This is the most detailed step by step method to polish aluminum any where on the nets ... It's almost as of the pros dont want secrets out and you will NEVER see some one who owns a polishing shop post up how to's all though there is no secrets in this video, there isnt a single video out that shows a step by step method to get a mirror like shine... Thank you for posting this
Good video, excellent results. I do have a couple suggestions. It's a good idea to rinse off the grit from previous sanding before you start with a finer grit. If you think about it, leaving the old residue on the surface means you are rubbing it around under your finer grit pad, which lengthens sanding time. Rinsing is preferable to wiping because it lessens the chance of causing linear scratches. Also, it is a bad idea to use steel wool on aluminum. Small pieces of the steel can become embedded in the aluminum, and will eventually rust if exposed to any moisture. Then your nice shiny aluminum piece will be red and rusty(which can be super confusing. Like, "Why and how is my aluminum rusting?!!!"). That also goes for sand paper or grinding wheels, files, etc. Never mix materials. Have a specific grinder wheel for steel, and another for aluminum. Etc. BTW, gotta love DeWalt
Thank you for the suggestion, what I do is the hold the drill sideways and use the airflow to blow off all the aluminum dust before I move on to the next grit. I will keep your suggestion in mind about the steel wool, luckily I don't use much pressure, I just used it as a base to add the polish.
I just want to tell you how grateful I am for this video. I did what you said and got the panels that I made for my 57 chevy sanded to almost a mirror shine I just don't have a buffer, but I do got a friend that's going to buff them for me. I just want to tell you thank you for your help.
Worked as a metal polisher,mainly stainless,some aluminium bull bars. We would sand with 400# then buff with tripoli compound. There are many different grades of aluminium. Some are more receptive to buffing than others. The fine grades of abrasive paper were not available until relatively recently. Thank you for the video.
*it is amazing how you can turn something dull into a mirror look with just sandpaper....Honestly this is one of the best tuto videos ever....so genuine,,thanks for that*
I did the fuel tanks and wheels on my tri axle a d now I got a side gig doing others drivers trucks for them $$$$$$$$$ thanks for the step by step instructions
Awesome Process What do you suggest for mirror polishing around small aluminum objects with anodizing areas on it I was thinking of getting a smaller hand held One like yours but smaller I want to clean up my Sabers
I have been looking for a vidoe of how to get my aluminum horse trailer back to its shine. Thanks so much for this vidoe! Ive used so many products with little results. Sandpaper is clearly tbe way to go.
Good presentation and easy for anyone to absorb. I would tell you that you should have made mention of how to finish the 2 spots where the vice grips were positioned.
wow dude , that was awesome! ! ! I've lookin for a way to start to sand and polished my boat and never thought it's was posible till I seen your video from start and finish , thank you for posting this video. my project will start thanks to your knowledge.
Thank you very much. I had no idea how simple it could be. Just like polishing headlamps... Almost. You saved me countless hours polishing all of this aluminum on the 1934 Mercedes Centaur(replica)I'm working on.
Awsome video! I was looking for ways for refinishing my glas door that my dog has scratched up over the years! Do you think this exact process would do it? Would love to see it done but cant find videos for it?
Great video. I want to remove treadplate / diamond flooring on a boat floor. Is this the way i would do it? Obviously i'd be spending more time sanding with the 220 grit. Thanks
The piece looks awesome!!! years back I polished aluminum motorcycle parts, I did the steel wool with polish too, used #0000 steel wool, but found it would embed those steel fibers into the aluminum. You could not see it until later down the road when the moisture would take over and you see rust pits on aluminum. It confused me at first, aluminum doesn't rust, then I thought about it for a bit (this was way before the internet stuff), and realized the steel wool was embedded and rusting. The other thing I learned was after the polishing was done, take some household white flour, sprinkle it onto the surface on your final rag buff, it pulls out more black polish and leaves an even better shine. If you try it, let me know if it still works with the newer chemicals on the market, it may just be an "old school" trick that worked with out old white rouge.
