.
Image

A fully carbon fiber Mini Marcos shell weighs just 7.25kg.
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EAMOSPUD
Comittee Member
Posts: 264
Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2009 7:22 pm
Whats your location?: The Rebel County ...
Region: Southern
What Minis have you?: 1972 mini 850
Modifications: None ( Well nearly none... ) twin 1"1/4 su carbs , KN filters, cooper freeflow manifold, RC40 single box side exit.
Location: Blarney, Co.Cork.
Contact:

Re: Polishing Stainless Steel from scratch.

Post by EAMOSPUD »

hughesmarkie wrote:Alright Lad,
I’ve polished a lot of the engine components for my RX7 from scratch its a long process and involves a lot of wet and dry sanding to bring the metal to the mirror finish, Stainless is easier than un treated steel but you could follow the process without the sand paper, treatment and buffing normally does the job, but if doing flat steel,

Here are the steps I used:
- Depending on the imperfections in the surface you will determine what grit paper you start with, I started with 600 grit for my UIM on the RX and moved upwards
- Gradually as I sanded the complete part I moved from 600 to 1000, to 1200 then 1600 all wet and dried
- You will see as you progress that the metal becomes smoother and all imperfections will start to be removed.
- Finally I used a metalpolish (Autosol) to buff the smoothened metal to a mirror finish.
To be honest its a lot of manual work but its worth it in the end :(


hope this helps,

Mark
Cheers Mark
Nice work ...looks Fab... Mine is a simple piece thank god..must get my hands on some finner wet and dry and try and track down some metal polish..
Thanks
Eamonn
The Marcos Graveyard wrote:Nice results but too much work, you need to get yourself some 3M Radial Bristle Discs, I use them on gold and silver, lots of different sizes and grades. Use them with a flex shaft or a dremel, then polish with a rouge and mop.
Cheers TMG
Tracked down a wheel grit is a bit high (120) so for the size of the job going the slow painfull route...
Thanks
Eamonn
Last edited by EAMOSPUD on Wed Feb 01, 2012 10:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
EAMOSPUD
Comittee Member
Posts: 264
Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2009 7:22 pm
Whats your location?: The Rebel County ...
Region: Southern
What Minis have you?: 1972 mini 850
Modifications: None ( Well nearly none... ) twin 1"1/4 su carbs , KN filters, cooper freeflow manifold, RC40 single box side exit.
Location: Blarney, Co.Cork.
Contact:

Re: Polishing Stainless Steel from scratch.

Post by EAMOSPUD »

Billy wrote:Is this for the 4 Cibie Oscars on the front of the poor 850?
Billy id have to upgrade the front suspension first to take the weight of the 4 Cibies then to keep the car balanced do the rear suspension... then think about upgrading the charging system to power the lights then I guess my poor 850 would not have enough CCs to power the upgraded charging system so a engine upgrade would then be in order ...

Think I will just stick to the 2 candles supplied as standard :) :) :) :)
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