Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] OT: Polishing aluminum

I'll be putting up a pages on my recently converted EMC/grizzly and the
robots I'm
building with it, but for my robot parts, I polish them using a buffing
pad on
my grinder and three different rouges I got at the local eagle hardware.

I think i'm supposed to be using a different buffing pad for each rouge,
but I don't. I'm happy with the results though.

I start by lightly sanding the part real lightly with 320 wet/dry
sandpaper,
cleaning it, and letting it dry. I then do three polishing passes, one
with
the heavly cleaning rouge, one with the cleaning/light polishing route,
and
finally a final pass with the high polish rough. I end up with racoon
eyes around
my safety glasses with "rouge dust".

I see big improvements with the first two passes, and can see my
reflection
after the first two operations. The final polishing pass is noticable,
but the
relative improvement is not as noticable...

I do find that a shiny part does catch the eye of my wife!

murph

dan.eaton@... wrote:

>
> This is a slightly off topic question but the married folks will
> understand. I'm just completing a multi cutter face mill for my
> ShopTask that I adapted from some Rudy Kouhoupt plans. I just need to
> grind the cutters and it will be functional. What I'd like to do is
> polish the aluminum body to a high shine so that when I show my wife
> I'll get a "Pretty!", instead of a "so?" Anything to up the approval
> rating of my hobby. 8^)
>
> I reached for the Brasso but it says not to use it on aluminum. How
> do you get a mirror finish on aluminum?
>
> Dan Eaton (Saint Louis, MO)
>
> Welcome to CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@...,an unmoderated list for the discussion of shop built systems, for CAD, CAM, EDM, and DRO.
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