Tips on polishing stainless steel?

[767Jockey]

Mickmate bent me up a beautiful stainless rollbar. He did a great job. It's now in a raw almost rough satin like finish. I don't want it to shine like chrome, but almost. Also there's a few light marks on the steel from the bending process. I don't own a buffing motor and wheel, but I have access to a flat polisher like you'd use to polish a car with a lambswool like pad. Will that work for what I want to do if set on high speed? What kind of polish(es) would I use? Any ideas on how to do this without investing in a buffing motor and wheels? How time consuming and difficult is this to do? Thanks.

[Mark IV]

Wet sand it, finishing with 2000 grit and then use polishing compound by hand. Finish off with the buffer and a quality polish like you would use on a clear-coated car paint.

[Silverback51]

Polishing stainless steel takes a lot of work and you have to apply a lot of pressure that results in heat.

I would suggest taking it somewhere that does that type of work.

[xlr8or]

My suggestion is to write the check and let a polishing shop do it. They have all the right tools and compounds. Stainless is a pain.

[767Jockey]

Hmmm.....I wouldn't know where to start. What kind of place polishes metals such as stainless? I've never had that type of work done before. NO way to do it myself, huh? The 2000 grit thing sounds somewhat promising, no?

[xlr8or]

I only say that because polishing stainless by hand is a slow process. When you have the correct tools and compounds it is a much easier process. Call a local hot rod shop and see if they send out stuff for polishing or do it in-house.

[Silverback51]

One possible source would be boat propeller shop.

[Hray]

The stainless polishing master is here. This is my expertise,

yes, follow the sanding instructions first, then you have to go purchase the makita sanding machine at home depot for 85$. throw away the sanding discs that come with it. Then purchase a metric bolt along with two large flat washers with two jamb nuts. (get about 6 of these bolt set-ups) purchase sever different cotton polishing pads and also most likely at home depot. get several differen polishing compounds use each compound for each different pad. then go to work. the sander turns about 4500 rpm's, fast enough to build up some heat to soften the metal. the lite weight sander if easy to handle. be prepared to spend at least 8 hours on each roll bar. I can make them look like chrome. as you get nearly finished jump to a non sewn pad it is much softer and use this pad for final polishing. (note this works on chrome equally well, hint, you can take the blueing out of chrome headers with this polisher)

If you do not want highly polished stainless then just sand it with the 2000 grit and if still not good enough then begin with higher grit or go over to double 00 or four 000 steel wool. for a satin look just go back and forth in same diection and you will obtain a very low luster satin finish.

I use this machine on stainless and alumium and chrom while the stuff is still attached to the car.

no matter what this is just plain ole hard work.

Want another hint, use the same machine and bolts only get the 3m black 6 inch round paint remover discs, (the scotch brite looking things) also at home depot. this will remove rust off of frames, paint off of anything, becareful it will eat thru fiberglass quickly, will not load up and I can remove all the paint from a full size car down to shiny metal with about 8 discs and 12 hours of work. and it does not build up heat to warp metal.
Ray

[Hray]

sources for compounds, visit the local plastics shop for different grades of polishing sticks, plus they will also have a host of different round pads for the small hand held polisher.

(note: I have used my hand held disc grinder with larger pads, but note the machine will wear you out quickly but it will do the same thing as commercial chrome polishing shops that use it.)

once you have mastered this hand held makita you will love it. I use it on old style aluminum wheels, I sand them completely to get off the electrolsis and then make them look better than new. but it takes 4 hours per wheel.

Ray

[ccx1984]

doug polishing stainless is much of the same process a chrome shop does before they start the plating process, they grease the parts out with abrasive glued to a cotton wheel and use a grease or tallar (grease) applied to the pad or wheel. then they use a rouge to bring out the shine, this will take several times of greasing and polishing to get a scratch free shine. try going to a plating shop for aluminum oxide abrasive (150 & 220) and some hyde glue the local shop here sells it to me. McMaster-Carr has the pads/wheels and the rouge (white works best for stainless), harbor freight sells the double shaft motor ( about $70.00). parts get very hot when buffing and this gets very very dirty. any chrome shop can do the polishing should cost less than if it were steel being plated. P.S had a little experience building and polishing my 23T-Bucket chassie and running gear from stainless steel back in the 80's.

[Tinker51]

Hray is right.
Sanding through 2000 will leave you with a dull satin finish. If you want to brighten it up, go finer. Using a car polisher with wool pads will have essentially no effect. I made the same unit Hray talks about only out of a big angle grinder and I use 8" wheels. It works great but it is taxing to use for any length of time because of weight and muscle power required to keep it under control.
Here is another hint. If you decide to use a machine to polish it take these two pieces of advice.
1. Do it outside. It will throw an incredible amount of crud around. Way worse than machine polishing a car.
2. When you finish, go inside and take a shower. You look like Al Jolsen.

