Re: polishing on extremely soft aluminum
What type of rims? Sun, Akront, DID, Excel(Takasago)?
I recently polished two flanged akronts from a 67 Bultaco. I used the 180, then 240 greaseless, then sisal with sisal bar( very carefully), block sanded the edges with 320, then 400 wet. Next cut was emery on spiral, very tough to get in between with it being a shouldered rim with spoke dimples, the inside face was all with spiral/ emery. Finally I buffed with white on a smaller( 6") spiral wheel. The photos didn't come out, but the owner is showing them off. These were 40 yr old rims with rash and decay. If you have a new set of aluminum rims, I would try to just polish with emery/spiral-then white/spiral.
With what you describe, it sounds to me like the scratches i got with the loose wheel. The white on spiral cleaned them up-and that's how they were delivered. He is very happy with them. I would be interested how a smaller spiral cotton wheel( to reduce wheel speed) with white compound does for you now. Again, if they are new with no scratches, casting or machine marks-just polish skip the sanding and maybe even emery.
Personally, I have quit using the brown tripoli, on the suggestion of MP-and it has saved me much aggrevation. Baz and MP have helped me substanitally already-I try anything they reccomend first. Also, as they have stated-often you may have to try something peculiar in some situations.
MJ
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