[Rx7 Boutique] Beginners Tutorial to Polishing Aluminum **Bling Bling Guide**
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[Rx7 Boutique] Beginners Tutorial to Polishing Aluminum **Bling Bling Guide**
Tools/materials:
Corded drill, the more powerful the better. NO WIRELESS DRILL.
Sandpaper grit: 80, 150, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000
Ryobi White Rogue Polishing Compound
Ryobi Tripoli Buffing Compound
Ryobi 6" Spiral Sewn Buffing Wheel (doesnt have to be ryobi but do NOT get a 4” wheel)
Ryobi 6” Cushion Sewn buffing wheel (doesnt have to be ryobi but do NOT get a 4” wheel)
Ryobi attachment to use the buffing wheel onto the drill
This is what the packaging and the attachment looks like:
**All this can be bought at home depot or online. ***Lowes does NOT carry the buffing wheels, at least not around here.
Introduction: I have been thinking about doing this tutorial for the past two years or so. This guide is going to teach you how to take dirty/scratched/damaged aluminum and make it useable as a mirror to check yourself out in. Follow the guide step by step, it is VERY time consuming and tedious, this is not something that can take an hour or two. Patience is KEY, get a raido and jam out while you sand. What grit you start with depends on the condition of the aluminum. I usually start with 80grit as it takes off all the dirt & grime and allows me to file out deep scratches or any problem areas. Seriously though, this isn't fun and your fingers will hate you the following morning.
Step 1: Start with 80 grit. This is the most important step and critical to the clarity of the final finish. For every step that you are sanding, MAKE SURE you sand in the same direction. DO NOT criss cross the way you are sanding or you will get scratches in your final finish. You need to get ALL the dirt, grime and any deep scratches out here. If you still cant get them out, use a metal file. DO NOT use electrical tools. I forgot to take a picture of the top of the SMIC before deciding to write this tutorial, but this is what it looked like before:
Now you can see that I used the 80grit and removed all the dirt, deep scratches and grime. Remember, this step is critical, if you leave any imperfections then you WILL see them in the final finish. Use some muscle, but don't be too aggressive with the force or you will create deeper scratches you won't be able to get out.
Step 2. Okay, now your hands are starting to hurt, just wait its going to get a lot worse. Its time to use the 150 grit now. Your goal here is to look for big/deep scratches that the 80grit created and work them out. This step is just as important as the first, if you don't get the deep scratches out from the 80grit then you won't be able to get them out down the line. Be sure to take your time, sand, wipe down with a towel and keep looking for those deep scratches. Remember, its not a race, its a marathon. Once you think your finished, sand it again. Don't forget to sand in the same directional path, NO criss cross.
Step 3: Time to step up to 320 grit. You have been sanding for some time now and you probably hate your life, that is okay the majority of the tough sanding is behind you. This step is imperative (for those still in highschool, this means important). Now that the deep scratches have been removed, the 320grit will take out all the medium/semi-deep scratches left. This is when you need to take your time and make sure all the deep scratches are out. Once we get to 400+grit you won't be able to sand out those deep scratches no matter how hard you sand. That means you will have to go back to the appropriate grit and start over and no one wants to do that. So, once you have sanded it a few times with 320 grit, look it over VERY carefully for scratches you can get out. Then do it again. Technically the 320grit shouldn't be used to wet sand, but I usually start wet sanding here too. After you are done sanding, dip the grit in water and sand it as normal. Dry it with a towel and do one final dry sand.
Wet sanding action:
Step 4. Now we start using the 400 grit. Same thing as before. Once your done dry sanding, start wet sanding. Once your finished wet sanding, dry it off with a towel then sand it one more time dry.
Step 5: Use 600 grit, same thing - dry wet dry sanding. Keep looking for imperfections and such but if you have any deep scratches your not going to get them out at this point. You will need to go back to the appropriate grit and go through the steps again.
Step 6. Use 800 grit, dry sand then wet then dry.
Step 7. This is your last hand sanding step. You will take the 1000 grit and do the same thing, dry then wet then dry. Now look at your aluminum piece and try to find any imperfections or deep scratches. If it looks great then move to the next step. If not, then you need to go back and sand it out or IT WILL show up in the finish.
Corded drill, the more powerful the better. NO WIRELESS DRILL.
