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bamarv7

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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
 
Thots

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.
 
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
 
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.
 
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!
 
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.
 
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.
img0024201br.jpg

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 Guide.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.
img0006252li.jpg


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
 
Polishing aluminum

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 :D
 
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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.
 
Mother's metal polish

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 :rolleyes: Good luck.
 
Polishing

I repair surgical instruments for a job, and when buffing is required, I use a soft buffing wheel on one of those bench grinder motors. Use the buffing compounds that come in a small brick. Works FAST, and I can put a finish on them that looks like chrome in a matter of minutes.

Alan
NW Indiana
 
be very careful polishing the wings-- press too hard and you won't have beautiful flat wings. If you hear any oilcanning or popping-- you are getting it hot or too much pressure.
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Done plenty, but not alclad

There is not really any "magic" to polishing aluminum parts that have some "heft". I cannot comment on polishing alclad skins since I have not done it (yet). I can certainly understand the comments about overheating the thin skins. For me, the usual error is moving too quickly towards fine grit media. Make sure the offending scratches or rough surface finish you are trying to eliminate is completely evened out at the current grit size before moving on to finer grit. If you don't, you will have to retrace your steps when you go back to coarse grit to get rid of that one mark that won't go away. Most of my polishing has been related to show motorcycle parts, not aircraft parts. 1600 wet is where I move away from paper to the buffing wheel. Wheel time is small compared to the paper time.
 
not magic?

how about the magic to not having the buffing wheel violently throw your part on the floor? :)

mark
 
Hopefully you have not thrown anything violently ANYWHERE in the last few days! Good luck with phase 1! :D
 
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