I still HATE polishing

[Walsheng]

I just spent about 2 or 3 hours over the last two days polishing the connecting rod on the Stuart No. 9 I am building. The problem is I saw a picture of a No. 9 with a polished connecting rod and really liked how it looked with all the polished brass and bronze.
When I was building molds for a living I can't tell you how many hours I spent polishing molds.  Everything from just draw stoning so the part would release from the mold to literally 100+ hours on a mold getting an optical polish.  Now I have more patience but it kills my 60 year old thumbs.
Maybe next time I will just paint the whole darned thing and convince myself I like it.

Anyone else hate polishing?

John

[stevehuckss396]

I like a polish on my parts. I hate maintaining it.

[zeeprogrammer]

Anyone else hate polishing?

Yes. For a number of reasons....

1) I'm never satisfied with the result. Don't think I ever could be.
2) It's near the end and I'm lousy at 'finishing'
3) It's often not appreciated except by those who know what went into it
4) Seems like it takes the most time of any operation
5) Like you mention...it can hurt after a while

Still...a fine polish can really show attention to quality.
As for number 5...take frequent breaks.

Ah yes...what Steve just said.

[swilliams]

6) the guys who used to work in toolrooms polishing dies were always crazy 

Steve

[Walsheng]

"1) I'm never satisfied with the result. Don't think I ever could be."


I especially agree with this one.  I was going to post a picture, but I am not satisfied.  I bet I could spend another 6 hours on it and not be satisfied.

John

[Walsheng]

6) the guys who used to work in toolrooms polishing dies were always crazy 

Steve

Got that right, but not as crazy as the welders!

John

[peatoluser]

I get fed up very quickly with polishing. I'm afraid I am a fully paid up member of the 'deeply scratched highly polished' school

and yes John, iv'e never met a sane welder yet. must be the fumes!

peter

[Deko]

Spare a thought for me gents, when i finaly get my fibre optic clock mechanism working i then have to strip it down and polish every little bit.

Cheers Dek.

[Swifty]

I'm not a great fan of bling on models, the originals weren't polished. A nice "scratch" finish with some emery paper looks good. Sandblasting hides a lot of blemishes if you have one. I feel that polishing shows up any small imperfections that lead to more polishing again.

Paul.

[b.lindsey]

I agree Paul...I much prefer a lightly bead blasted finish to a high polish. The other think I don't care for with polishing is how it tends to round otherwise nicely machined square edges. Other than bead blasting, I find fine grit emery paper for flat parts or scotchbrite used in the lathe with round parts impart a nice matte finish.

Bill

[divided he ad]

Just found this thread.... Personally I like the bling (as anyone familiar with my work will know)

I made a video a while back to help with polishing... Would you like a link?

It is using my lathe. Which I know is heavily frowned upon. 



  It was more about showing technique than what to use.

If the lathe thing is going to start issues I'll not post the link 





Ralph.

[b.lindsey]

Ralph,
I for one would like to see the link for the purpose of learning more as to your technique and not the equipment being used. I have a small Foredom buffer (they call it a bench lathe but it isn't a lathe in the sense that most of us think of). I would like to learn how to use it more effectively and your link could possibly help in that regard.

Bill

[divided he ad]

Ok Bill, I'll post it....

It's the way I do it and it gets fairly good and consistent results.... the technique is exactly the same when using Dremel sized polishing kit too.



Please read the warning at the beginning of the video.

Possibly also watch the video response, which is the 4th video in my torch build series. It shows the mod' I made to make this process safer.


<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLRoblphSeY" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLRoblphSeY</a>




Ralph.

[b.lindsey]

Thanks Ralph.  Can you elaborate more on the names or specifications of the compounds you use for the various steps. I think maybe I am not using an abrasive enough compound in the first step.

Bill

[divided he ad]

Bill,

I have been called into work... I will look the links etc up later and get back to you.

If I don't get it posted tonight try a PM    Memory like a black hole!! 







Ralph.

[Ian S C]

Afraid I tend to just go as far as Draw filing, sometimes bits get a polish up with wet and dry paper, but often, as long as the finish is not too bad, it gets left as machined, I'm more into getting things going, that to what it looks like.  Ian S C

[zeeprogrammer]

Fantastic! A very useful video for me. I really like seeing how it's done rather than a 'started with this', 'used that', 'got this'.