Also, If you search for what #0000 steel wool is in grit compared to sand paper, you'll find that it's only something like 600 grit. So it's like moving backwards after the 5,000 grit sandpaper. I'll suggest the 3M scuff pad scotch brites. Get them on amazon. With some digging, you can find the grit equivalents (there are different colors coded to coarseness). I found white is equivalent to 1200-1500 grit. That's still not 5,000 but it's much better than 600. The fact that steel wool worked for him tells there is more going on here than trying to stay really high on grit with the polish. Still, the scuff pads just seem to me to be a much better tool for the job. I'm not speaking from direct experience, just analogical reasoning with other things I've done. They're better than still wool for everything I've used them on. I don't even use steel wool any longer.
Dennis Neale I had not investigated how abrasive steel wool is, thats an interesting find that 0000 steel wool is equivelant to 600 grit. I use it on chrome and glass with no issues or concerns. I will have to some digging to verify and then question whether or not I want to continue using it. Thanks for the info
Hi mate thanks for the great video! I have a question about my Aluminium Canopy if I could please. The finish from the workshop is quite bad and I would like to do this to remove the scratches and get it looking nicer. Do I need to treat it afterwards with anything as it will be out in the weather etc. Thanks in advance 👍
Great finish. Question, I polish pontoons, tried sanding with a rotary but get lots of sanding marks (swirls) didn't see those in your video. Any advice please?
I just started using that trizac 3000 and it's amazing. I haven't found the 5000 locally but I'll order some soon. On paint it's amazing how good it does.
A little secret for you...in woodworking circles, a company called Micromesh makes sanding cloths for woodworkers that goes all the way to 12,000 grit. They're a heavy cloth with an extreme fine layer of a soft spongy rubber coating with the grit on top of that. These are fantastic for polishing metals too. They are available in rectangular pieces (3" x 4") and they also make them in 5" discs for sanders. They are available on Amazon: www.amazon.com/Micro-Mesh-No-Hole-Sanding-Disc-Combo/dp/B00HJCBC5O/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_469_tr_t_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=APMS4JEGW4GZM9FH7YM7
I have watched alot of videos on polishing and this is by far the best results i have seen! Nice work.. hope you left links for the materials, have never seen 5k paper. Thanks
Wow! I thot I was good but that is amazing, I am going to try that! I do it by hand without sanding and I thot I got it to a mirror finish. I kinda do but that is like an actual mirror finish lol. Good job n great content keep up the good work and thank you I have just started to watch your other vids too
Will this hold a mirror outside or will it start to oxidize? I was curious how this would work on my boat outdrive in a fresh water lake. I'm tired of painting it every year lol
Awesome! Do you have to do anything special to protect the finish long term? Would you clear coat it? Or polish it again in the future? Thanks, great job!!
Honestly amazed by your proccess, you didnt use any stick type compounds or a an angle grinder/buffer. im suprised you had to switch out to a new trizac pad, usually you can clean trizac media with an oil based cleaner (trizac belts anyway) never use water on the belts. havent tried the trizac disc/ pads yet.
Man I’m impressed. Done a bit of polishing myself over the years and I really liked the way you did that. I have only done motor cycle parts nothing that flat or big. Could you do another video of some aluminium motorcycle parts? Thanks. Tim from Australia.
Planning a project using aluminum sheeting ....this is an awesome helpful video......and will minimize getting the black aluminum dirt on my hands.....thank you VM bud!!!
Hi, I own a 1950 Alumacraft boat, the boat is all aluminum and the aluminum is aged from over the 70 years of abuse from our dock. Dock rash formed over the aluminum in spots. Is there anything I could do to get the boat back to a beautiful aluminum polish and shine. Thanks Ryan
Absolutely fantastic, I’ll be following this method on a heavy aluminum Dell XPS 710 series desktop from 2007. It wasn’t shining like that when it was new even when it’s cost was a little shy of $6000.00 , I However hope it will not affect it’s authenticity and value for a possible future sale for it’s rarity. I would like to do it for me however it’s like a 60 lbs. case, Also I live in Alberta, Canada. It would be a hefty price to ship out. But I could just imagine that it would look like a real piece of art indeed. Thanks for your video I really enjoyed it.
