engine turning

can anyone direct me toward the abrasives for engine turning panels?

Thanks
Mike

 

Valve lapping compound?

 

Eastwoods catalog used to carry the abrasive bits needed to do the engine turning.

 

A round stick of "Cratex" in a mill or drill press, works great. It's like an eraser with abrasives imbedded in it. Comes in different sizes, too.

 

..and if you want it done for you.. www.fpmmetals.com

 

Rolox disks

 

Wine cork ,drill press and rubbing compound.

 

what he said but use valve lapping paste, overlap the swirls and use a straight edge guide to get the pattern in straight lines.

 

I'm guessing when I say the valve lapping compound may be rather spendy compared to other stuff like rubbing compound.

I like the suggestion about the Roloc discs. Those are known as Metal Finishing Discs. made by 3M and Norton and available from several sources, like Grainger and ebay. Getting them for under 50 cents a dics for 2"-ers is a fairly good price. I use a fair amount of'em for my metal furniture/artsey stuff.

I thought about doing engine turning in the CNC mill, but I don't want the coolant contanimated by the compound. Hey, I didn't say billet!

I'd suggest not using a fresh disk as it will dig deep in the first few swirls and then fade out as you progress. Try a used one with rubbing compound. Let the compound do the work while the finishing disc provides a cushion. Set the Z stop on your drill press to achieve even swirls. Wear a mask and an old shirt as it will have a big dirty stripe across it.

 

Architectural Metals in Phoenix does a type of engine turning. He makes commercial kitchen grease hoods mostly; however he also does decorative metal panels for architects in stainless, copper and other metals. He probably can do the small sized that was popular in the '30's for cars.

 

I use the "sticks" you can buy from eastwood. they come in different diamaters and work great.....very inexpensive also

just chuck it up in your drill press and wala

 

Valve lapping compound works, as does a wood dowel if you're turning aluminum, or you can also use a small wire brush for your drill.

Do a search, flamedabone did a tech on it in the last 6 months to a year.

 

check here

http://eastwood.resultspage.com/search?p=Q&ts=custom&w=engine+turning&submit.x=32&submit.y=12

 

That`s how it was done on the Spirt of St.Louis cowl!

 

I like an encapsulated wire brush. they allow the shape of the brush to remain constant, while keeping the metal cool...

 

Cruzr -

Thanks for the Eastwook link. I've been meaning to get a catalog from them for years. This thread was the reminder I needed, and you made it easy for me. My catalog is in the mail.

 

thanks guys!
I think cratex is the stuff I was looking for. I saw eastwoods deal but who wants to buy a 'kit' when you already know what you have to do, but dont know what the abrasive is.

thanks all, appreciate it.
might try out the roloc's due to having a few and some fine grade valve lap compound laying around.

mike

 

Always used a birchwood dowel and valve grinding compound but if your into spending you could open up a mcmaster carr and order cratex