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- eac67gt - 03-05-13, 08:23 AMI use a HF 6" bench polisher It was rather in-expensive but does the job well on the size parts I finish. I will say one thing in just learning all this it is so easy to shoot a part across the room.Edit Report IP
There has been many a part that I had to remake or go back to the wheel one the drill press to smooth back up.
I work almost all the time in aluminum.
Currently I do my "pre-polish", deburring on the drill press with a deburring wheel 4" unitized silicon carbide fine grade density: 2 density grade: soft.
It seems to work quite well.
Then I hit it with a scothbrite ball on the drill press.
In the past I did not do the scotch brite ball and the polishing was slower and not as good.
On the polisher my first step is a 6" Dico 527-40-6 cotton spiral sewn 1/2" thick buffing wheel.
With this I use Tripoli compound. I have used the emory comound from Porter Cable and have had excellallant result sbut if not careful it can be quite agressive.
Next I go to the 6" Dico 527-36-6 cotton cushion sewn 1/2" thick buffing wheel.
With this I use the Rouge compound.
With these steps I have found the aluminum comes out like a mirror.
For anodizing I always go through these steps to remove all small imperfections because any small imperfection will show when anodized.
If a matte finished is wanted for anodizing there is a process after the polishing to bring it to a uniform matte finish.
Ed
- JT. - 03-05-13, 10:14 AMdo you use a cleaning wheel (sort of rubber wheel ) to getthe previus abrasive off?Edit Report IP
- ddushane - 03-05-13, 04:37 PMSpeaking of Rubber wheels, Cratex are great for cleaning up & shaping, but they are expensive, they come in all different shapes & sizes, I was blessed with some 1"x6" ones that are going to come in handy, I've got a lot of the smaller ones that fit on dremels, & foredoms.Edit Report IP
Dwayne - eac67gt - 03-06-13, 10:51 AMJT. do you mean the abrasive/compound from polishing? If so I polish on a particular wheel until all compound that may be on part is totally removed. If you mean on the other wheels, I have never honestly noticed that there was abrasive left behind. There might be I will have to look next time. After I machine parts I do go to the slop sink and wash them down with dish soap before I continue to next step. I do not want to contaminate any of the finishing wheels with oil.Edit Report IP
- eac67gt - 03-06-13, 08:42 PMYes I have used the Cratex on other stuff before and they do work great. What would be nice to find is those or ones like those that are small point like for a Dremel that were cylinders that would fit in a 1/8" slot. I've run into where I need to finish inside a slot 1/8" and found it really difficult to get much of anything in there.Edit Report IP
Ed - JT. - 03-07-13, 01:19 AMhere are some pics from kelblys inc.Edit Report IP
the got a set of 3 machines like thise look at the slots they got an vacuum cleaner atach to it thats why the close the slots and open only the one the are
using
the "rubber" wheel sits on the left side - eac67gt - 03-07-13, 11:00 AMHere is a shot of my grinder and polisher stand. The one in the back of course is the polisher. You can see the sheet metal pan I made under the wheel. It would be easy enough to connect my vac to that as in your picture. Actually this is where the major dust balls start to collect and start to blow around. I always hesitated on doing it because my vac eats a lot of power and I am usually polishing for long periods of time. I guess in a lot of ways I am now at a cross roads where is the dust collection more important or not consuming power.Edit Report IP
Thanks for your photos and idea.
Ed
- eac67gt - 03-07-13, 11:01 AMWow is my photo big enough Edit Report IP
- JT. - 03-07-13, 11:24 AMyes it is i need a bicicle to get to the other sideEdit Report IP
- eac67gt - 03-07-13, 11:55 AMFixed it, much better.Edit Report IP
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