hey everyone today we're going to be discussing metal polishing and the
products you need to do this so first off we need to understand what's happening on the surface as
we polish and the kind of art behind it so polishing is basically smoothing out the surface
to the point where light reflects off of it that's how you get that reflection or like
when you look at it you see reflection that is because the surface is so smoothed out
and there's no scratches no scuffs and light is able to reflect off of it
so this can be done on most metals steel iron stainless steel aluminum copper brass
you can even do it on plastic as well now to give you a basic outline of how this process
works for example on a part like this brake pedal the first step we're going to remove all these
scrapes scratches and pits if you have a part like this caliper mount that has a sand cast finish
all those little dimples will need to be smoothed out this is typically done with an abrasive wheel
or sandpaper once you have all the scratches pits and casting marks smoothed out we're going
to move on to a polishing wheel this is commonly made of cotton and then you combine that with a
polishing compound and that'll remove all of the finer scratches and you do this in a few
different steps and then it gets you to the point where there's absolutely no scuffs left behind
and you have a perfectly reflective shine now the wheel i found that works best for this first step
is a flap wheel and 180 grit works quickly and doesn't leave behind a ton of deep scratches
let's get this flap wheel mounted up on the bench grinder you want to have a flange or a washer on
either side of the wheel just to help keep it in place now before you start polishing you want to
clean up as much of the dirt and grime off the part as possible that dirt will just contaminate
the wheels and make the process harder then we can just start buffing so first up we're
gonna smooth out this big scrape on the top of the pedal here see what the flat wheel will do on that
and when you're buffing you want to work evenly across the part don't spend a whole lot of time
in one area you'll end up with a bit of a low spot and also helps to change directions too
now something that helps make the flap wheel stand a little smoother
is some lubricant such as wd-40 or maximum mppl just spray it right on the part
as you can see we got that scrape all smoothed out blended in really nicely now while you're
on this step you'll want to smooth out the rest of the scrapes the pits you can even
take it a step further and smooth out these casting lines as well and the cassidy markings
now with all the scrapes and scratches smoothed out we are ready to move on to the polishing
stages so there are three different stages here we have the number one wheel that basically removes
some of the scratches left behind by the flap wheel and we combine that with a black compound
now this is for aluminum steel is a different combination then we move on to the number two
then the three and the three will really finish it off with that nice reflective shine and one thing
you want to keep in mind when you're polishing you have to go through each one of these steps if you
skip to the final step you can't really expect a good shine because all the scratches won't be
smoothed out underneath it's not going to be very reflective so let's throw the number one wheel
on the bench grinder and get to work now it is normal for these wheels to shed strings
on its first use takes a little bit to break them in about a minute and they will be pretty broken
in also helps to apply some compound immediately upon use that just helps keep those fibers intact
now right away you want to apply compound to the wheel so hold it on for about two to three seconds
and then reapply the compound about every minute or two
and just like with the flap wheel you want to move evenly across the part
and also change your direction from time to time too
so the first stage polishing is done you can see some of the shine starting to come through
doesn't quite have that full mirror effect that we're going for and that's what the last
two stages of polishing are for so the first two steps in this process are very important
you want to sand out every scratch you see you definitely don't want to move on to steps three
and four unless you have every visible scratch smoothed out or else those will just show through
and won't look too good now a couple little pointers when you are polishing you want to apply
medium to light pressure unless you have a deep scratch or pit you want to smooth out
you can use heavy pressure in that situation but you definitely want to follow that up with some
lighter pressure to help smooth that out and the area you want to be buffing on on the wheel as
it's spinning is right about here so seven eight o'clock that'll ensure your part doesn't catch an
edge and go flinging if you're polishing farther up here you're not getting a lot of leverage on it
same with down here so right about here is where you want to be and to make these wheels last as
long as possible you want to be really careful around sharp edges so something like right here
on the tip you don't want to buff right into that you want to be buffing away from those sharp edges
wheel spinning this way you want to be buffing away from it and not toward it you'll catch that
possibly fling the part and it'll tear up those wheels a lot quicker and i should have mentioned
this earlier but you really only need to use the flap wheels if your part has deep scratches pits
or those casting nipples if your parts new or just in really good shape you can just skip ahead to
the polishing steps all right it is time to move on to stage two of the polishing we're
gonna use the number two wheel along with a brown compound this will remove the scratches
left behind from the first stage of polishing and just give it a little bit more reflective shine
now after stage two we can see some shines start to come out looking pretty sweet but stage three
will just take this to a whole nother level now if this is a type of project you guys want to
tackle yourself i will have all the stuff i'm using throughout this video linked down below
the wheels compounds buffing machine you name it i'll have it linked all down below alright
it is on to stage three and the final stage of polishing let's see how this turns out
so
got the polishing all done check out that shine got a little bit of compound left
behind it's completely normal just grab a soft microfiber towel and give it a wipe
down you want to make sure you're using something really soft that doesn't have
any abrasive or any dirt in it that will just scratch up that freshly polished look there
now you can really see that shine start to come out after wiping away the compound
and fingerprints turned out really good for the most part now there was an area
here where i didn't completely smooth out a little pit right there it's not completely
flat it's on the back side of the pedal so it doesn't really matter that much but
as you're polishing if you notice that stuff you can always go back a few steps smooth it out that
way you have a nice consistent shine now after all this hard work you want to keep up on the shine
somehow so you can either just touch it up by hand with a microfiber towel here using some liquid
or a paste type polish you could just also take the part off the bike and re-polish it over here
on the machine now there's a few different ways to protect the finish after polishing you can either
like i said just use a liquid polish or you can use a nano ceramic as well that's like a thin
clear coating that goes over the part it won't really diminish the shine too much
that'll help keep some of the wear and water spots at bay so a finish like this is definitely a lot
more upkeep than say a brush finish now as far as wear and tear goes i probably wouldn't polish
a part that gets a lot of use or is on a bike that you're riding all the time this stuff does scratch
up pretty easily especially you know like a brake pedal that's probably not a part i would polish up
this is more just a test piece i had laying around you know if your boots are rubbing on this thing
all the time it will scratch up pretty quickly however if you are working on a bike that's more
of a showpiece or something that doesn't get a lot of use polishing would be a pretty good option for
something like that now i'm sure a lot of you guys are curious about rust and corrosion on parts like
this so the actual brake pedal is made of aluminum if you keep it dry and clean you should have no
issues with it corroding however the brake tip is just carbon steel and if you leave that bare
it will rust pretty quick so there are a few different ways to combat that you either do
a clear coat like a nano ceramic or if you keep your bike inside in a clean environment you should
have no issues with rust and corrosion so that is the process of polishing it can be a lot of fun
and get some great results out of it and once you learn the technique it really isn't too hard
now a few things to note the process is pretty messy you want to do it outside or in a contained
area and you want to wear some protection as well some gloves some glasses a respirator you don't
want to be breathing this stuff in it's not good for you that's very important and i would just say
have fun be patient with the process it does take a little bit of time to learn the
technique but once you get it down then you'll be really glad you spent the time to learn it
so i would recommend just grabbing a test piece go through the process a few times
once you have a good finish then you can move on to parts that you actually care about
and that pretty much wraps it up but if you would like to check out the products i used throughout
this video i will have them linked down below have them all laid out for you guys to make it
easy on you so you know where to get them but i hope this video helped you guys out maybe
made sense of the process a little bit more or at the very least just
entertained you so thank you for watching i will see you next time take care you