How to hold these parts to polish

[mhackney]

I'm a reelsmith - I build handmade fly fishing reels in brass, aluminum, nickel silver and other copper alloys. Until recently, I've done all my finishing by hand wet sanding up through 2500 grit and polishing by hand. I am just starting to use a buffing wheel and have a set of wheels and polishing compounds. Here's my challenge - the parts I polish are .032" thick circles 3" in diameter and also rings 3" in diameter with a 2 1/2" hole. I do wear leather gloves and pay attention to the "safe zone" but I have a hard time getting a good polish on the machine - mostly because I don't think I am holding the part most effectively. What is the best way to hold small parts like these to polish?

thanks!
Michael
The Eclectic Angler

[baz]

i m more the visual type so i usually have to see a pic of the part.
but heres how i think it could be done .
the .032 circles are probably too flexible to apply pressure so holding a thicker similar piece under the circle could give it extra support .
the rings with the hole in it , you could find a round tube made out of wood slightly smaller than your 2 1/2 inch hole ,slip the ring over the tube then hold the tube while you buff the ring . might have to have at least one finger touching the ring to keep it from spinning too fast on the tube . if using large flexible buffing wheels be careful not to let the wheel catch the tube and pull it off your hands .

[mhackney]

Thanks for the input. Here is a photo of the parts. They are 3" OD.

cheers,
Michael

[baz]

i would use a square or round piece of wood 1/4 or 1/2 inch thick 5 or 6 inches large ,then you hold the ring and the piece of wood together so that you can put more pressure on the buffing wheel without distorting the ring .
the other way would be to use short round head wood screws and screw your parts to a piece of wood (minimum of 2 screws per part )tghen just hold the piece of wood to your buffer , set up is longer but you could have a strip of wood long enough to put like 6 rings at a time and buuf them all at the same time .

[1crazypj]

I would do as Baz suggests except I would make a spigot to hold either center or outside edge or make something from metal to fit onto hardwood block.
Are you polishing outer rim or 'flat' area?

[petraequipments]

You can use any piece of wood to hold them while doing polish. Or anything which can be clean later on can help yo to hold these.