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I just did a batch of motorcycle fender spacers. They are about 2" wide, 4" long and 1" thick with rounded ends. The 2" wide sides and the rounded ends are exposed in use, and that is what I polished. Sort of.
They had fairly deep machining scratches on them. I worked my way back thru greaseless compound grits, 'til I found that I had to start with 80 grit to get rid of the existing scratches in a reasonable time. It worked fine for this purpose.
BUT, as I finished up with my 320-grit, it became apparent that the surface I had been working on has an orangpeeled-lookng surface. I couldn't get ahold of my customer so I went ahead and polished them, but did not drop back and try to sand them flat to get the ornagepeel out - I had enough time in them already and was not about to completely do them over for the same (small) price I quoted him.
He's disappointed but paid for the work. If I had known this would happen, of course I would have used another tool and sanded them flat before anything else. But, my question is, how could the orangepeel appear after I did all that with the greaseless to remove the heavy scratches?
I'm no metallugist but it almost seems as though the aluminum had areas of lesser and greater density; the greaseless took more out of the softer areas, hence leaving the orangepeel effect. Anybody else ever see this? If my theory is true, then if I had started with a flat sanding (belt or whatever) it probably would not have happened.
Any thoughts?
They had fairly deep machining scratches on them. I worked my way back thru greaseless compound grits, 'til I found that I had to start with 80 grit to get rid of the existing scratches in a reasonable time. It worked fine for this purpose.
BUT, as I finished up with my 320-grit, it became apparent that the surface I had been working on has an orangpeeled-lookng surface. I couldn't get ahold of my customer so I went ahead and polished them, but did not drop back and try to sand them flat to get the ornagepeel out - I had enough time in them already and was not about to completely do them over for the same (small) price I quoted him.
He's disappointed but paid for the work. If I had known this would happen, of course I would have used another tool and sanded them flat before anything else. But, my question is, how could the orangepeel appear after I did all that with the greaseless to remove the heavy scratches?
I'm no metallugist but it almost seems as though the aluminum had areas of lesser and greater density; the greaseless took more out of the softer areas, hence leaving the orangepeel effect. Anybody else ever see this? If my theory is true, then if I had started with a flat sanding (belt or whatever) it probably would not have happened.
Any thoughts?
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