That type of sander will leave waves in the finish. Best to use straight-line sander or sanding block for a mirror finish. The polish used will shine, but it also brings oxidation. Oxidation happens fast. If you work a piece and walk away for a few hours and then start sanding again, you will need to cut through the oxidation layer again. A spray bottle with soap and water works good for floating the aluminum fines away while wet sanding.
can you talk more about the burning that made you switch half way through the 3000 grit? I tried sanding an aluminum bicycle stem and I got these weird streaks / stains and I think I'm going to redo it.
Brilliant video.. I've just purchased a stainless steel polished chrome bull bar for my van which upon fitting I've noticed some scratches. Can I use this method for taking out the scatches🤞
I have a aluminum vintage travel trailer. I have questions about what paper I should start with ? The rivets are rusty. I was wondering why you didn’t use a DA sander and a car type buffer. Also what speed do you use ?
Does the hook it pad come with an arbor for a standard handheld drill chuck? Or do you have to get that separate? From what I can tell, it doesn't really seem to include anything other than the pad itself. I don't really have enough projects to warrant a dedicated orbital sander and I could probably rig up some type of arbor for my handheld drill but I'm just wondering if there's an off the shelf product for it?
@@SkillsandTrade Sorry, one more thing. If I've got some pretty "deep" scratches (not like a gouge but more like the thin visible scratches you can feel with your fingertips that you'd get from running an unprotected jigsaw shoe over the aluminum (hypothetically, cause I'm not sure what kinda idiot would do that)), would you still suggest starting at 220 grit? Originally I was planning on starting at 100 and going to 3000 from there. In this hypothetical situation that is, because I most definitely did not scratch my only piece of aluminum with a jig saw.
Yes, I think 220 should be fine. Aluminum is soft and 220 will have it fixed quickly, just aluminum cutting oil of some kind or just WD 40. Just be sure to not spend too long in any spot in the metal or it will create divets. Good luck on your hypothetical project.
Question: about how many minutes did you spend on each grade of sandpaper? I've got a 4" diameter 20 foot long aluminum pipe that I want to polish before I paint it. Doesn't need a mirror finish.
Need advice: I used oven cleaner on my electric frypan, which caused an oxidized coating. How can I sand and polish this small appliance, which has rounded curves and 90 degree angles? Would you recommend a specific brand of detail sander, or doing it by hand?
Wow.. Does polished aluminum and stainless reflect more sun and heat better? How long it stay in like a mirror-like finish in direct southern Sun and Tropic elements? If not long how often you have to maintain?I have some spots on the roof of my van I'd like to stop the sun from cooking to keep the inside cooler.
I've been in contact with Sammy bulgara who's in Fresno, he actually was going to come here, but I've just gotten so busy from the cold weather we've had and I didn't have time to do it. If you want to send me your info though I'd really appreciate it, in case Sammy can't make it when the time comes that I slow down. affordablefuel@aol.com or 203-667-7874 call or text. Thank you so very much, I really appreciate it!!
What a Great Job you did. I am about to restore a Kirby Vacuum do you have any suggestions for the sanding tool to use? it has a lot of corners and edges . Thanks for your HELP
I'm not sure on the sanding tool, I suppose you can try to use the process I showed in my video. I haven't restored a Kirby vacuum so I can't give you much advise, sorry. But thank you so much for watching, I really do appreciate it.
If you wanted to have a swirl pattern in it would you want to scratch it out before or after you polish I’m assuming before since you should only hit the high spots making it mirrored with your pattern still etched in?
How much time do you think that the mirror finish will stay? Is there any way to make the polish permanent? I am planning to polish the aluminum components of my motorcycle. Your answer and suggestion+advice would help me a lot. Thanks for the nice video! 🍻
Thank you Tanvir, the finish will stay for a long time. If you want the polish to be permanent I would use, Blingmaster Bling Barrier - amzn.to/2IZgk25 , I like that sealant a lot.
