Polishing stainless
 

Does anyone know the best/easiest way to polish stainless steel? (besides send it away and have someone else do it)

Thanks
DAVE

What kind of part? What is it?

Too Old,
I know about the rouge and the buffing wheel to get the gloss but whats the best way to get the grain out of steel? You gotta get the grain out before you can get to the polishing part, right?

When I polish aluminum I'll take some fine sand paper and wet sand and then polish with white rouge, but I dont think sand paper will do the trick here.

Z,
Its 316 stainless plate that I can remove for the buffing wheel.

DAVE

TooOld is right; But you will have to sand the surface first if there is a deep grain .

Assuming its just raw SS and not cut...Best way is with a DA sander so you dont put streaks in it, start with about 80 or 120 work up to 800 wet then course rouge, (gray or rust color) then white.

Dan

Send it away, there must be someone local????? They do the best job because they have the "Right Stuff". cb

You can start with a flap type sander. The coarsest one you can find. Finish sanding with the finest grit flap sander you can find. Look closely at the piece. The hardest thing to get out are the pits. The surface may look good at this stage, but even the slightest imperfection will be amplified in the next step. Now go out and buy a 3m deburring wheel. You can get them from Grainger. 8s fine is the grit. This wheel mounts in your bench grinder. Go nuts. You have to get all the tiny scratches out from the sander. Usually there is another step between these two, but you probably don't want to buy two deburring wheels. Again, the surface must be absolutely perfect. The tiniest little scratches that remain will be amplified in the next step. Now go to a spiral sewn buffing wheel. Load it up with some emery compound. Go nuts. By this time you'll be seeing a pretty good reflection. Reload the wheel with some stainless compound. Repolish again. The finish should now be like a mirror. Now look at it closely, and you'll see what I mean by each step having to be perfect. If it's not perfect, you'll have to go back to the deburring wheel and start over. Take your time and fully complete each step.

10-4. Thanks Cord.
DAVE

Find a local truck wash or big truck stop . They have guys there that do it so cheap it isn't funny ! And they will have it done in a few seconds !