RustyDusty's not so rusty "Aluminium Polishing Tutorial"
Mullinax has a tutorial where he uses Lye to strip the anodizing off- HERE
My issue is... I can't find straight Lye at any of my local hardware stores. So I went an alternate route and used Easy-Off's Grill and Oven cleaner. You HAVE to use the bad stinky kind, don't use their fumeless or whatever it's called version. It won't work... I've tried it.
This stuff-
The other tools you will need (at least I did) are as follows and pictured-
400 grit wet or dry sandpaper
2 white soft buffing wheels
1 yellow firm buffing wheel
bench grinder
Black Buffing compound (Recommended by CudaChick)
Brown buffing compound
White buffing compound
Green buffing compound
Mothers Aluminium and Mag polish
Paper towels
Rubber Gloves + Eye Protection
(Don't forget the stinky bad bad bad Easy-Off)
Safety First
Be sure to wear your personal protection equipment such as gloves, and eye protection. Especially with the Easy-Off, it's nasty stuff. Don't forget to keep those peepers safe with glasses or a shield. Buffing compound in the eye doesn't feel good. That's nothing compared to a chip of metal in the eye. Even a welders bib is a good idea. Better safe than sorry.
Here's our before-
Alright! Let's get to work with the Easy-Off...
First rough up the anodized coat with your 400g sandpaper, then apply a liberal coat of Easy-Off. Now I've read, "Oh my god! Do not leave easy off on aluminium for more than 5 minutes!". Well, it took three 15 minute soaks in the easy off for me to remove MOST not even all of the anodizing. It's thick on these puppies. Proceed with caution though, keep on eye on it while it's soaking. Once it is satisfactory, rinse off with water and a shop rag or paper towel.
TIME SAVING TRICK- If you have a really stubborn section of anodization that refuses to come off, soak it down with Easy Off and use your wet dry sand paper on it while it's soaked in easy off. Seems to come off a bit easier that way. Sure did for me.
At this point your aluminium should be a very ugly flat silver as pictured.
Break out the sand paper again... sand it to a (roughly) satin finish get all remaining spots of anodized aluminium off, if you leave it on it will look REALLY bad after being polished.
Time to hit the buffing wheels!!! This is where the results are at!
Install 1 yellow and 1 white pad on your bench grinder. Load the yellow pad with the brown (Or black, it cuts much faster- Thanks to CudaChick for the tip) compound by applying it in light one second intervals to the buffing surface of the wheel until it is uniformly coated in compound. Next load your white wheel with white compound in the same fashion as the yellow wheel.
Begin buffing the aluminium on the yellow wheel first. Go back and fourth, trying not to get the aluminium too hot. It seems to become hazy if it gets too hot. Keep reloading the wheel with compound as needed. Make sure there are no lines or scratches left in the aluminium. They will only get worse as we go on if you don't take care of them now. Trust me, I know from experience! You should see it beginning to have a hint of shine...
Make sure that no sharp edges can catch the wheel in it's direction of rotation. The grinder won't think twice about throwing the aluminium out of your hand and completely effing it up. How do I know? Yeah... Make sure that only smooth edges come in contact with the wheel if they're facing against the direction its turning. See below photos...
BAD!
GOOD!
Next, wipe the compound off the aluminium to prevent cross contamitiation of compound onto the wheels. Proceed to the white wheel. Repeat the same process as before. The longer you spend on these steps the better your final result. You should really have a nice shine by now.
Finally, change out your yellow wheel to your virgin white wheel. Load it with green compound as directed above. This is the show shine step! Lightly press the aluminium to the wheel, and buff for as long as you can stand. The longer you spend on this step, the closer to a show piece you will have!
It's looking great by now!!! This is optional - Once you are satisfied, take some of the mothers aluminium/mag polish and gently rub it in with a paper towel. Then remove with a terry cloth.
Voila! There's your reflection in it now! (My crappy cell phone camera doesn't do it justice)
Congratulations on your new shiny aluminium! If you have any suggestions or tips let me know and I'll add them into this tutorial and give you credit if you wish!
I also tried this on some steel AC lines, worked great!