Nice shine you know I just paid 250 just for the fronts of my aluminium rims . I just didn't have the time but for the money I paid him I could of got my own stuff . do you know from what grit I should start with and then end with .and then I know to add polish After sanding .but kinda nervous putting sand paper to my rims but I got some scratches and a curbed rim that needs some sanding to smooth out wear I hit the rim thanks great job on that plat
Thank you. I have links to all the products I used in my description. You can follow all the steps in this video or you can watch my aluminum rim polishing video:ruclips.net/video/eAaROQgJJ9E/видео.html ,
Fantastic I'm going to use this procedure on my next rib boat restoration
This is the most detailed step by step method to polish aluminum any where on the nets ... It's almost as of the pros dont want secrets out and you will NEVER see some one who owns a polishing shop post up how to's all though there is no secrets in this video, there isnt a single video out that shows a step by step method to get a mirror like shine... Thank you for posting this
Good video, excellent results. I do have a couple suggestions. It's a good idea to rinse off the grit from previous sanding before you start with a finer grit. If you think about it, leaving the old residue on the surface means you are rubbing it around under your finer grit pad, which lengthens sanding time. Rinsing is preferable to wiping because it lessens the chance of causing linear scratches. Also, it is a bad idea to use steel wool on aluminum. Small pieces of the steel can become embedded in the aluminum, and will eventually rust if exposed to any moisture. Then your nice shiny aluminum piece will be red and rusty(which can be super confusing. Like, "Why and how is my aluminum rusting?!!!"). That also goes for sand paper or grinding wheels, files, etc. Never mix materials. Have a specific grinder wheel for steel, and another for aluminum. Etc. BTW, gotta love DeWalt
Thank you for the suggestion, what I do is the hold the drill sideways and use the airflow to blow off all the aluminum dust before I move on to the next grit. I will keep your suggestion in mind about the steel wool, luckily I don't use much pressure, I just used it as a base to add the polish.
Pretty much you can do a flat surface how do you polished aintahe or gloved valve covers
This definitely belongs in one of those satisfying video compilations.
I just want to tell you how grateful I am for this video. I did what you said and got the panels that I made for my 57 chevy sanded to almost a mirror shine I just don't have a buffer, but I do got a friend that's going to buff them for me. I just want to tell you thank you for your help.
Worked as a metal polisher,mainly stainless,some aluminium bull bars. We would sand with 400# then buff with tripoli compound. There are many different grades of aluminium. Some are more receptive to buffing than others. The fine grades of abrasive paper were not available until relatively recently. Thank you for the video.
Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed the video. I also appreciate the polishing tips thanks
By far one of the best and easiest Aluminum plishing vids out there.
*it is amazing how you can turn something dull into a mirror look with just sandpaper....Honestly this is one of the best tuto videos ever....so genuine,,thanks for that*
Amazing results. Never thought you could "sand" aluminum to a shiny finish. But then again, that WAS a lot 'o paper! Thanks for the info.
No problem. Glad you liked the video. Hope you have a wonderful day.
I did the fuel tanks and wheels on my tri axle a d now I got a side gig doing others drivers trucks for them $$$$$$$$$ thanks for the step by step instructions
That's how it always starts!
It helps alot to wipe the surface clean between grit changes to remove any loose grit that can leave scratches
Jon Rothenbusch It also helps to change direction with each grit to even things out.
Awesome Process What do you suggest for mirror polishing around small aluminum objects with anodizing areas on it I was thinking of getting a smaller hand held One like yours but smaller I want to clean up my Sabers
thumbs up if you thought he was gonna bring out the 10,000 grit and then 20,000 grit paper?
Didn't he say 9000 for polish?
I have been looking for a vidoe of how to get my aluminum horse trailer back to its shine. Thanks so much for this vidoe! Ive used so many products with little results. Sandpaper is clearly tbe way to go.
Everything is chrome in the future!
This was one of the most satisfying videos I've ever watched; thank you 😻
I have a 1956 boat I'm trying to polish. That looks phenomenal. I may try that on that boat.
Good presentation and easy for anyone to absorb. I would tell you that you should have made mention of how to finish the 2 spots where the vice grips were positioned.
How do you keep the oxide layer from reforming and redulling the mirror?
wow dude , that was awesome! ! ! I've lookin for a way to start to sand and polished my boat and never thought it's was posible till I seen your video from start and finish , thank you for posting this video. my project will start thanks to your knowledge.
Thank you! I'm really glad I could help. Best of luck on your boat!
Thank you very much.
I had no idea how simple it could be. Just like polishing headlamps... Almost.
