ok, so im trying to polish a set of water pipes that i took of my red zed, ive got all the blemishes off them and the dirt and they do look nice and shiny, yet they lack that mirror finish, im down to 1200grit wet dry sand paper, do i need to go higher grade? like 1800 or 2000grit or something? its shiny but dull if that makes sense? there is no mirror finish.

 

Just wondering how people get there stuff so it gleams with a surface to comb your hair on.

autosol and a mop mate :)

tried autosol matey, got mobs but no drill at the min to attach them too, though im hoping my soldering fix on the charger earlier has hopefully sorted that out, drill is currently sat on charge and although its speeded up when you pull the trigger (instead of doing the low battery slow down) im not too sure its charging yet, so giving it another hour and then going to see lol

tried autosol matey, got mobs but no drill at the min to attach them too, though im hoping my soldering fix on the charger earlier has hopefully sorted that out, drill is currently sat on charge and although its speeded up when you pull the trigger (instead of doing the low battery slow down) im not too sure its charging yet, so giving it another hour and then going to see lol

 

The drill will make a massive difference bud, much better than a hand job. lol

You wont get a shine, till youve done the first cut with the sisal mop and worked through the other 2 mops.

You wont get a shine, till youve done the first cut with the sisal mop and worked through the other 2 mops.

 

Im new to this polishing thing, and steams nothing like a good old hand job to get things started matey :lol:

Im new to this polishing thing, and steams nothing like a good old hand job to get things started matey :lol:

 

:wink:

Well ive got 2 angle grinders, do they make pads good enough to polish with for them? i know its large surface area only with a angle grinder, but would be good for buffing up my plenum ready for install, groover you got any good links to angle grinder polishing kits.

 

really should invest in a dremel lol

Dremel is only good for small light bits, it cant handle any pressure, ive got 2 of them lol

 

You just need an arbour, which is an attachment for the angle grinder and you can use the same mops as with the drill. Its less controllable than a drill though, a bench grinders good.

Dremel is only good for small light bits, it cant handle any pressure, ive got 2 of them lol

 

You just need an arbour, which is an attachment for the angle grinder and you can use the same mops as with the drill. Its less controllable than a drill though, a bench grinders good.

 

linky please, lol

linky please, lol

 

One of these mate, http://business.shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?_nkw=polishing+Arbour&_sacat=61573&_dmpt=UK_Home_Garden_PowerTools_SM&_odkw=Arbour&_osacat=61573&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313 you screw the polishing mop onto it.

Make sure you get the right thread size.

One of these mate, http://business.shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?_nkw=polishing+Arbour&_sacat=61573&_dmpt=UK_Home_Garden_PowerTools_SM&_odkw=Arbour&_osacat=61573&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313 you screw the polishing mop onto it.

 

i got one of them with my polishing kit, i think groover was on about how to attach one to a grinder, wouldnt mind using that instead as it not only spins a hell of a lot faster than my drill does, but also its mains opperated rather than battery

lol never needed to own such a large array of kit to own one car before :thumbup1:

Not very good pictures to be honest, cant seem to show the shine it actually has, but after 3 days of constant sanding with finer and finer grade sand paper on my CAS, plus a rotory tool to get started. ive ended up with this so far.

 

Still a long way off what im aiming to achive, but its a start

 

 

 

 

 

I cant seem to get to the inner bit properly so its looking all pitted in the photos still.

 

Lower two are of my plenum

You will need the throttle bodies off mate, to get to the front legs of the plenum.

Long process aint it lol

You will need the throttle bodies off mate, to get to the front legs of the plenum.

Long process aint it lol

 

plenum was half polished anyway, its the one of the blue zed, im concentrating more on the CAS at the moment, going to start afresh on one of the other plenums I've got, this half shiny one is going back on the engine, until I've finished the other one to a better standard.

 

I don't mind, i get time each night to give it a sanding and a polish, plus the fact I've got most of the tools, may as well put them to good use.

 

The photos don't show up just how shiny it is. i was trying to get the camera to focus on the reflection of the TV in it. but the shine just warped the image instead lol

Cant believe you've got a decent canon SLR camera yet you took those pics with a disposable :lol:

 

