Tumbling mild steel - results

[Maplehead]

Hi All
Does anybody here have experience tumbling small parts?
My guitar bridge is basically a big block of steel that I can sand to a mirror finish but the small saddles can't easily be hand sanded. Presently I use 3M products like their ScotchBrite abrasive pads or their radial bristles. However, they all only go up to 400 grit and so they do not produce a mirror finish. Would tumbling in some medium produce the mirror finish I am after?

 

[compact8]

I will use set sand paper backed by sponge double-side tape followed by metal polishing compound like Brasso.

 

[woodchucker]

I don't get a mirror finish with my media.
I think it would depend on the media.
I have ceramic and plastic.. My son got me a different ceramic last Christmas, but I have not tried it yet.

I believe it is possible, you probably need the right media.

 

[mmcmdl]

Stainless ?

 

[ddillman]

have you tried a cloth type wheel on the bench grinder that gets charged with different grit polishes?

 

[Maplehead]

have you tried a cloth type wheel on the bench grinder that gets charged with different grit polishes?

Mild steel
I've tried buffing but it does nothing for when the pieces are at the 400 grit stage.

 

[woodchucker]

Mild steel
I've tried buffing but it does nothing for when the pieces are at the 400 grit stage.

it should... if you use the right media. The wheel only does the labor, the wax contains the grit... it should work. I have not had a problem with any mild- moderately hard steel buffing.

 

[dbb-the-bruce]

I would use dedeco disks on rotary tool. They have worked well for me - could be a pain to do with lots of small parts. I've also already got a full Foredom setup etc. So may not make sense if you need more tools to use them

Just a though.

 

[Maplehead]

I would use dedeco disks on rotary tool. They have worked well for me - could be a pain to do with lots of small parts. I've also already got a full Foredom setup etc. So may not make sense if you need more tools to use them

Just a though.

I have these and love them but they don't go past 400 grit so no mirror finish.

 

[dbb-the-bruce]

They have 600 grit (pink), 6 micron (peach) and 1 micron (light green).
There product search pages stink - it's really hard to just get a list of grits. I usually order from some other vendor/resale place (Rio Grande for instance)
I bought a full kit of disks and it included the 1 micron.