You saved me countless hours polishing all of this aluminum on the 1934 Mercedes Centaur(replica)I'm working on.
truly outstanding. I honestly didn't think it would turn out nearly as well as it did.
WOW, GREAT JOB, SOME OF YOU GUYS ARE OFF THE HOOK!!.
About to do this to my Supercharger on my car. $995 vs some time and elbow grease sounds good to me. Thanks for the steps!
Looks great. I love polishing things or sanding them. It is very stress relieving for me. Thank you
Your welcome. Glad I could help.
Try using Truck Wash to rinse off with water. It removes all the polish residue.
Awsome video! I was looking for ways for refinishing my glas door that my dog has scratched up over the years! Do you think this exact process would do it? Would love to see it done but cant find videos for it?
Same thing we did while building bikes saved alot off money compared to chrome great job .
Great video. I want to remove treadplate / diamond flooring on a boat floor. Is this the way i would do it? Obviously i'd be spending more time sanding with the 220 grit. Thanks
Is this finish stable? Do you have to protect it from oxidation?
Thank you for taking the time to make this video. I have some old aluminium speaker cabinets I want to polish and now I know how do fo it. Thank you
Good result = to any zephyr or white diamond polish finish. Good technique it just proves more than one way to get metal mirrors.
The piece looks awesome!!! years back I polished aluminum motorcycle parts, I did the steel wool with polish too, used #0000 steel wool, but found it would embed those steel fibers into the aluminum. You could not see it until later down the road when the moisture would take over and you see rust pits on aluminum. It confused me at first, aluminum doesn't rust, then I thought about it for a bit (this was way before the internet stuff), and realized the steel wool was embedded and rusting. The other thing I learned was after the polishing was done, take some household white flour, sprinkle it onto the surface on your final rag buff, it pulls out more black polish and leaves an even better shine. If you try it, let me know if it still works with the newer chemicals on the market, it may just be an "old school" trick that worked with out old white rouge.
Also, If you search for what #0000 steel wool is in grit compared to sand paper, you'll find that it's only something like 600 grit. So it's like moving backwards after the 5,000 grit sandpaper. I'll suggest the 3M scuff pad scotch brites. Get them on amazon. With some digging, you can find the grit equivalents (there are different colors coded to coarseness). I found white is equivalent to 1200-1500 grit. That's still not 5,000 but it's much better than 600. The fact that steel wool worked for him tells there is more going on here than trying to stay really high on grit with the polish. Still, the scuff pads just seem to me to be a much better tool for the job. I'm not speaking from direct experience, just analogical reasoning with other things I've done. They're better than still wool for everything I've used them on. I don't even use steel wool any longer.
Dennis Neale I had not investigated how abrasive steel wool is, thats an interesting find that 0000 steel wool is equivelant to 600 grit. I use it on chrome and glass with no issues or concerns. I will have to some digging to verify and then question whether or not I want to continue using it. Thanks for the info
I use bronze wool on my sailboat for that same reason, when doing teak it would rust, bronze doesn't
Hi mate thanks for the great video!
I have a question about my Aluminium Canopy if I could please.
The finish from the workshop is quite bad and I would like to do this to remove the scratches and get it looking nicer.
Do I need to treat it afterwards with anything as it will be out in the weather etc.
Thanks in advance 👍
We gave an old 1957 Alumacraft boat will this work on it ? Thanks great video.
Fantastic, Great job. You did a magic, turned aluminium sheet to a mirror.👍🏻
Great finish. Question, I polish pontoons, tried sanding with a rotary but get lots of sanding marks (swirls) didn't see those in your video. Any advice please?
How long would it stay this shiny? Doesn't aluminium slowly dull over time when exposed to air? Is there any way to prevent that from happening?
explorer47422 clearcoat
@@apllDgrapllD I googled that and nothing comes up. Can you provide a link please.
datsuntoyy it’s been clearcoated!!
I just started using that trizac 3000 and it's amazing. I haven't found the 5000 locally but I'll order some soon. On paint it's amazing how good it does.
