how to polish aluminum?

[Six_Silver]

I was wondering what a good process is for polishing aluminum. I have some parts that I bought polished and they look great, almost like chrome. I would like to make some of my outher aluminum parts look the same.

Anybody have any tips?

 

[Russ Merritt]

Sand paper and water starting coarse and going to 2000 grit. Then use some Amsoil metal polish or Blue Magic metal polish.

 

[SinistrV6]

from www.streetrodstuff.com


Metal Polishing by Fred Palmer
I've been using a bench 3/4 horse motor for a wire wheel (German made) for well over 20 years now, and it also doubles as a buffing/polishing setup that can polish virtually any kind of metal. When used in conjunction with smoothing with wet-or-dry paper, the different types of polishing compounds can bring most all metals to a good shine. A good example is the recent purchase of a luggage rack at the local wrecking yard for a mere $20! Once it was home, I found it could be completely disassembled and it was stainless steel! Boy, did it end up looking new with the buffer. For shop use, don't use less than a 3/4 horse motor. Now, the reason I mentioned using a German made wire wheel is that I spent a lot of money on cheap wheels from Asia and ended up with pieces of wire stuck everywhere! Thank goodness for a face shield. The German wheel was a bit more expensive, but it's still in use after about seven or eight years. And yes, I still wear the face shield. The motor I use is available thru Harbor Freight Tools and is not going to break the bank. It has an output shaft at both ends. Also, use different buffing wheels for different compounds. Experiment with it and you will be suprised how easy it is to both polish and remove old gasket material and rust!


AND...


Polishing Aluminum by Johnnie Eller
Buff large aluminum parts, such as a beer keg like mine, without having to use a fixed buffing machine. Take your 7-inch sander/grinder/polisher and replace the pad and rubber backing disc with a large cotton buffing pad. Be sure to use large fender washers on each side of the pad for stability. Start sanding the aluminum with about 600 wet/dry using soapy water. Continue with 1000 grit until everything is smooth. Then hit it with the buffing pad and Red then White compounds. It takes awhile so don't get discouraged. Once satisfied, switch back to the felt polishing pad and use 3M polishing compound (or similair) and buff as you would paint. Works great and saved me $160. That's StreetRodding Stuff.

 

[Six_Silver]

Hey thanks guys. Hopefully I will be able to find some time to try this. Thanks for the details!