Here is a picture of me using the machine I built for polishing pieces too large to take to the buffing wheel so I brought the buffing wheel to the piece

[Jon Miller]

There is no better way to bond with your car than to polish parts yourself! Any rich guy can write a check, but that guy will never know the true joy that comes with getting dirty head to toe, and burning his hands on hot shiny metal. The headers are ceramic, but the side pipes are home made stainless that was polished with a low buck Harbor Frieght buffer after wet sanding with 400 grit.

Good Luck!
Jon

[ccx1984]

tinker looks like your polishing airplane parts there was a show on the discovery channel that was making art from old plane parts about 3 years ago in califorinia.

[rdorman]

Go over to Caswell's forum. Everything you ever wanted to know about polishing. Plus, you can get all the materials you need right there.

[Hray]

Tinker: nice photo of what I tried to portray. that small makita sander with a 4 or 6 inch pad will do the same thing as the grinder. Only the makita is very light and you can use it for hours at a time without getting muscle burn in the forearms. I did not know about the grease thing, I did learn to use drips of olive oil on the surface to allow the compound on the pad to work a littel better. I used olive oil because I knew I was going to get this stuff on my skin and if not wearing face protection some there as well. I have about 10 different pads and about 4 different sizes ready to interchane on the makita. with the real small two inch pads it make getting into smaller areas easier. I will also place two layers of masking tape against the paint next to the stainless on the car and polish it on the car. when restoring a car I polish the stainless on the car, then remove it, package it, and store it, it is now ready to reinstall after new paint.
10-4 on getting nasty dirty, wear a shop apron and face shield.

and I agree, nothing like getting intimate with your car and polishing that stuff yourself.

finally is that caswells's forum here on club cobra or at another website.

Ray

[rdorman]

In the finishing forum at http://www.caswellplating.com/

[tbirdz12]

Polishing stainless really isnt that difficult. I bought a nice 2-speed Baldor buffer and stand 2 yrs ago and it along with the sandblast cabinet are 2 of the most use tools for a hands on car guy. I have used the buffer way more than i anticipated from polishing plastic (dash gauges, tail lites,) aluminum to stainless. It really is rewarding seeing a crappy piece of trim go from trash to show quality.

[Lowell W]

If you absolutely just have to do everything you possibly can on your car, sure: go ahead and polish your own roll bars. Check out the links above and Eastwood is also a good source for buffers and polishing compounds. There's no need to do any hand sanding if you have the right compounds. If you don't have the right equipment, it's boring, time consuming and frustrating. If you do have the right equipment, it's dirty, dangerous, time consuming and frustrating.

If you do decide to do this yourself, BE CAREFUL, as the buffer will likely be the most dangerous tool you own. Polishing round pieces like a roll bar is the best way to learn to use the buffer but a high speed buffer can grab an expensive part out of your hands and fling it against the floor, the wall or you with incredible violence and no warning. Everybody who's used one for any length of time can tell you buffer stories.

Buffing is filthy, dangerous work. The best way to polish your roll bars is to take them to a good chrome plating shop. They'll come back looking like jewelry. While you're there, take a look in the back at the guys doing the buffing.

I've done a lot of buffing over the years and still have a 10" pedestal buffer and an assortment of compounds, also a big belt grinder. I frequently use the belt grinder but when I had some scratches in my side pipes, I took them to the local plating shop and paid them fifty bucks to do the polishing.

Just my $.02

Lowell

[Jerry Clayton]

Filthy---years ago Model Plating in Torrance Ca did the polishing/plating for our race cars----The owner came to the races when we debuted our rear engine dragster---WE DID NOT RECOGBIZE HIM CLEAN!!!!!!it seems that it was hard to hire and keep workers because of the filthieness of the polishing so he did all the polishing himself--

Buffers throwing parts----don't polish in the same room as your car--

Wear breathing masks and goggles/face guards

Take off clothes before entering the house--

Jerry

[wtm442]

Originally Posted by Jerry Clayton

Buffers throwing parts----don't polish in the same room as your car--

Wear breathing masks and goggles/face guards

Take off clothes before entering the house--

Jerry

Absolutely correct. Here is a Brent Mills picture I always think about when the polishing subject comes up.


I bought all my buffing wheels and other stuff from Eastwood
http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?i...ORY&itemID=432

They also have really good tech articles and a buffing/polishing section in their "Shop Talk" forum.