Sandpaper grit: 80, 150, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000
Ryobi White Rogue Polishing Compound
Ryobi Tripoli Buffing Compound
Ryobi 6" Spiral Sewn Buffing Wheel (doesnt have to be ryobi but do NOT get a 4” wheel)
Ryobi 6” Cushion Sewn buffing wheel (doesnt have to be ryobi but do NOT get a 4” wheel)
Ryobi attachment to use the buffing wheel onto the drill
This is what the packaging and the attachment looks like:
**All this can be bought at home depot or online. ***Lowes does NOT carry the buffing wheels, at least not around here.
Introduction: I have been thinking about doing this tutorial for the past two years or so. This guide is going to teach you how to take dirty/scratched/damaged aluminum and make it useable as a mirror to check yourself out in. Follow the guide step by step, it is VERY time consuming and tedious, this is not something that can take an hour or two. Patience is KEY, get a raido and jam out while you sand. What grit you start with depends on the condition of the aluminum. I usually start with 80grit as it takes off all the dirt & grime and allows me to file out deep scratches or any problem areas. Seriously though, this isn't fun and your fingers will hate you the following morning.
Step 1: Start with 80 grit. This is the most important step and critical to the clarity of the final finish. For every step that you are sanding, MAKE SURE you sand in the same direction. DO NOT criss cross the way you are sanding or you will get scratches in your final finish. You need to get ALL the dirt, grime and any deep scratches out here. If you still cant get them out, use a metal file. DO NOT use electrical tools. I forgot to take a picture of the top of the SMIC before deciding to write this tutorial, but this is what it looked like before:
Now you can see that I used the 80grit and removed all the dirt, deep scratches and grime. Remember, this step is critical, if you leave any imperfections then you WILL see them in the final finish. Use some muscle, but don't be too aggressive with the force or you will create deeper scratches you won't be able to get out.
Step 2. Okay, now your hands are starting to hurt, just wait its going to get a lot worse. Its time to use the 150 grit now. Your goal here is to look for big/deep scratches that the 80grit created and work them out. This step is just as important as the first, if you don't get the deep scratches out from the 80grit then you won't be able to get them out down the line. Be sure to take your time, sand, wipe down with a towel and keep looking for those deep scratches. Remember, its not a race, its a marathon. Once you think your finished, sand it again. Don't forget to sand in the same directional path, NO criss cross.
Step 3: Time to step up to 320 grit. You have been sanding for some time now and you probably hate your life, that is okay the majority of the tough sanding is behind you. This step is imperative (for those still in highschool, this means important). Now that the deep scratches have been removed, the 320grit will take out all the medium/semi-deep scratches left. This is when you need to take your time and make sure all the deep scratches are out. Once we get to 400+grit you won't be able to sand out those deep scratches no matter how hard you sand. That means you will have to go back to the appropriate grit and start over and no one wants to do that. So, once you have sanded it a few times with 320 grit, look it over VERY carefully for scratches you can get out. Then do it again. Technically the 320grit shouldn't be used to wet sand, but I usually start wet sanding here too. After you are done sanding, dip the grit in water and sand it as normal. Dry it with a towel and do one final dry sand.
Wet sanding action:
Step 4. Now we start using the 400 grit. Same thing as before. Once your done dry sanding, start wet sanding. Once your finished wet sanding, dry it off with a towel then sand it one more time dry.
Step 5: Use 600 grit, same thing - dry wet dry sanding. Keep looking for imperfections and such but if you have any deep scratches your not going to get them out at this point. You will need to go back to the appropriate grit and go through the steps again.
Step 6. Use 800 grit, dry sand then wet then dry.
Step 7. This is your last hand sanding step. You will take the 1000 grit and do the same thing, dry then wet then dry. Now look at your aluminum piece and try to find any imperfections or deep scratches. If it looks great then move to the next step. If not, then you need to go back and sand it out or IT WILL show up in the finish.
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Step 8. Its time to use the drill, compounds and buffing wheel. Take the tripoli buffing compound and apply it to the spiral sewn buffing wheel. Then once enough compound is on the buffing wheel, apply it to the aluminum. You will want to do this in the sun, you want to make sure the metal gets as hot as possible. Put a medium amount of pressure on the drill, be careful this aluminum will get HOT do not touch it – especially after I told you just not to touch it. Work the compound in nice and good, you can't over do this step. After you have applied the compound with the drill and buffing wheel you will have some black residue left over. Use a CLEAN microfiber towel to get all of the residue off. It should look pretty good now but a little hazy and not quite perfect yet.
