LOOKING FOR INFORMATION AND TIPS ON HOW TO GO ABOUT POLISHING THE TPI.THANKS FOR ANY INFO.

 

Sand paper. Start coarse, work your way to finer and finer grits. Once everything is evenly dull, with a bit of luster, and no visible scratches, polish and buff by hand with Mothers Aluminum polish.

It's a lot of work. Most people start and give up. There's a lot of half polished aluminum parts out there.

 

i went from 100 grit sand paper, to 150 grit to 200 to 400 to 500 wet sand then 700 wet sand. then once i got it all smooth i hit it with a white polishing rouge ( spelling) on a buffing wheel hooked up to a bench grinder. after that i finished it off with a hand helded air powered buffers ( the ones that look like porting tools) then cleaned it up with mothers polish.

 

Thats fine you wont have to start as low as 100 though. Start with 300-400 and go up 100 grit all the way to 800 then start to wet sand at 800wet. go up to 1000wet then go to 1500wet then 2000wet. Once you have it all even at 2000 hit it with polishing compound with a buffer. Wax it and your set.

The trick is to even out every grit sandpaper you use dont use shortcuts make sure every grit is even before you move up.

*My father fabricates high-power telescopes by hand and instead of mirrors he highly polishes metal discs. He has the machinery to polish the discs now but originally this was pretty much the process. Ive done a few with him and it comes out perfect if you take your time.

 

if you already have a buffer just get some greaseless abrasive and it eliminates most of the sanding.

 

THANKS FOR THE INFO. GUYS DEFINITLY HELPED.I HAD NO IDEA OF THE PROCESS.SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD WINTER PROJECT.THANKS