Before
After
Cheers,
One not so Rustydusty!
Mullinax has a tutorial where he uses Lye to strip the anodizing off- HERE
My issue is... I can't find straight Lye at any of my local hardware stores. So I went an alternate route and used Easy-Off's Grill and Oven cleaner. You HAVE to use the bad stinky kind, don't use their fumeless or whatever it's called version. It won't work... I've tried it.
This stuff-
The other tools you will need (at least I did) are as follows and pictured-
400 grit wet or dry sandpaper
2 white soft buffing wheels
1 yellow firm buffing wheel
bench grinder
Black Buffing compound (Recommended by CudaChick)
Brown buffing compound
White buffing compound
Green buffing compound
Mothers Aluminium and Mag polish
Paper towels
Rubber Gloves + Eye Protection
(Don't forget the stinky bad bad bad Easy-Off)
Safety First
Be sure to wear your personal protection equipment such as gloves, and eye protection. Especially with the Easy-Off, it's nasty stuff. Don't forget to keep those peepers safe with glasses or a shield. Buffing compound in the eye doesn't feel good. That's nothing compared to a chip of metal in the eye. Even a welders bib is a good idea. Better safe than sorry.
Here's our before-
Alright! Let's get to work with the Easy-Off...
First rough up the anodized coat with your 400g sandpaper, then apply a liberal coat of Easy-Off. Now I've read, "Oh my god! Do not leave easy off on aluminium for more than 5 minutes!". Well, it took three 15 minute soaks in the easy off for me to remove MOST not even all of the anodizing. It's thick on these puppies. Proceed with caution though, keep on eye on it while it's soaking. Once it is satisfactory, rinse off with water and a shop rag or paper towel.
TIME SAVING TRICK- If you have a really stubborn section of anodization that refuses to come off, soak it down with Easy Off and use your wet dry sand paper on it while it's soaked in easy off. Seems to come off a bit easier that way. Sure did for me.
At this point your aluminium should be a very ugly flat silver as pictured.
Break out the sand paper again... sand it to a (roughly) satin finish get all remaining spots of anodized aluminium off, if you leave it on it will look REALLY bad after being polished.
Time to hit the buffing wheels!!! This is where the results are at!
Install 1 yellow and 1 white pad on your bench grinder. Load the yellow pad with the brown (Or black, it cuts much faster- Thanks to CudaChick for the tip) compound by applying it in light one second intervals to the buffing surface of the wheel until it is uniformly coated in compound. Next load your white wheel with white compound in the same fashion as the yellow wheel.
Begin buffing the aluminium on the yellow wheel first. Go back and fourth, trying not to get the aluminium too hot. It seems to become hazy if it gets too hot. Keep reloading the wheel with compound as needed. Make sure there are no lines or scratches left in the aluminium. They will only get worse as we go on if you don't take care of them now. Trust me, I know from experience! You should see it beginning to have a hint of shine...
Make sure that no sharp edges can catch the wheel in it's direction of rotation. The grinder won't think twice about throwing the aluminium out of your hand and completely effing it up. How do I know? Yeah... Make sure that only smooth edges come in contact with the wheel if they're facing against the direction its turning. See below photos...
BAD!
GOOD!
Next, wipe the compound off the aluminium to prevent cross contamitiation of compound onto the wheels. Proceed to the white wheel. Repeat the same process as before. The longer you spend on these steps the better your final result. You should really have a nice shine by now.
Finally, change out your yellow wheel to your virgin white wheel. Load it with green compound as directed above. This is the show shine step! Lightly press the aluminium to the wheel, and buff for as long as you can stand. The longer you spend on this step, the closer to a show piece you will have!
It's looking great by now!!! This is optional - Once you are satisfied, take some of the mothers aluminium/mag polish and gently rub it in with a paper towel. Then remove with a terry cloth.
Voila! There's your reflection in it now! (My crappy cell phone camera doesn't do it justice)
Congratulations on your new shiny aluminium! If you have any suggestions or tips let me know and I'll add them into this tutorial and give you credit if you wish!
I also tried this on some steel AC lines, worked great!
Before
After
Cheers,
One not so Rustydusty!
