How do you polish stainless ??

[fun4now]

my first thought is what type of sand paper is needed for the de-scratching process. being as SS is so hard, dose it need a special type sand paper ???

[aametalmaster]

Just look at "The Bean" in Chicago. I can't remeber how many months it took to polish it. Does anyone rember?

This one...Bob
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Gate

[aametalmaster]

When i worked at Am Std we had a pickling room with large tanks of acid and the baskets that held the parts to dip were SS and they were as shiney as you could get even in the nooks and crannies from the acid wash 24 hours a day. I would weld them and in a few days the welds and around it were perfectly clean and shiney...Bob

[P.the Heat]

Hello Mark,
I have made a few custom belt buckles,out of rough s.s.
I start using wet dry sand paper 150 gr.then 220 then 320,400,600,800 until
I get to 1000 gr.,after i am done i use the polishing compounds.
This compounds you can buy them at sears.
The tool i use is a dremmel grinder,and i make my own sanding disks out
of this different grits of sand paper.

Ps when sanding i always use it dry,and always use your safety glasses
If your piece of s.s is to rough start with 80gr.
I hope this info will help you out.

[chrisgay@sbcglo]

my first thought is what type of sand paper is needed for the de-scratching process. being as SS is so hard, dose it need a special type sand paper ???

Hi James.

In my experience, any sandpaper will work, although Zirconia tends to cut faster and last longer.

In my opinion, "stainless" steel is really a misnomer, as "stainless" steel tends to stain all the time. It also rusts. Furthermore, although it is hard on tools, it tends to scratch very easily... particularly once it's polished.

[etonline]

Mark I polish SS almost every day so it is very do-able.

I think the problem you're having with the tubing is you keep going the same general direction with it held in a chuck. You really need to cross sand....like in an X shape sand down one leg of the X then the next grit sand like down the other leg.

Also I hardly ever use scotch brite for a finish step. With a 3hp balder you will probably need to get out around 600 to 1000 grit.....IF you have a sisial wheel and SS compound.

[pescaloco]

Thanks everybody I have learned alot.

It is no dought true after you factor the time and cost of abrasives that rough finish material is not really that cheap, however I like having odd shapes and sizes of stuff around just beacause, and this is not my primary means of income.

I spent more time sanding and polishing yesterday, I was able to achive a very bright shine (But as had been mentioned by others) their are grain lines that just did'nt go away, obviously this is a very painstaking process.
Yes polished S/S will scratch very easily Ohh no - after all that work

Mark

[technodive]

I have done a lot of stainless steel polishing. Before I take any rouge with the buffing wheel, depending on the surface finish already, I like to use the Scotchbrite SST wheels, EXL and or light deburring wheels. I use a Baldor buffer and stand for some of the small items and use hand, air and electric hand polishers. After the Scotchbrite wheels I then use the cotton buffing wheels with varying compounds.
The one project I am doing right now is changing my water system for my filters, softener, iron filter, UV light, etc in the house to 1" SS tubing. Polished all the stainless tubes and fittings. Used sanitiary fittings for easy break downs for yearly cleaning. I even crimped my own hose ends (can't stand hose clamps). Could post pictures if interested.

[fun4now]

welcome to the site technodive.
we always want pic's !!!

[pescaloco]

sure lets see some pics