How to polish stainless?

[rick retiree]

In process of fabricating Stainless steel radar arch for 2001 and its going well but cant bring a shine to SS flat stock to be used to support mast roller on top of arch. Used belt sander with various grits to no avail. Anyone out there have any suggestions? Hope to post to mods next week Thanks, guys

[nedmiller]

Sandpaper is too rough to really polish metal. In fact, it will leave bad scratches that will be really hard to get out. To get a real shine you have to remove all of the scratches that sandpaper leaves. Stainless is very hard and so you will have to use a very tough abrasive. If you are trying to do more that just polish up very light scratches on the mirror finish then you will have to use power polishers and there is a danger of overheating the metal and damaging it.
Do a google search and put polishing stainless steel in the window. You will have lots and lots to read!
Ned

[R Rae]

http://www.pwmall.com/website/N2ZECHILD ... STERID=642

Try this site for buffing wheels and buffing compound.
To do it properly may require a heavy duty polisher (1 to 2 HP)

Cheers

R

[Currie]

You might try pickling it if all mechanical means fail. A Google search turned this up (among many others)...

http://www.azom.com/details.asp?ArticleID=1142

[Don T]

Hello,
I don't polish mine to a mirror type shine. I use fine scotchbrite pads on a high speed air tool (spin lok). It gives it a shiny brushed look, rounds off all the welds. Looks great and it makes it easy. If you want that mirror look, it takes a lot of time and effort with cloth buffing wheels and abrasive metal polishing sticks.

[CrPlater]

You have been given excellent advice. To get a 'mirror' finish, buffing with pastes formulated for stainless is the quickest (tricky, be careful at the edges, and messy). If there is a plating shop nearby you may be able to have them do it for you. Would not take long if they are willing. I buff my own stainless mods for my boat (after welding and such). The 3M scotch-brite makes a nice finish and is fairly easy to accomplish. Trouble is, you will have to do the entire piece to have it look right. If you get the right grits of polishing cloth (i.e. 600 to 1000) and even diamond pastes in fine grits, you could work it back up to a mirror finish but, it is very labor intensive and not practical for a large area. Electropolishing at a plating shop may be too expensive. IMHO buffing is your best bet for a shiny finish. If the area is not too large, you can use a fast drill or die grinder to attach small buffs. You should use goggles, respirator, and glooves. Be careful how you approach the edges as they will want to 'yank' your buffer right out of your hands. Many 'Buffers' in plating shops are without fingers due to same.

[Bobby T.-26X #4767]

if i'm not mistaken...
the OEM railings for a Mac X/M is "plated".
therefore, the only way to get standard quality stainless steel rails to match is to pay for the plating process (which isn't cheap).

Bob T.
"DāBob"
'02X w/ '04 90-TLDI (14" x 11 pitch)
Dinghy Motor: '06 2.5-Suzuki

[CrPlater]

I have an 'M' and as a chrome plater I can tell you there is no plating on the rails or anywhere else that I can see.

[Bobby T.-26X #4767]

i guess i mis-spoke. i'm talking about electro-polishing...

"Electropolish - The Electropolishing process removes oxides and impurities from the surface of the metal and leaves a sterile and passive finish. Electropolishing smoothes, polishes, deburrs, and cleans stainless steel parts resulting in a smooth, high luster finish.

Because the metal part is bathed in oxygen, there is no hydrogen embrittlement. In fact, electropolishing removes hydrogen from the surface of the part and because bacteria cannot successfully multiply on a surface without hydrogen, electropolishing is idea for medical, pharmaceutical, semi-conductor, and food processing equipment and parts."

my after market stainless steel mods will not shine "brilliant" like the OEM railings on my MacX. i was told by the fabricator that to achieve that permanent brilliance, it must be polished like described above.

Bob T.
"DāBob"
'02X w/ '04 90-TLDI (14" x 11 pitch)
Dinghy Motor: '06 2.5-Suzu

[Don T]

That's funny, after 12 years there is no "brilliant shine" to my stainless.

[dennisneal]

3 M has a product: "Scotch-Brite" (tm) Stainless Steel Cleaner Starter Kit.

I have not used it.

It may help to solve your problem