polishing metal

[gopedhead]

HI, i'm new to this board. and i'm really stomped on this. i have this piece of metal i want to polish, first i was told i should sand it down to a fine sandpaper. the highest i've gone was 600 grit wet and it still has like groves on the metal. how do i make it smooth. when i polish on the buffing wheel. i use tropali with black, brown, and white rough crayons or whatever they're called. so i first use the hard buffing wheel with the black crayon and it won't remove the lines fro the sanpaper and i try so hard to make it smooth. how long doe sit really take to make it like a mirror shine.

also, how do i clean the buffing wheels. thanks

[mcaswell]

What kind of metal is it? It makes a big difference in the way it is polished.

To clean your wheels you need a wheel rake. http://www.caswellplating.com/wheel_rake.htm

You can make one yourself out of an old hacksaw. Run the wheel and rake the saw/rake over the wheel. It will strip off the layer of compound and re-fluff your wheel.

[cobra]

caswell wrote:
What kind of metal is it? It makes a big difference in the way it is polished.

To clean your wheels you need a wheel rake. http://www.caswellplating.com/wheel_rake.htm

You can make one yourself out of an old hacksaw. Run the wheel and rake the saw/rake over the wheel. It will strip off the layer of compound and re-fluff your wheel.

If you use a hacksaw blade attach it to a piece of wood so that you can hold onto it otherwise the spinning buff wheel may snatch it out of your hand and injure you.
Don't use sand paper any more course than 320 grit. Scratch marks are very difficult to buff out so it is best not to make them in the first place.

[gopedhead]

P.S. just got my cookies to work so i can now post.

[mcaswell]

Die Cast is a soft metal, so you should be able to get a good finish with a brown (Tripoli) compound.

You might want to refer to our buffing manual at http://www.caswellplating.com/buffman.htm

[gopedhead]

i've looked over the internet manuel serveral times and these "spider web" scratches(mr. lee's description) are still there. i'm polishing in one direction, or should i go against my polish grain? as i have heard the brown has a cutting effect. wat do i do to remove these scraches. to i stay on the white untill they are removed?

thanks a lot.

[mcaswell]

Are you keeping your wheels clean? Minute pieces of metal in the wheel may be scratching your metal.

[gopedhead]

if i take a hacksaw, how hard should i press to remove these small peices? i mean should all the compound be gone before i put more? because i try and try and the compound(rough, compound, tropili) are still marked on the padding. so i just hold the hacksaw on there for a few seconds and i'm assuming its clean although there is still the dark color. is that clean?

[mcaswell]

You just want to break up the "coating" on the wheel, so that it is fluffy again.