How about a stainless trim repair and polishing thread to end all stainless threads?

Long ***le and yes ,,I did a search

But there are very few and I would like to cover all the bases in one thread,,,,

What have you guys done?

I pulled out all the stainless for the 1954 "Ranch Wagon" since it's finally being painted and it needs some work,,,dull,scratched and dented.

The car ain't gonna be a showboat but I would like to make the stainless look as good as I can using my own labor. HRP

 

I hope this thread takes off! My daughters '64 pickup side trim needs some love, and they don't sell replacements. Consider me subscribed

 

I quickly found out that restoring stainless is an "ART". But this helped me.
http://www.hotrod.com/howto/3401_stainless_trim_repair/index.html

 

I'm not trying to tell you I'm good at this, I'm a beginner. All I have done is practice working out very minor bumps and dings in otherwise nice pieces. I can't repair torn pieces or custom make it. Basically you work the piece from the backside and then you file the exposed side smooth and then polish.

It's a finesse game. Good tools are a must. I have several hammers and anvils from Eastwood's catalog, but be prepared to improvise and use wood/metal/plastic items in your garage to create forms you can hammer against. Correction - LIGHTLY TAP against. Probably the best thing I have is a small baking tray filled with melted wheel weights. Working on it allows you to tap the piece without getting an annoying "bounce" that can work the piece more than you intended. And you can melt the lead to make it perfectly flat or you can work in a contour if you need.

Work SLOW. It's not a race. You don't want to tap it back out too far and end up with a super-thin piece or worse, a hole.

Once you have tapped out the dented spots, you can use a Sharpie over the area before you begin filing down to identify high spots, similar to fogging black paint over primer before sanding. Polishing is pretty straightforward, but you have to be REALLY careful not to get the piece caught up in your polishing equipment. I have a small 6" buffing wheel on a bench grinder, but I want to get a bigger wheel, and try different wheel materials and polishing compounds. I'm getting ready to do all the trim on my Chrysler and I will show pictures then - if it turns out well.

 

There is a comprehensive tech post on this subject on The Studebaker drivers club site.

One thing that I have found helpful is to mount my chisels and punches in a vise like a tiny anvil and hold the stainless and small hammer in my hands in stead of chasing the trim around the work bench with the punch and hammer in my hands.

 

One thing I can ad, I found it easier to pin the pieces to a flat piece of plywood with tabs of sheet metal for the sanding and polishing phase opposed to trying to hold it on a buffing wheel. For my rear window stainless that has a curve, I pinned it to a piece of masonite then blocked it and supported it to maintain it's shape.

A long the same lines, I picked up some good pointers here as well...

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=147819&highlight=stainless

 

i'm in.... got a lot of stainless. any tips would be great...

 

I'm going to bookmark this thread. I've got lots of stainless trim to repair, some of it very difficult to replace if I should screw it up. Thanks for the idea, HOTRODPRIMER!

 

I've had good luck with chrome shops. But that was years ago. I had some pretty banged-up goods and they fixed em then polished em. Some shops would even help if you were putting it on a different make and model. I say call yer local chromer & maybe they can do it. Might give em a sample piece and see how they do.

Shawn

 

I like this thread and will use it for some good ideas.

 

I did not go to search for it but there was a great tech post by someone about this awhile ago.

 

Keep it coming,, HRP

 

One method not mentioned is to take some lead and melt it into a good portion of the trim near the dent. before it cools put a bolt in it head first to make a handle. Take a soft block of wood and conture it to the outside of the stainless. place the trim on the wood and using the lead tool tap it with a hammer to smooth it out. You are basically making a male and female die.

Nick

 

when buffing, i like to have the buffing wheel sort of loose on the arbor, i shim it so it doesn't slip while buffing, but if a part snags the buffing wheel, the wheel will spin on the arbor instead of rip the part out of your hand and damage it.

