Possible to polish with a hand drill?

[Elfdor]

Hi guys, wanna give a try on polishing my bike's frame and header. Is it possible to done it with a hand drill running at 2300-2800 rpm and 4 inch buff wheels? Thank u guys.

[Rasper]

That should work fine. I assume it's aluminum.

You need to be sure that you sand all of the scratches out with increasingly fine grits of sandpaper. Depending upon the condition now, you would begin with maybe 150 grit, then 220, then 400, then 600. After that tripoli would be a good compound to use. Then white. Use a separate wheel for each compound, and clean the metal thouroughly between compounds. You must get all of the scratches out left by the previous grit of sandpaper or you will end up with polished scratches. Most heartache in polishing is caused by failure to sand enough. It takes a lot more sanding than you think.

Richard

[Elfdor]

It's aluminum and stainless steel for my exhaust..yup. So i should get myself a oribital sander? Or flap wheel attached to my hand drill? If i happens to sand it by hand, what's the proper motion for it? Left right sanding or in cirular motion? Sorry guys, am really new to polishing..Thank u!

[Rasper]

There are too many factors involved that I don't know. It is best to post a photograph of what you want to polish so we can see what we are dealing with. Such things as: is the frame marred up, painted, etc.?

Be very careful using any circulating power sander, like flap wheels, on aluminum. It is so easy to gouge it beyond repair. Tubing is best sanded by hand. The direction of motion doesn't matter; just get it smooth with out gouging it.

Stainless is another thing entirely. It is so hard that you must use a power sander, if it needs sanding at all. Most bike exhausts are already polished pretty well. There again, post some pics so we can see what we are dealing with.

Richard

[mpierich]

Originally Posted by Elfdor

It's aluminum and stainless steel for my exhaust..yup. So i should get myself a oribital sander? Or flap wheel attached to my hand drill? If i happens to sand it by hand, what's the proper motion for it? Left right sanding or in cirular motion? Sorry guys, am really new to polishing..Thank u!

Use flap wheels, maybe start with 120. They will conform best to the shape of the pipes etc. If you can get them up to 320 or 400 grit, you can then go to emery compound, then the tripoli and white. Try skipping the tripoli, in a lot of cases it's a waste of time.

For direction try to keep it longitudinal with the pipe...any scratches won't show as bad.

[Elfdor]

Ok, will try as soon as possible when i got my buff kit from Caswell. By the way how do i buff with the wheels on my bike exhuast? From left to right or up down motion with the side of the wheels? Thank you.

[y2kgtp]

I did this using only a power drill a few years back.....

[Rasper]

Looks great.

[y2kgtp]

Found another photo of during the work....