I was wondering too...the chuck does scare me at times...it's so easy to bang a knuckle (as I've done)...

I'd like to use that method but I'm thinking I would mount the wheel on a long bar, well away from the chuck. Use the tailstock on the other end . Maybe a thick rod threaded on one end and another thick rod with a threaded hole. Then pinch the wheel between them?

How much pressure is applied? Enough that the bar would likely bend on me?

[Mosey]

While you're at it, how about posting your idea of a proper polishing machine, and the names of those buffing wheels so we can go buy them. Is there an affordable machine on the market?
Of course, we could always get one of the numerous clapped out South Bend lathes with 1/8" of wear in the ways, to use for a polishing machine.
Mosey

[Jo]

I was wondering too...the chuck does scare me at times...it's so easy to bang a knuckle (as I've done)...

Zee,

Try mounting the pigtail in a 5C collet chuck rather than a three/four jaw SC chuck. They will give you a bit more clearance and they don't have the same sort of rough edges to catch yourself on  .

Jo

[fcheslop]

Don't you find buffing mops round the edges or is that just a case of me being kack handed
I prefer a satin finish or is that a case of I know when to quit

[zeeprogrammer]

Try mounting the pigtail in a 5C collet chuck

I've always wanted to use collets on my mini-lathe but have had little luck finding something that works.
Probably my lack of knowledge/understanding.
I'll have a look around again but if it looks a tad costly (and I tend to go whole hog) then I'll probably wait until I get my next lathe. Oh what a sweet day that will be. That day will be within thirty days of:
a) retirement (choice of 3 dates here...2 years, 6 years, or 10 years which is a clue to my age)
b) last home purchase (actually tied to retirement)
All subject to whim

[Bogstandard]

For a cheapo buffing machine, go onto Ebay and buy a cheap 8" double ended offhand grinder. This size machine will handle a 6" mop with not too much difficulty. A 6" grinder would do for 4" mops.

Next stop is Caswell. You need to go to there from your own country otherwise it just sends you to wherever you don't want to go.

US site (I think) - http://www.caswellplating.com/buffman.htm

It is really worth saving this site as a favourite, as it has a lot of tips on it as well as all their plating goodies as well.

From there buy one right hand and one left hand pigtails of the size of the shafts of your grinder. You may have to cut off the threads on the grinder shafts to get them to fit.

From the same place, you can buy all your wheels and buffing soaps. I would go for a 1/2" wide Sisal, 1/2" wide felt, and two 1" wide stitched to begin with. The soaps you buy are based on the materials you want to polish.



I think my whole set up was only just over 100 UKpounds.


John

[divided he ad]

There you go folks... The man who taught me has now taught you   

The Caswell plating site is a good source of info.... Bill, that's the link I was going to find     It tells you everything I could.


Just to clarify. As said, I no longer polish with the chuck. Here is a few pic's of the set up I use now.

Start with a MT3 soft blank taper.   


Shaped so that it will be strong and smooth. over to the mill to add a flat and a tapped hole for a grubscrew.


Drilled out for the pigtail. Fitted and then machined together and polished up a bit. 



Then a sleeve for the M40 thread.


A bit of smoothing out...
 

A lot safer than the chuck 






Sorry bout the massive pic's.... They're from my old stuff.


Answer to rounding edges.... The prep!
The better prepared the piece (finest flatting available) means you have to do very little work to get the part polished.

Trying to polish out machine marks or even scratches simply does not work!






Ralph.

[Captain Jerry]

I've got a simple rule for the shop.     If I hate it, I don't do it.  The museums don't care what I do.  They aren't interested anyway.

Jerry

[b.lindsey]

Thanks for the link Bogs and Ralph. While I don't polish many parts as per my previous post, I would like to be better at it for those parts that do look better polished so this has all been helpful!!

Bill

[Bogstandard]

Ralph has got it spot on there.

The job has to be as nearly smooth as the finished polished article. It shouldn't take more than a minute or so to polish up a small face or part.

You use the felt one I mentioned for aluminium, getting into those ogee and curved cuts along the edge of a job, but be careful, they can take off material faster than you can mill sometimes.


