Buffing aluminum?

4shorts · Post by **4shorts** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 9:36 am

Just wondering if anyone on here does there own aluminum buffing? I picked up a couple of buffing disc's and some compound and tried a small part this morning and I'm very impressed with the look. I guess the more time you spend on the part the better it looks.

I'll wash each part down after and clear coat them.

305 · Post by **305** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 3:04 pm

i buff aluminum and stainless steel parts , bought a kit from eastwood and a buffer. it's amazing how yo can tale a crappy looking part and with a little work make it look great. of course , some parts take preparation before you buff...like stainless steel trim needs the dents removed

4shorts · Post by **4shorts** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 5:34 pm

Well today I removed the guards and grinding stones from my one hp 10 inch grinder and added two new buffing disc's.

I just took five minutes and did a small part of a rear shock. As you can see by the picture the parts were pretty ugly looking. I sanded the clear off with some fine emery cloth and then applied only two parts of the compound and it came out like this and It's not cleared yet. If I spent more time on it I'm sure it would look like chrome. I'm starting my new rebuild/restore Cub project this week so I wanted to do a test on the buffing and so far I like it. I attached a few pics for all to see. Paul

Oilleak · Post by **Oilleak** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 7:46 am

I started doing my own polishing years ago on a small bench grinder just because I couldn't afford to pay anyone to do it. Like you, I discovered that it is really not that difficult to turn ugly parts into beauties.

kustommusic · Post by **kustommusic** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 4:40 pm

Its the only way to go when restoring a bike! I bought a buffer from Harbour freight and picked up the bars of compound at a swapmeet. A little pratice and you figure it out perty quick. No more waiting 3-6 weeks for my buffer to get to my stuff. Kustommusic

mjmudd · Post by **mjmudd** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 10:34 am

Which of the rough compounds do you use?

Mike

4shorts · Post by **4shorts** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 1:20 pm

Mike I use just the black first and then the white one and do this because I only have two buffing wheels and you shouldn't use different compounds of one buffing wheel.
I get the parts almost as nice as actual chrome now that I'm use to doing it but the only thing I found about the actual buffing that I don't like is the mess it makes around the shop. I now have "Dust Bunnies" all over the place from the buffing wheels so from now on I'll be buffing outside. Getting the "Dust Bunnies" cleaned up is tough because there everywhere and I had to clean it because I paint in my shop and didn't want them getting into my paint work. Maybe it's just the type off buffing wheel I use. Anyone else run into this problem? Paul

This is the first bike I've buffed everything on and I'm happy with it!