 

Everyone should read [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The Key to Metal Bumping – 4th Edition[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] by Ryan King. [/FONT]It's a bunch of help and will help you learn how to shrink the dents out and not just make a high spot on the other side. It is very time consuming and can be tedious. Good tools are a must as you already said. But patience is the most important thing out there. And since most people don't want to pay for what it really takes to do this right you are better off learning how to do it and saving a little cash.

 

Aint nuthin like experience, just dive in!

 

A lot of good information,,,any other tips? HRP

 

there was an article from one of the magazines a few years back that I saved and used their instructions to fix every dent in the 52 Buick grill I fit into my Plymouth. I spent almost the whole winter doing what one other gent already said.. "taking your time". I found small blocks of wood and some different size screwdrivers worked out the dents rather well. After filing the spots smooth, I used sandpaper wrapped around a paint stick starting with 120 grit and down to ultra-ultra fine to get it really smooth. I used a 4 inch polishing wheel connected to my air powered die grinder that I placed in a vise. I held the grille pieces in my hand and carefully polished them. tedious work, but well worth the effort. Bud

 

I'm not super flash on the whole dent removal thing. but polishing I can help with.

For stone sheilds: once all the dents are carefully removed and you still have the tiny little pits left from the stones, I use a 3in Roloc sander on my 4in grinder - LITELY and sparingly so as to not induce too much heat into the stainless as it will burn easily. Like all polishing, I start course and get finer, but use 3M scotchbrite discs: Brown, then Red, then Blue.
Then I use another fantastic 3M product - Trizact. This stuff is really good. Once again from course to fine: A30, A16, then A6. This gets the stainless to about 2000grit, or almost mirror finish.
Then polish it out with a Calico mop and 'Hyperfin' soap, followed by a Swansdown mop and 'Hubble' soap.

For everything else: If there are dents that have been removed, I use the same process as bove, but skip the scotchbrite stage.

For straight and dent free parts: I usually just use mops and soap, but start with a Sisal mop with 'Fastcut' soap, then onto a S***ched rag mop with 'Fastcut' again, then the two mops and soaps as above.

This get's the stainless so brite it hurts to look at it. I'm no professional, but this is what I've found works best on 400 series Stainless Steels, which most car trim is made from.

Hope this helps.

 

Great thread! Jeez, this stuff is GREAT to know. I think MOST HAMBers prefer to do everything they possibly CAN on their cars (matter of pride & satisfaction, right?). So, THIS is something I really wanted to know more about. THANKS, guys!

 

How to Restore Automotive Trim and Hardware (Motorbooks Workshop) (Paperback)

by John-Gunnell

 

I'm bookmarking. There must be 60+ feet of stainless on my Galaxie and it all needs work.

 

I bought this book by Jeff Lilly off ebay for $1 , it`s excellent.

 

This is an awesome thread! I bought all the trim hammers that Eastwood sells (only thing I ever bought from them, for the price they ask you'd think it was made by vestal virgins or something). I found a whole bunch of bent up trim on various junk cars in the woods and that's what I'll try these techniques out on.

Keep posting more folks, it's pretty interesting to read.

 

My feelings exactly,,HRP

 

Great thread! I have been threatening to restore some pretty rare parts and this will definitely help. Thanks again, HAMB!

 

patience! patience! patience! a friend of mine is a very good metal man and he said when you can sit and enjoy gr*** growing then your ready to try it. he did show me a piece that the buffing wheel grabbed, destroyed it!

 

Most of your Galaxies trim is anodized aluminum. The techniques for stainless won't work very well on it. I tried a couple small pcs. on my 63 1/2 and once you start sanding it that coating comes off and then it doesn't look the same. Not much you can do with it to restore it.

 

BigO on here is AMAZING at fixing stainless. He is a master jewler and can perform magic. He made my 31 headlight buckets look brand new. He is a great friend of mine and I recomend him to anyone!

 

How about anodized aluminum??? My 64 F-100 has some that needs attention.