Polishing aluminum parts

[bamarv7]

I am building a RV-7. I am wanting to polish some of the aluminum parts that will be visible in my cockpit. Having tried a few things that don't really give the results I want I thought I would ask how other's have done it. Your suggestions/methods would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
Ed 767EW (reserved)
finish kit

[aadamson]

I haven't tried this, so YMMV...

I've also got a couple of aluminum parts in my cockpit area that I'm going to try the following with.

a) sand them with a fine grit paper is a rotary or orbital sander and work up to probably 800 or maybe 1200

b) Use Meguires metal polish with a buffing wheel to get them to shine.

A friend of mine did that with some annodized parts that he wanted polished instead of annodized and got some excellent results.

Beyond that I have no idea. My bigger concern is how to prevent continued tarnishing or corrosion, once they are polished... Hmmmm. I wonder if a wax after the fact would help protect them a bit??

There's got to be some polishers around that know best.... One other method is to give it to a professional polisher and let them work their magic.

[Mel]

If you sand the aluminum parts you will remove the (alclad) coating of pure aluminum. After that it will be extremely difficult to maintain a shine.
Second question is why do you want shiny parts reflecting into your eyes in the cockpit?
If you want to polish alclad aluminum, simply use a good aluminum polish. You will have to do it on a periodic basis. The more you polish, the more you will have to polish, as the alclad wears away.
Mel...DAR

[szicree]

You might check out the Eastwood Company. They've got a website and stock tons of stuff for polishing aluminum and spray lacquers for protecting it once your done. I used their stuff to take a stock Edelbrock manifold from raw casting to bright shiny finish. It took forever but looked real cool.

[JordanGrant]

I polished the canopy rails (including slide) on my RV-6 Slider. I highly recommend it - makes it look real good. I used a polishing kit from Lowe'sthat you just put in a grinder or (like me) in a drill press. Didn't take long, although the flinging polish made a mess. With a little effort, they look very nice. I even had another builder ask where I had my canopy rails chromed!

[mark manda]

Nu-Vite grade C and S. C for initial and S for final, before polishing with clean cotton rag.

only problem is a small container is $33.

I also have G6 that I use prior to C. But rails and the slider block brackets shine up and look like a mirror without G6.

Orbital worked good for rails, bolted down, and a bench grinder with a polishing wheel worked great for the slider canopy handle up on top.

FWIW.

[Rick6a]

I learned the hard way. I purchased a Sensenich "bolt on solution" spinner and anybody who had bought one knows it comes with rather deep circular machining grooves not unlike an old vinyl LP record and is golden in color from an alodine treatment I suppose. I spent hours and hours buffing the grooves out starting with a 2" fine scotchbite pad in my right angle die grinder then a cloth buffing wheel chucked to my floor mounted drill press set to 1000 RPM. I used Sears rouge for the buffing medium. That was roughly three years ago when my project was still in the garage and has had ZERO attention paid to it since then except wiping the dirt off with Windex. It is little more than uninformed opinion (Ken Scott calls such things "fertilizer") to suggest that polished aluminum requires constant attention! But I'm sure keeping the airplane hangared goes a long way towards preserving its finish.

Now, I am using the Nuvite system techniques as suggested by the Swift Foundation to polish my RV. http://www.nuvitechemical.com/index.html Like anything worthwhile, there is no "one size fits all" procedure for polishing an airplane to mirror-like brilliance. You must think of the varying grades of Nuvite polish as "sandpaper." Every piece of aluminum different and requires custom attention. "G6" and "C" are considered compounding grades to prepare new or scratched aluminum by "reforming" it. http://www.perfectpolish.com/Quick%20Guide.htm "G6" is ideal for blending out scratches and used with a 7-1/2" buffer, works its magic. Then its on to "C" and finally the "S".

Make no mistake....it IS work but oh so worth it.
This recent photo represents 1/2 hour work with "C." Notice my hangarmate's Cessna 172 spinner reflection.


Rick Galati RV-6A "Darla"

By the way, the best price I have found for "S" grade is from the seaplane folks found here. http://216.92.223.223/cleaners-and-polishes.html

[Jekyll]

My 7th grade metal shop instructor taught that the best polishing method for aluminum was the human hand with jewelers rouge. You should have seen all the black hands in that class. I love my RV and am very "hands-on" with it but, I think that may be to much except for the seriously deranged (using the hands that is, not the polishing)!

Jekyll

[Davepar]

It seems to me that polished Al parts would get scratched up in a hurry. Lots of cars now have "brushed aluminum" as accents in the interior, but it's not actually aluminum because it scratches too easily.

[McFly]

You can get Mothers at any auto parts store and probably K-Mart, Wal-Mart and the like. It costs around $5 if memory serves

This product does a nice job and seems to have to wax in it so the metal stays polished for a while. Don't get me wrong, it is still a lot of work Good luck.