A little secret for you...in woodworking circles, a company called Micromesh makes sanding cloths for woodworkers that goes all the way to 12,000 grit. They're a heavy cloth with an extreme fine layer of a soft spongy rubber coating with the grit on top of that. These are fantastic for polishing metals too. They are available in rectangular pieces (3" x 4") and they also make them in 5" discs for sanders. They are available on Amazon: www.amazon.com/Micro-Mesh-No-Hole-Sanding-Disc-Combo/dp/B00HJCBC5O/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_469_tr_t_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=APMS4JEGW4GZM9FH7YM7
Im doing the aluminum rims on my TrailBlazer and this information is really fantastic on stages and materials...thank you!
you're doing those rims, I've been trying to restore aluminum rims on my moms '74 duster....gonna take some heavy work though
I have watched alot of videos on polishing and this is by far the best results i have seen! Nice work.. hope you left links for the materials, have never seen 5k paper. Thanks
Thank you very much for the kind words. I have left some links to the products I used in the description.
Wow! I thot I was good but that is amazing, I am going to try that! I do it by hand without sanding and I thot I got it to a mirror finish. I kinda do but that is like an actual mirror finish lol. Good job n great content keep up the good work and thank you I have just started to watch your other vids too
Thank you very much, I appreciate that you are wanting to watch my other videos as well . Good luck on your project
I have an old aluminum canoe with this written all over it. Question is, what do you put on it to keep it that way?
I'd recommend Blingmaster Blingbarrier for protection.
Beautiful video. Would this same process work for an aluminum motorcycle frame?
It should work fine for a motorcycle frame, thank you very much.
@@SkillsandTrade thank u.
I really want to see how you work on trailer with diamont aluminum plate with all this sand papers.
Nooooooooo! Never use paper towel, even wype-alls leave scratches. Pure cotton it always the last material to use. You do amazing work! 😊👍🏻
can you say can i do wit this parrabolic mirror? how long it will be mirrors efect outside ?
Will this hold a mirror outside or will it start to oxidize? I was curious how this would work on my boat outdrive in a fresh water lake. I'm tired of painting it every year lol
Hi there ,
What is recommended speed on the polishing machine ?
Thanks
I'm about to do this, but you did an awesome job, and thanks for the knowledge!
Awesome! Do you have to do anything special to protect the finish long term? Would you clear coat it? Or polish it again in the future? Thanks, great job!!
I desire to polish a aluminum carburetor. What power tool should i use? Also the varied grits of sandpaper to use?
Honestly amazed by your proccess, you didnt use any stick type compounds or a an angle grinder/buffer. im suprised you had to switch out to a new trizac pad, usually you can clean trizac media with an oil based cleaner (trizac belts anyway) never use water on the belts. havent tried the trizac disc/ pads yet.
What tool would be best to use on say a motorbike engine casing. Lovely job 👍
That was educational. I have an old aluminium boot (trunk) lid that I may have a go at and this has given me some pointers. All the best.
Man I’m impressed. Done a bit of polishing myself over the years and I really liked the way you did that. I have only done motor cycle parts nothing that flat or big. Could you do another video of some aluminium motorcycle parts? Thanks. Tim from Australia.
Thanks for the praise Tim. I will keep your video idea in mind for the future.
Planning a project using aluminum sheeting ....this is an awesome helpful video......and will minimize getting the black aluminum dirt on my hands.....thank you VM bud!!!
You're welcome! I'm happy to help. I have a link in my description showing where I ordered my aluminum if you're interested.
Wohw amazing. I wonder if this stays shiny. I would like to do this with a bike what do you recommend?!
I would like to clear lacquer it to keep shine longer, can I clean with thinners before clear coating.
Yes you can
Hi, I own a 1950 Alumacraft boat, the boat is all aluminum and the aluminum is aged from over the 70 years of abuse from our dock. Dock rash formed over the aluminum in spots. Is there anything I could do to get the boat back to a beautiful aluminum polish and shine. Thanks Ryan
Wow that was clean! What will happen if I didn't polished?
Brill! Now what would you coat that with for outdoors?
I’ve got a 1985 Sea Nymph aluminum boat. Would this process work on it too?
