Polishing enclosures

[DutchMF]

Today I've spent a lot of time, effort, elbow grease, sweat and other resources on polishing an aluminum enclosure... Started out with some really fine grid sanding paper, then some steel wire wool, then a felt thingy with some polishing compound on my Dremel (which surprisingly did not work very good....), ending up with a piece of cloth and the aforementioned polishing compound... The last combination worked best, but now my wrists hurt!! I only managed to get the lid of a 1590TRPC done, and not even to a nice, even finish...
Now I'm not aiming for a mirror-like finish, but just something which doesn't have any obvious dents or dips in it. The lid I was talking about took me over an hour and some serious pain in the wrists.. Do any of you have any tips?

Thanx in advance,

Paul

[hammerheadmusicman]

i use wet and dry sandpaper (wet), starting with roughest going through to smooth. 180 grit, then 240, 400, 600, 1000, 1600 then 2000. Then you can use polishing compound or something. gets a nice finish.

[pedalman]

you need a polishing wheel with the different compounds. I bought a cheapy at harbor freight. works great just make shure the wheel changes when the compound changes

[jimilee]

Been thinking about this alot myself,you can get a rattle can silver that looks like chrome, thinking about giving this a shot for my decimator build.. 

[pickdropper]

i use wet and dry sandpaper (wet), starting with roughest going through to smooth. 180 grit, then 240, 400, 600, 1000, 1600 then 2000. Then you can use polishing compound or something. gets a nice finish.

This is how I do it, but I don't go too far past 1000 before I switch over to Maas metal polish.  Occasionally, I hit 1500, but I don't know how much of a difference it makes (at least with my skill level/patience).

Every time I do one, I swear it will be the last, but time passes and I forget how much of a pain it is.  I like how PPP and Small Bear offer polished 125B enclosures.  I wish they offered that for 1590A and 1590bb.  I'd much rather give them a few dollars and have it arrive polished.

[hoodoo]

Hi mate, i did a couple by hand as you described, too much hard work. Buy an  orbital sander, use your wet and dry sandpaper in the increments listed, and use a spray bottle with small amounts of water (water + electricity = ) and finish with 0000 steel wool, get's them pretty good. I happened to have a bench grinder, so i bought a calico polishing wheel, and the right compound and that gets them like a mirror in about 10 minutes, All the best, Matt.

[juansolo]

We powersand our, then wet & dry them, then polish them with Autosol metal polish. Takes about 15 mins a box. We don't go for a perfect finish mind you, just flat as poss on the top for the decals.

[Micpoc]

I've used MicroMesh pads for the final stages on two pedals, which works fine but yes, it is a fair amount of work.

[stecykmi]

you can do it by hand but i recommend a sander as well, at least for the course grit. getting a mirror finish by hand would be difficult although a polish would likely help.

also note that spray paint (even clear coat) will often have a hard time sticking to highly polished metal. there needs to be some grain for it to adhere to.

[DutchMF]

also note that spray paint (even clear coat) will often have a hard time sticking to highly polished metal. there needs to be some grain for it to adhere to.

That is some good advice, as I was planning to put a decal on it and then clear coat.... might reconsider.... Thanx man!

Paul

[TNblueshawk]

just rough up the area the decal will go on and you are good to go.

[Jpcosta88]

Hi mate, i did a couple by hand as you described, too much hard work. Buy an  orbital sander, use your wet and dry sandpaper in the increments listed, and use a spray bottle with small amounts of water (water + electricity = ) and finish with 0000 steel wool, get's them pretty good. I happened to have a bench grinder, so i bought a calico polishing wheel, and the right compound and that gets them like a mirror in about 10 minutes, All the best, Matt.

Hey man!
Sorry to dig such an old post, but could you please share more details on how you use the bench grinder to polish enclosures? Specially the compound part - I'm not quite sure what I should look for to be able to use a bench grinder to polish enclosures.

I want to speed up the polishing part because doing it manually is very tiresome, so i was looking for alternatives and the bench grinder option sounds perfect!