 

is that better? still cant seem to get a good picture though? second one does show the top of my head and my lens hood in the inner polished ring, still have to do the rest of it. also think i could get it a lot better tbh, but not bad so far for a first CAS polishing attempt me thinks

you will probally struggle, to get those deeper scratches out now. yopu need to go back a few steps unfortunatly, get a scotch bright pad for and angle grinder this should take out those lighht scratches. then its back to sizle and compound. you can use a soft mop and some autosol for the final super mirror finish. be carefull though because it will go everywhere. its all to do with direction aswel, i can see how you have worked round the cas you should cut the whole thing at 45 degress then reverse the 45 cutting across the grain. dont add another direction though and for the final mopping just do one direction. :)

you will probally struggle, to get those deeper scratches out now. yopu need to go back a few steps unfortunatly, get a scotch bright pad for and angle grinder this should take out those lighht scratches. then its back to sizle and compound. you can use a soft mop and some autosol for the final super mirror finish. be carefull though because it will go everywhere. its all to do with direction aswel, i can see how you have worked round the cas you should cut the whole thing at 45 degress then reverse the 45 cutting across the grain. dont add another direction though and for the final mopping just do one direction. :)

 

well, it will do for now, i have another one thats on the old engine, so will be polishing that up, im using this one as a test bed to see if i can actually polish something. so doesnt have to be perfect. ill attempt that on the one on the old engine.

 

In fairness though, the camera is picking up a lot more than i can see.

yeh it will do with teh flash on, hope you didnt take that all as critisisum, was only trying to be productive. make sure you laqour things when your happy with them else you will be repeating the process after 12 months.

yeh it will do with teh flash on, hope you didnt take that all as critisisum, was only trying to be productive. make sure you laqour things when your happy with them else you will be repeating the process after 12 months.

 

more the merrier to be honest mate, im taking it as constructive criticism for when i do it again on the spare. :D

 

All hints and tips welcome.

lapping paste mate! for that real mirror finnish. i once did my heat sink and cpu to a mirror and went through 14 (i think) grades of paper then paste! took aobut 6 hours i think, and you know how big a cpu is lol

ok, so im trying to polish a set of water pipes that i took of my red zed, ive got all the blemishes off them and the dirt and they do look nice and shiny, yet they lack that mirror finish, im down to 1200grit wet dry sand paper, do i need to go higher grade? like 1800 or 2000grit or something? its shiny but dull if that makes sense? there is no mirror finish.

 

Just wondering how people get there stuff so it gleams with a surface to comb your hair on.

 

A CAS can be done to a mirror finish in about 1 hour with the correct gear and a little method.

BEFORE doing ANY polishing you need to get the metal smooth with no pitting or scratching.

For this you need a fibral mop impregnated with aluminium oxide.

Once you have SMOOTH linished metal you can start polishing.

start with a Sisal mop and a coarse/fast cut bar of polish. (Fast cut is normally grey)

Then you move to a stitched calico mop. I like to carry on with a little fast cut before moving to a fresh stitched mop using med or fine compound. If you want a REALLY good finish then use med first before moving to a third mop with fine polish..

I use 4" mops in a power drill mounted on a stand. You need a drill with around 900W or more.. Speed is important. not too fast... not too slow. Cordless drills are no good(not enough power) and angle grinders are no good as they revolve way too fast.

Bench grinder normall not much use unless you have a VERY powerful one ie 750W or more

Not a drop of AUTOSOL or wet n dry paper in sight... please note.

 

Its not cheap to get all the gear together but you can do lots once you have it.

1 or 2 impregnated Fibral mops(med + fine)

1 Sisal mop.

2 or 3 stitched calico mops.

Half bar of grey fast cut.

Half a bar of medium and maybe of fine too. These tend to be white and blue or maybe green.

 

That it. The rest is practice.

A CAS can be done to a mirror finish in about 1 hour with the correct gear and a little method.

BEFORE doing ANY polishing you need to get the metal smooth with no pitting or scratching.

For this you need a fibral mop impregnated with aluminium oxide.

Once you have SMOOTH linished metal you can start polishing.

start with a Sisal mop and a coarse/fast cut bar of polish. (Fast cut is normally grey)

Then you move to a stitched calico mop. I like to carry on with a little fast cut before moving to a fresh stitched mop using med or fine compound. If you want a REALLY good finish then use med first before moving to a third mop with fine polish..

I use 4" mops in a power drill mounted on a stand. You need a drill with around 900W or more.. Speed is important. not too fast... not too slow. Cordless drills are no good(not enough power) and angle grinders are no good as they revolve way too fast.

Bench grinder normall not much use unless you have a VERY powerful one ie 750W or more

Not a drop of AUTOSOL or wet n dry paper in sight... please note.

 

Its not cheap to get all the gear together but you can do lots once you have it.

1 or 2 impregnated Fibral mops(med + fine)

1 Sisal mop.

2 or 3 stitched calico mops.

Half bar of grey fast cut.

Half a bar of medium and maybe of fine too. These tend to be white and blue or maybe green.

 

That it. The rest is practice.

 

You sir are a fecking genius, copying that to note pad :D