Absolutely fantastic, I’ll be following this method on a heavy aluminum Dell XPS 710 series desktop from 2007. It wasn’t shining like that when it was new even when it’s cost was a little shy of $6000.00 , I However hope it will not affect it’s authenticity and value for a possible future sale for it’s rarity. I would like to do it for me however it’s like a 60 lbs. case, Also I live in Alberta, Canada. It would be a hefty price to ship out. But I could just imagine that it would look like a real piece of art indeed. Thanks for your video I really enjoyed it.
What was the attachment you use to connect the pads to the drill?
Is this rust again by the time and if it is why you don't give it protection transparent coat
That type of sander will leave waves in the finish. Best to use straight-line sander or sanding block for a mirror finish. The polish used will shine, but it also brings oxidation. Oxidation happens fast. If you work a piece and walk away for a few hours and then start sanding again, you will need to cut through the oxidation layer again. A spray bottle with soap and water works good for floating the aluminum fines away while wet sanding.
my immediate thought was an aluminium aircraft! How long does the surface last? Thank you - very clear to follow.
I paint aircraft for a living. What a royal PITA keeping a polished a/c looking good....
Can you provide a link to purchase the pads please? I'm not sure what type of attachment to buy as well. Thanks your work is awesome and amazing!
Sure, they are underneath the description of the video. And thank you very much for the kind words
can you talk more about the burning that made you switch half way through the 3000 grit? I tried sanding an aluminum bicycle stem and I got these weird streaks / stains and I think I'm going to redo it.
The 3000 pad was getting worn out, it sounds like the same was happening to you. Start from an earlier grit and redo it and you should be fine
Insane I forgot how great it looks when u spend the time polishing like stainless. 👍
Brilliant video.. I've just purchased a stainless steel polished chrome bull bar for my van which upon fitting I've noticed some scratches. Can I use this method for taking out the scatches🤞
Yep, you definitely can. Thank you for watching.
@@SkillsandTrade Thankyou so much. 👍
I have a aluminum vintage travel trailer. I have questions about what paper I should start with ? The rivets are rusty. I was wondering why you didn’t use a DA sander and a car type buffer. Also what speed do you use ?
I was mostly surprised that the drill didn't overheat. The two drills I've used overheated and had to cool down. Good to know about the DeWalt
I have old sportster rim to polish. I'll try now. Unbelievable shine. Thanks
Can you do that on semi truck aluminium wheels
I'm sure you can if you wanted
wow did you wipe it down after each pass? how many times did you spray each peice of sand paper
Would this process affect the aluminium's conductivity?
Does the hook it pad come with an arbor for a standard handheld drill chuck? Or do you have to get that separate?
From what I can tell, it doesn't really seem to include anything other than the pad itself. I don't really have enough projects to warrant a dedicated orbital sander and I could probably rig up some type of arbor for my handheld drill but I'm just wondering if there's an off the shelf product for it?
The hook it pad has a metal bolt attachment that can fit inside the chuck of your drill
@@SkillsandTrade You're awesome sir, thank you very much!
Thank you! No problem. I'm happy to help.
@@SkillsandTrade Sorry, one more thing. If I've got some pretty "deep" scratches (not like a gouge but more like the thin visible scratches you can feel with your fingertips that you'd get from running an unprotected jigsaw shoe over the aluminum (hypothetically, cause I'm not sure what kinda idiot would do that)), would you still suggest starting at 220 grit? Originally I was planning on starting at 100 and going to 3000 from there. In this hypothetical situation that is, because I most definitely did not scratch my only piece of aluminum with a jig saw.
Yes, I think 220 should be fine. Aluminum is soft and 220 will have it fixed quickly, just aluminum cutting oil of some kind or just WD 40. Just be sure to not spend too long in any spot in the metal or it will create divets. Good luck on your hypothetical project.
How do you polish under the clamps holding your plate in place ?
so how do you PROTECT it from oxidation now? clear coat? epoxy???
does this technique work with aluminum tubing?
Does the polish keep the aluminum from oxidizing over time?
Is it possible to achieve the same result using da sander?
Which machine should we use to mount the grinding and buffing wheels?
Question: about how many minutes did you spend on each grade of sandpaper? I've got a 4" diameter 20 foot long aluminum pipe that I want to polish before I paint it. Doesn't need a mirror finish.
About 5 minutes or so. I have product links in my description if needed. Good luck with your project!