A. Apply the tripoli to the spiral sewn buffing wheel
B. Apply via drill with medium pressure pushing the buffing pad onto the metal
C. Black Residue
D: Wipe with microfiber towel
E. Little hazy, we will take care of this next step
Step 9. Last and final step. Same process as before, apply the white rogue compound to the cushion buffing wheel and its the same process as step 8. With medium pressure, apply the compound to the entire piece of aluminum and make sure its gets nice & hot. You can't over do this step either, you should start seeing your reflection in the mirror like finish. Once your finished, use a NEW (not the same one you used in step 8) microfiber towel and wipe the remaining residue off the piece. Enjoy your freshly polished piece!
a. Apply white rogue to cushion buffing wheel
b. Apply the buffing wheel to the metal, medium amount of pressure
c. wipe with a new microfiber towel
D. Finished Results:
A. Apply the tripoli to the spiral sewn buffing wheel
B. Apply via drill with medium pressure pushing the buffing pad onto the metal
C. Black Residue
D: Wipe with microfiber towel
E. Little hazy, we will take care of this next step
Step 9. Last and final step. Same process as before, apply the white rogue compound to the cushion buffing wheel and its the same process as step 8. With medium pressure, apply the compound to the entire piece of aluminum and make sure its gets nice & hot. You can't over do this step either, you should start seeing your reflection in the mirror like finish. Once your finished, use a NEW (not the same one you used in step 8) microfiber towel and wipe the remaining residue off the piece. Enjoy your freshly polished piece!
a. Apply white rogue to cushion buffing wheel
b. Apply the buffing wheel to the metal, medium amount of pressure
c. wipe with a new microfiber towel
D. Finished Results:
Nice write up, especially like all the pictures. Do you recommend using a electric sander or drill attachments for the initial sanding, just to get some of the dirt and rough metal off?
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B
Nice writeup 
...but F*CK sanding by hand, use a drill/bench wheel and dremel, will come out the same in a fraction of the time. Only other thing I would recommend is using two separate buffing wheels for the tripoli and white rouge.
I use these, bought at Home Depot/Lowes...
Nylon sanding wheel...(light sanding, good for hard to reach areas)
Dremel drum sander
Right side was sanded to 1000+ and left to 7 or 800(not visible when installed on car anyways).
...but F*CK sanding by hand, use a drill/bench wheel and dremel, will come out the same in a fraction of the time. Only other thing I would recommend is using two separate buffing wheels for the tripoli and white rouge.I use these, bought at Home Depot/Lowes...
Nylon sanding wheel...(light sanding, good for hard to reach areas)
Dremel drum sander
Right side was sanded to 1000+ and left to 7 or 800(not visible when installed on car anyways).
No electrical tools. I find that with electrical tools they leave scratches that are too deep to get out with sandpaper or you spend more time getting out the deeper scratches left with the electrical tool opposed if you do it all by hand. This is speaking from experience as I have used both and while the electrical route seems more beneficial, in reality your moving one step forward & two steps behind.
B
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Yep, thats why I have two different buffing wheels listed as mentioned in step 8 and 9. One is the spiral sewn wheel for the tripoli and the other is the cushion wheel for the white rogue.
Great thread purerx7. Wish this would have been here a couple months ago. One thing I would HIGHLY recommend is wearing some type of mask and gloves. Those small metal particles can get in your blood through your skin and they are not good for you. I made the mistake of not wearing a mask and ended up with the first nose bleed I have had in years.
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Great thread purerx7. Wish this would have been here a couple months ago. One thing I would HIGHLY recommend is wearing some type of mask and gloves. Those small metal particles can get in your blood through your skin and they are not good for you. I made the mistake of not wearing a mask and ended up with the first nose bleed I have had in years.
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Well I like to feel the metal for scratches and imperfections with my fingers which is difficult to do with gloves. Without gloves you will have dirty hands for a few days no matter how many times you clean them.
Using a drill will def. tire out the hands. For anybody doing this that is going to go out and purchase a tool to do it with, I'd def recommend going with a bench grinder, this way all you do is move the part, and the bench takes on most of the vibration instead of your hands. You can pick up a great little bench grinder made for polishing (higher hp than what you typically find at home depot) for cheaper than some drills.
This is what I have:
http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/34hpbuffkit.html
You can't just buy a normal cheap bench grinder because the HP won't be high enough, they work fine for grinding wheels, but because you will put much more pressure on the cloth wheel they wont work for polishing. You need the high amperage like the one above. It also has the extended driveshaft so you have more room to get in the nooks and crannies without hitting the bench or the grinder itself.
A drill will work, as Pure demonstrated, but if you are going to do any good amount of polishing, you'll be extremely happy that you went with a bench setup vs a drill. And always remember...let the tool do the work, not vice versa.
This is what I have:
http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/34hpbuffkit.html
You can't just buy a normal cheap bench grinder because the HP won't be high enough, they work fine for grinding wheels, but because you will put much more pressure on the cloth wheel they wont work for polishing. You need the high amperage like the one above. It also has the extended driveshaft so you have more room to get in the nooks and crannies without hitting the bench or the grinder itself.
A drill will work, as Pure demonstrated, but if you are going to do any good amount of polishing, you'll be extremely happy that you went with a bench setup vs a drill. And always remember...let the tool do the work, not vice versa.
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