John

[Tennessee Whiskey]

Folks, redneck here. Lathes is fer turning and buffers is fer polishing. If'n you want to polish, use your off hand grinder or buffing motor with a mop or pad and some compound or soap which ever you call it. In restoring old cars I've found that polishing is a big old PITA, plain and simple. There are tricks,like mounting small parts to polishing boards, wet this, dry that and so on. Now do we really think that if we are gonna replicate the past in scale, that the builders of the originals spent this much time and effort on polishing; I doubt it ( besides being a lot bigger) If you want a museum piece,learn to buff and don't bitch, if you are recreating the past, work on machine finish and painting skills. The main thing I'm saying is; ENJOY YO' SELF, that's why we do this cr¥p. Tell 'em Tell, don't sweat the the small stuff.  OK this is my opinion and whilst I'd like fer it to be yours, if it ain't I still like ya anyhoo

Y'alls Redneck,
Eric

[GWRdriver]

Trying to polish out machine marks or even scratches simply does not work! - Ralph

Strewth.  A comment I read a number of times in old MEs over the years, not complimentary, and often attributed to judges at the IMEX . . . ."Highly polished, . . deeply scratched." 

[divided he ad]

Lathes is fer turning and buffers is fer polishing.

Dunno, lathe works pretty good 






Ralph.

[Bogstandard]

Eric,

EVERYONE to his own.

John

[Ian S C]

Another quote from "Model Engineer" from a few years ago, make and finish each part of the model as if the opart was in its self a gold medal exhibit.  It may have been someone like Cherry Hill, or some other like modeler.   Ian S C

[Troutsqueezer]

I  bling. I like rounded edges, they blend one part into the next. I've blung so many parts my fingers are permanently black. This engine would look like all the others out there if I didn't blang on it. 

[Maryak]

When I first went to sea, I was known as the 3rd hand. That meant everything that nobody else wanted to do. The main engine had this bloody great double reduction gearbox and mounted in all its' glory in the middle was a bloody great big gauge board  with a gauge for every bearing and every sprayer oil pressure and they were all in brass housings. It taught me one thing; how to hate polishing brass. The ambient temperature was between 120 & 140 F and the box itself was 120 F so your nether regions and feet were slowly parboiled as you made things gleam in the dark.

If it moves salute it, if not paint it or polish it.

My 1st American built ship had 100's of gauges but guess what, they were mounted in beautiful gray non polishing plastic housings. I still thank our US cousins for this.

Best Regards
Bob

[Tennessee Whiskey]

I would like to take this opportunity to make an apology. I was rereading this thread last night and the post I made did not come across one bit like it was intended. I was trying to say that there are many ways to go about it and none are really pleasant, unless you just like to do it.
I see Trout likes to and it shows, beautiful job Trout. The reference to "it's my pinion and should be yours" was a line used by a radio DJ in the Carolinas who did a comedic commentary. It wasn't meant to be taken seriously and I guess I should have added a LOL or three. If I sounded like an a$$ I am truly sorry and it wasn't intentional.

Y'alls Redneck
eric

[ths]

Trout, very nicely blung.

Cheers, Hugh.

[divided he ad]

Clearly this thread shows us all as differing on our wanted final results 


As kinda said, each to his own.   I'm with Dennis... Love a little bling. But then again I make nothing like replicas.
(Loverly engine BTW Dennis)


Eric, No issues here... Lathe is used due to lack of space Not much swinging room in a 6-7ft square workshop!
Trust me, if I could have a dedicated buffer it'd be great... PIYA changing the chuck for the polishing rig 


Bob, fully understandable aversion to shiny stuff. Keep your shades on.... I'll have a real shiny finger engine on here soon   






Ralph.

[zeeprogrammer]

Clearly this thread shows us all as differing on our wanted final results 
As kinda said, each to his own.

 

Diversity. Gotta love it.

[Troutsqueezer]

Just got around to re-reading this thread. Thanks for the compliments guys. Eric, no apology needed, my friend.

[Bearcar1]

I remember when you built that engine Trout', and it was a beauty then too. Well, maybe just a bit shinier   WHUT??


BC1
Jim