Need advice: I used oven cleaner on my electric frypan, which caused an oxidized coating. How can I sand and polish this small appliance, which has rounded curves and 90 degree angles? Would you recommend a specific brand of detail sander, or doing it by hand?
Maybe a fine wire brush drill attachment
WOW! So what to use to protect the finish from degrading?
Amazing!
Does it fade away/tarnishes? Any spots and blemishes? How about water and finger prints?
Thank you. It will fade over the years if you don't use sealant. It you handle it a lot you will get finger marks, but they are easily wiped off
@@SkillsandTrade thanks for the reply. So there is no excuse not to polish aluminum. Best material on the planet.
If you were prepping this sheet for powder coating. Would you sand it all the way to point of polish or stop at a higher grit?
You could probably stop at the 400 grit and be fine for powder coating
Skills and Trade Awesome! Thanks for the input.
Wow.. Does polished aluminum and stainless reflect more sun and heat better? How long it stay in like a mirror-like finish in direct southern Sun and Tropic elements? If not long how often you have to maintain?I have some spots on the roof of my van I'd like to stop the sun from cooking to keep the inside cooler.
Will you come to Stamford Connecticut and do that to an oil truck for me? Lots of aluminum to be polished! Thanks so much for the video!
Oh shoot, I don't like this getting older stuff!, I forgot I wrote something similar a month ago. Sorry. Don't get old!! lol
Joe Linguini we service your area if you’re still in need of a polisher
I've been in contact with Sammy bulgara who's in Fresno, he actually was going to come here, but I've just gotten so busy from the cold weather we've had and I didn't have time to do it. If you want to send me your info though I'd really appreciate it, in case Sammy can't make it when the time comes that I slow down. affordablefuel@aol.com or 203-667-7874 call or text. Thank you so very much, I really appreciate it!!
At what speed were you running the drill?
What a Great Job you did. I am about to restore a Kirby Vacuum do you have any suggestions for the sanding tool to use? it has a lot of corners and edges . Thanks for your HELP
I'm not sure on the sanding tool, I suppose you can try to use the process I showed in my video. I haven't restored a Kirby vacuum so I can't give you much advise, sorry. But thank you so much for watching, I really do appreciate it.
I am also restoring a Kirby and found this video to figure out what I need to do. Hope you figure it out!
What are the dimensions and grade of that plate. I'm trying to do the same to a 4ft x 8ft 1/8 in aluminum sheet of 5052
It is about 2' x 4', and it is marine grade aluminum. 5086
Great JOB . Now how do you protect it against oxidation ?
If you wanted to have a swirl pattern in it would you want to scratch it out before or after you polish I’m assuming before since you should only hit the high spots making it mirrored with your pattern still etched in?
Yes that should work fine
How much time do you think that the mirror finish will stay? Is there any way to make the polish permanent? I am planning to polish the aluminum components of my motorcycle. Your answer and suggestion+advice would help me a lot.
Thanks for the nice video! 🍻
Thank you Tanvir, the finish will stay for a long time. If you want the polish to be permanent I would use, Blingmaster Bling Barrier - amzn.to/2IZgk25 , I like that sealant a lot.
Clear coat it 3-5 times...
Can a random orbital palm sander be used?
Nice shine you know I just paid 250 just for the fronts of my aluminium rims . I just didn't have the time but for the money I paid him I could of got my own stuff . do you know from what grit I should start with and then end with .and then I know to add polish After sanding .but kinda nervous putting sand paper to my rims but I got some scratches and a curbed rim that needs some sanding to smooth out wear I hit the rim thanks great job on that plat
Thank you. I have links to all the products I used in my description. You can follow all the steps in this video or you can watch my aluminum rim polishing video:ruclips.net/video/eAaROQgJJ9E/видео.html ,
How do you connect the disks, etc, to the drill? I guess some sort of arbor?
The disks attach to the hook it pad like velcro. The hook it pad attaches to the drill via the chuck.
Ah, ok. Didn't see that part of the hook it pad in the picture of it on Amazon. Thanks!
No problem. Glad I could help
Best ever
Thank you very much!!!!! Greatly appreciated!! I hope you have a wonderful day