Rainy Day polishing project

[Canuck750]

Rain all day, a good opportunity to clean up some aluminum engine side covers.

I gave the side covers a light cleaning on the vapour blast cabinet, juts to reveal the overall surface condition, not necessary but it helps to see the surface clearly.

Typical condition of 50+ years old aluminum, some deep scratches and gouges, plenty of pits



I start with 220 grit dry paper in a foam pad random orbital sander, keeping the sander moving all the time and sanding until the damage starts to disappear



Initial sanding shows the depth of the damage, if the casting is thick enough I try and sand all the gouges out, its not always possible



almost there



then wet sand with 400 wet/dry on a foam block until the surfaces are rounded and the scratches are removed, then finish with 1000 wet/dry, I go over the surface with the vapour blaster but again its not an absolute requirement, the vapour honing process just further smooths the surface



Then a polishing on the buffer wheel with white polishing stick and finish with a hand rub down with 'Autosol' metal polish



A comparison to another piece, the more I sand the surface with ever finer wet/dry the better the finish, this will do for what I am building



Its messy and time consuming but easy to do and the results are satisfying

[SIR REAL ED]

very cool.  thanks.

[kballowe]

DANG !

Good job !

 

[flower_king001]

Well done!

[s1120]

Looks cool!  I like the idea of that second vapor blast. After sanding its really hard for the eyes to catch imperfections sometimes because it follows the sanding scratches. Taking them away lets you see what you missed better.

[cliffrod]

Looks cool!  I like the idea of that second vapor blast. After sanding its really hard for the eyes to catch imperfections sometimes because it follows the sanding scratches. Taking them away lets you see what you missed better.

For those of us mere mortals who had yet to acquire a vapor honing capacity in our shop, you can do an aggressive (nozzle held closer to the piece around those imperfections) soda blasting as a second blasting to blend those residual scratching & imperfections.   The soda will not cut much, but it will help knock off edges of damage without having to lower the entire surface.

Nice thread, Jim.  I like seeing parts that aren’t over restored- very cool.

[chuck peterson]

Did you say “this will do..”? Looks fantastic to me!

[moto-uno]

  Your rainy days look to be awful long (Nice Job) ! Peter

[Canuck750]

  Your rainy days look to be awful long (Nice Job) ! Peter

Thanks Peter, it took about three hours start to finish for two engine side covers.

[LowRyter]

 

[LowRyter]