r/MetalPolishing

A little back story. I live in a Metropolitan area with close to 1m people yet we don't have any type of Ceramic Tumbler/Rotary wheel polishing available. Which I think is wild but I'm not hear to solve that problem.

No, see a buddy and I have been eyeing this machine for our selves and maybe a little side work.

I have a set of two piece Wheels. Powder coated face and raw aluminum barrels. I'm just tired of doing it by hand every year and was looking for something a little more automated.

My buddy owns and operates 2 semis and he also does his own wheels by hand and is tired of it.

Now we don't want to go spend 5k on a tumbler but we found this Rotary style machine that we think will do the trick.

Anyone have any experience with this or similar?

Just trying to figure out what material we need to run it. Assuming a Ceramic bead and some type of sullivant.

A little point in the right direction is all I am looking for.

Thank you.

First two pictures show the swirls they look terrible from a certain angle from the opposite angle(last pic) it looks pretty mirror.

Hey all,

Me being a complete rookie trusted chatgpt, kinda effed up my fenders and created way more work for myself.

I asked it to give me the easiest way to remove old paint from a motorcycle fender (which it did) and it told me to sand blast it back to bare metal. So I had them blasted today and boy was I shocked when it came out looking the way it did hahaha

I don't even know why I expected it to look the way i wanted it too.

So now my question is are these salvageable and how can I get them to the same finish as my tank? It doesn't have to be mirror finish, just smooth and slightly shiny.

Or am I better off just taking the loss and getting them painted and be done with it..

Thanks everyone

I Bought a new boat last year and I’d like to keep it looking brand new. The jack plate and fenders are aluminum. How can I get rid of the water spots and keep them looking like new?

I bought this lovely vintage vinyl single suitcase and it’s in great condition. Except the metal hinges and lock. How do I make it shine again without removing it?

Hi, i am trying to burnish these silver planchets, but they always end up scratching each other during the process. They are annealed before burnishing

Process i have tried (with steel shots & zirconium shots)

1. Tumbling
2. Centrifugal
3. Vibratory

I know that the best way is to burnish them 1 by 1, but i have thousands of these and wish to experiment for a faster way to do so.

This is a huge pain in the ass and i would greatly appreciate any advice that i can try.

My last resort would be to build a hug3 rack full of 100 mini tumblers and i really dont want to do that……

How do I get the cloudiness and haze out of this?
7075-T6 aluminum material.

I stripped the paint off part of the door on my 1998 Toyota Crown and I’m trying to get a mirror chrome finish on the bare metal itself. The metal is smooth already but not reflective enough yet.

What’s the best process/products for getting a true mirror finish on automotive steel? Wet sanding grits, polishing compounds, buffers, sealers, etc. appreciated.