Polishing MC gas tank

[skiddz]

Quick sanding tip. Once you get to the 220 grit, make it wet/dry paper and use LOTS of clean water or kerosene as your lubricant. Elbow grease and a lot fo patience will net you the best results. try to vary your sanding direction 90 degrees or so between grits. It'll help with scratch removal.

Your final look should be bright and satiny with no evidence of scratches. If you've still got scratches, hit it with the sandpaper again.

[Shawn60]

Customandsound, my mistake. As much as I've seen you reply it was an assumption. Still appreciate all the tips. Skiddz, started with the wet sanding at 220 just like you said. We are thinking alike...scary! I start going with the circular motion at that point also instead of just back and forth but I still vary it by 90 degrees, I guess more of an oval/circular at different angles. It's looking better every time I go over it. I finished the emergy last night and just got into the tripoli. This is my first attempt at something so large. Everything else on the bike is aluminum, much less work to get it polished. Steel takes a while to notice an effect with the sanding but it's getting there. Patience, now there's my first obstacle Really appreciate the advice.

you will get the hang of it ... the more you do it the better you get ...

[skiddz]

If you're going to use a circular motion to sand, make it figure 8s. You'll cross over your patterns and further reduce scratching. Vary the direction of your 8s as well. Do one grit "vertically" and the next "horizontally" etc..

[Tito]

What type of sand paper are you using? I hear every one say start off with xxx grit and move up from there. My question is what type of sandpaper are you guys using? do you use only sand paper that is made for wet sanding or start with paper that is made for dry then go to wet? FYI: I mainly polish aluminum, I want to start polishing my intake manifold which will need to be sanded.
Thanks in advance for all of the replies I know I will get!

[skiddz]

if I'm hand sanding a really lousy part, I start with 80 grit aluminum oxide paper. Garnet won't do jack to metal and will just wear down in a few minutes. I follow with 120 grit aluminum oxide then move to 220 wet/dry and continue with finer wet/dry grits until the surface is ready to buff.

I use LOTS of clear water when I wet sand and occasionaly use kerosene as a sanding lubricant as well. I don't have a brand preference for either type of paper. It's whatever I can find cheap. I buy sandpaper in bulk so quite often it's no-name stuff, but lasts just as long as the "brand name" stuff.

When I use greaseless compounds, I start with 180 grit and move up or down a grit from there. If cutting is going too slow I'll move down to 120 or 80 and proceed from there. If I'm cutting too fast, I'll move up to 220 and see how that goes.

tito : caswell got a nice selection of sandpaper ... wet and dry .... i start at 100 grit and work up to 600 wet some time's i go to 2000 wet then to white

[Tito]

Hey guys thanks for the info...I was just wondering who used what, cause I know different types are made for different uses. I did not want to be using one type when another would have been better.

[Tito]

Hey skiddz-
Do you hand sand only? or do you/have you ever used either electric or air orbital sander to sand parts? if yes what did you use? if no why not?
Thanks
Tito

[skiddz]

Naw, I use power tools as much as possible. I almost always hand sand for the final step. I usually use greaseless compounds on a tight spiral wheel, sand paper on an orbital or even a belt sander. Depends on the part and how much material I need to remove. Files, grinding stones and cutting wheels on my dremel aren't out of the question either. I even used an old chisel to shave off casting lines that were hard to reach once..

Hell, I'd chew on the thing if it helped smooth it out.. hehehe