khatfull, I need your advice re polishing
 

You have obviously established yourself as the polish expert on this forum.

I am looking for an 80/20 solution (80% of the result, 20% of the effort). My engineer friends hate it when I do this. I am not looking for ultimate solutions or for the plasma generator.

At any rate, here is my question.

I am looking for a simple method to improve minor, but sometimes pervasive, pitting on alloy (Alu) components. Scotchquard, etc., what do you recommend?

Thanks,

Bob

If you are looking for a cleaner/polish check out these products. The Colonel Brassy, and the Major Shine are the most incredible products I have ever used, and they make it simple. Here is a link to them, and be warned they are not cheap, but the results are totally amazing. I have tried every cleaner/polish known to man, and NOTHING even comes close, you will be amazed. http://vertexind.com/products.htm

Bob,

You've told me to my face that you take my word as suspect, but here goes, anyway:

Good starting point: http://www.raydobbins.com/polishing/

Mother's Mag polish works well for aluminum parts, Simichrome or one of the less expensive clones (Maas, Hagerty 100) work well for chrome.

If you want to know more than you ever thought possible about polishing, read this detailed tutorial:
http://www.vintagebmx.com/community/...wtopic=4005471

Looking at the MSDS for Major Shine and Mother's Mag Polish the active/caustic ingredient in both appears to be sodium hydroxide (lye). Given that I don't know that there'd be a ton of difference in how the two work. All the other ingredients will pretty much be carriers and stuff designed to make it a paste at room temperature.

Looking at the MSDS for Colonel Brassy I see it includes diatomaceous earth. I've used it back in the day as a filter medium when I was big into aquariums (oddly the process was called "water polishing" :)) Here's the Wikiepedia for it: "Diatomaceous earth also known as diatomite or kieselgur, is a naturally occurring, soft, siliceous sedimentary rock that is easily crumbled into a fine white to off-white powder." Most bike folks dislike anything abrasaive on bike chrome because of the relative thinness of bike plating.

That said I won't disagree with Capecodder on the use of these two. Colonel Brassy looks like it would be good on aluminum as a step after nick and scratch removal, then followed by Major Shine as a finish. Capecodder, is that how you end up using them?

Pitting can suck depending on the depth. If you want to remove it there's really no other process than to remove metal until it's gone. I like to wet sand, some people might use a cloth wheel with black tripoli. I don't have a cloth wheel so I use mostly hand methods, except for those abrasive balls I got at Harbor Freight. I enjoy the hand work but hope to have a wheel at some point, maybe for Christmas :)

So, my usual process looks like this:

- Abrasive ball to get rid of shop wear-type flaws and put a somewhat even finish on the part. This makes it easier to see what flaws I want to remove.
- Wet sand to remove flaws. I'll start with anything from 320 to 600 grit depending on the flaws to remove, and finish with 1500 or 2000 grit.
- Then I sit down in the easy chair with the Mother's, a bunch of rags, and some Coke Zero and go to town.

Unfortunately, severe pitting probably won't fit in your 80/20 paradigm. Of course, you can do less and minimize the appearance of the pitting

BTW, what parts are we talking about here?

" Colonel Brassy looks like it would be good on aluminum as a step after nick and scratch removal, then followed by Major Shine as a finish. Capecodder, is that how you end up using them"?

khatfull , You got it!!!!!! The stuff is amazing, and I have tried everything, but I will give the Mother's a try cause it costs much less.

The Colonel Brassy looks to be a good product but I'm guessing you wouldn't see much difference between Major Shine and Mother's. If you don't like the Mother's I'll buy it from you :)

RE: Effort - I often find it easier to hold the rag on a piece of cardboard on the bench and move the part back & forth.

All excellent advice. Thanks.

Khatfull, BTW, you may be the only other person on this forum who reads MSDS.

Easy way to figure out what makes a product work most of the time :)

Keith, speaking of Mothers **********???

Stuart

Heck, you're right...I'll PM.

Do you do anything like clear lacquer or other coatings to prevent oxidization when you're done? I've had quite a few aluminum items go grey like an old Grumman canoe.