Aluminum Polishing Products
Polishing aluminum is widely used in the restoration of vintage motorcycles, particularly those built from the late 1950s until the 1980s. The abrasives used for this type of polishing include sandpaper as well as various grades of cream pastes or stick polishing blocks. These in turn may be used with either clean rags or powered polishing equipment such as rotary buffers, bench top grinders fitted with polishing pads or even miniature rotary tools, used for polishing in tight places.
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Emery Paper
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Emery paper, a type of extremely fine-grit sandpaper is used for the initial stages of aluminum polishing. This is required on aluminum that has been darkly corroded. It is important to note that emery paper is not like typical sandpaper. It is foam backed, and the type that is used for metal polishing exceeds 3000-grit. Even in cases of extreme corrosion, emery paper used for polishing aluminum should not be more coarse than 2000-grit.
Polishing compound
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Polishing compounds are the next stage in aluminum polishing after the use of emery paper. Stick-type polishing compounds come in red, black and white to indicate the level of grit. Red is a heavy-cut compound, black is medium-cut and white is the finest cut. These compounds are used with bench top buffers or miniature rotary buffers. After these compounds, cream-type compounds are used with foam buffing pads to polish the aluminum. Cream compounds range in grit from heavy-cut to haze remover, which is equivalent to 6000-grit wet/dry sandpaper for
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Bench top Buffers
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Bench top buffers are simply bench grinders whose grinding stones have been replaced with cloth buffing wheels. These wheels are used with stick-type polishing compounds for the initial polishing of aluminum after the use of emery paper. The stick polishing compound is applied either to the aluminum itself or to the cloth buffing wheel. The work piece is then pressed against the buffing wheel to apply the necessary amount of polish.
Orbital Buffers
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Orbital buffers are used with cream-type polishes to put the finishing touch on polished aluminum. While orbital buffers are best known as large tools used for the polishing of automotive paint, the most important part of the tool is the foam or wool polishing pad that is used for the actual polishing. The orbital buffer can be practically any size to match the needs of the polishing job at hand.
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References
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