Anyone have a place they can recommend in MA or surrounding New England that does aluminum polishing? I have some Cadillac speed parts I’d like to get done. Thanks, Joe
Hey Joe, it is labor intensive but you can do it yourself. I bought the cheapo buffing wheels and variety pack of compounds at the swapmeet. The wheels that go on your drill. Good luck
X2 on the you can do it yourself. But as has been stated it is labor intensive, very. It comes down to what is your time worth?
Its one of those things I’d rather farm out. I have an as cast intake that would not be enjoyable to do.
Might ask one of the plating shops. I had chromework done at J&E in Dover, NH. Heard there is someone over Henniker way. J&E closed up shop.
Go find a truck stop. Those super truckers spend all day Saturday polishing their trucks so they can go get them dirty all week again. I know, I used to be one, but got real tired of that really early in my career. There are always guys hanging around truck stops or putting messages on bulletin boards at the truck stops for polishing all those big aluminum wheels and tanks.
Eastwood has everything you need to do it yourself. I polished my dual quad hemi intake and really liked doing so. So much satisfaction also. Check it out here.
My brother used to get his alumninum Harley parts at South Shore Plating in Quincy Mass Always came out great Google them...they have a website
This gent did my finned aluminum valve cover for my 292. I had a clean never installed casting and he did a spectacular job on it Andrew Tants valvecover@hotmail.com Guys keep him busy so the turn around isn't super fast but the quality is top notch. First three are the before shots that I sent him to get a quote. Last one is when I took it out of the box when I got it back.
DIY is not really that hard, it just takes time. Here's my (oversimplified) process for starting with as-cast aluminum: 1. Rough sand to 36 grit all sprues and parting lines. I use my big belt sander, but you could use a grinder to start as long as you don't get carried away and make grooves. 2. Sand with 80 grit the complete surface you want polished. This is like the blocking of bondo, it will establish the final surface smoothness. Any little dips or waves should be gone when you are done with the 80. You must remove all traces of the 36 grit scratches. It's just like polishing paint, if you leave a scratch from the rougher grit it will never be sanded out by the time you go to the smoother grit. I use one of these for all sanding from 80 through 800 https://www.lowes.com/pd/PORTER-CABLE-120-Volt-2-Amp-Corded-Sheet-Sander/3275833 3. Then sand each surface with 150, 220, 400, 600, and 800. I use all dry papers on the sander shown in step 2, and sometimes need to replace the paper often. Some very narrow surfaces will buff easily with only a sanding to 220 grit, but if you want a nice polish that isn't too hard to buff, go all the way to 800 everywhere. 4. First buffing is done on a spiral sewn buffing wheel with black emery compound. I have a buffing wheel set up for just this purpose, but putting a wheel on your bench grinder will work fine as long as it doesn't spin too fast. You will also need to have a bit of wiggle room around it. Places like Eastwood and many others sell smaller buffing wheels and pointed tips to get into nooks and crannies, but I don't have a lot of experience with them. 5. When buffing I hold the part to the wheel at many angles, just like when block sanding paint. This helps prevent pushing or melting any minute pits and causing drawn out craters. A light touch for longer time is better than a heavy touch in a hurry. 6. It might take quite a while to "season" your buffing wheel. I never use one of those toothed cleaners on my spiral wheel since I've gotten it loaded with a nice layer of compound. I add black emery every couple minutes while buffing, and once the wheel heats up you can feel the polish taking place much easier. Keep at it until all surfaces have a nice shine, no scratches or blur left. You can wipe off too much compound with lacquer thinner if you need to. 7. After all the black emery work is done, I clean the part with lacquer thinner to get all that rough grit off. Now you are ready for the white rouge final buff. This is done with a loose wheel, and if you don't have one at least an inch wide I'd recommend putting two next to each other. Load the wheel with white rouge, but it won't be making a coating on the surface like the black emery. Then place the part to the wheel and I like to feed the part downward. So you are buffing from the bottom to the top of the part. Seems to work good to keep your grip, as well as leave a nice shine that is clearer. This final buffing is much quicker than all the work you do with the black. Then clean it again with lacquer thinner and check your work.
Alchemy is on point. ^^^ When I had a TV in the garage ... I just sat in a chair and ran a host of slowed air tools on my aluminum. Then nothing but hands ... and the slow drip of time. ( Be sure to cover everything that you don't want black on. ) For all the bitch'n regarding aluminum polishing ... I get it. It is easier than polishing steel, though. Don't need welders ... to fill in divots & pits. For that ... I sent my crap to 117Harv.
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