polishing completely by hand - Plating Powder Coating Buffing Anodizing

saiyan7 · #1 (**permalink**) 08-20-2002, 02:28 PM

Here\'s a new one fellas. I have just been given a bunch of aluminum Harley Davidson parts and I don\'t have access to my bench wheel or any of my electric tools, just sandpaper, compounds, and polish. What are your thoughts as to the quickest way to polish without the use of electricity. I was thinking that I would wet sand up to a 1500 grit paper and use FLITZ from there, but that didn\'t turn out too nice. Any ideas?

mcaswell · #2 (**permalink**) 08-21-2002, 02:40 PM

Suggestion: go buy a handheld buffer!!

Wow - it\'s going to take you a long time to buff those by hand. Hope you have strong arms.

saiyan7 · #3 (**permalink**) 08-21-2002, 04:44 PM

by handheld buffer, you mean....?? you\'re not speaking of a high speed vibrating handheld, right? I have one of those, but it\'s no good for let\'s say a Harley transmission transfer case. I guess I should just bite the bullet and buy a very high speed drill to accomodate the smaller wheels for tight spots, but those things are so darn expensive. On top of that you guys don\'t sell one. If you remember correctly, I already bought the handheld polisher but that doesn\'t work so good for small loose pieces. Any other Ideas?

mcaswell · #4 (**permalink**) 08-23-2002, 09:50 AM

Don\'t you have a regular drill?

That will work fine with 4\" wheels and an arbor adapter.

saiyan7 · #5 (**permalink**) 08-23-2002, 04:52 PM

Yeah, I do but it only spins at 1200 rpm and with a 4\" wheel that\'s kinda slow. Plus I don\'t have any of your wheels for my drill yet. I only have cheesy Home Depot wheels. They break their flimsy drive shaft right away. Time for another Caswell purchase right.

mcaswell · #6 (**permalink**) 08-23-2002, 06:31 PM

1200 RPM should be sufficient...not the best, but certainly better than polishing by hand!

Check out http://www.caswellplating.com/alpolkit.htm

saiyan7 · #7 (**permalink**) 08-26-2002, 09:29 AM

I have a ton of your compounds, but I do plan to purchase your 4\" wheels. Thanks again for your help.

mcaswell · #8 (**permalink**) 08-26-2002, 09:38 AM

Don\'t forget the arbor adapter, so you can mount the wheels on a drill.

kirkacs1998 · #9 (**permalink**) 10-10-2002, 11:53 AM

I can suggest that you continue the process with a micromesh kit. These are used to polish plastic by hand. The sandpaper continues up to 12,000
grit(yes,really). Try inquiring at aviation supply stores. Lee-Valley carries it too, I think. If you have one near you

mcaswell · #10 (**permalink**) 10-10-2002, 09:40 PM

Is this what you mean by a Micromesh kit?

We don't stock these, but I think we will. It looks like a good addition to our arsenal.

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