Any tips for polishing stainless???

Chad.S

Chad.S

Oldtimer
In the future I have a project where I want to polish some stainless exhaust tubing..
Any tips? Also debating giving it a brushed appearance.. Un decided at the moment.

Either way it's something new to me so I could use some advice.
 
One thing that helps is to sand the metal as fine as possible before using buff wheels and polishing compounds.
The pros have more efficient ways of smoothing the surface before buffing. We have DA's and auto body paper.
I try to send it out when possible unless it's a few small parts. Dirty work for sure.
 
x2 on that. i learned ss will polish but good luck cutting out scratches with a wheel and compound. i treat it like paint. sand to 2500 wet and the start.
 
Last year we bought an Eastwood polisher and a kit with all the polish,polish wheels and expander wheel with sand paper from 220-2500, it's a bit of an investment but i sure use it slot now, even comes with a how to movie. The basics are to remove your dents, slot like on sheet metal but with tiny hammer and anvil, file off the tiny bumps, sand out the file marks and scratches, all the way up to 2500 just like clear, and then you hit with a hard buff siesle wheel ( its almost like a scotch bright pad in wheel form) and then go on to looser knit wheels and finer polish till its like a mirror. its not super ddifficult but it is dirty and time consuming, its actually made me a bit of money doing it for other to scared to try. If you get serious let me know and i can get you more detail on everything
 
Chad, starting with raw stainless is a pain! I can order stainless from my local steel supply with a couple choices of finish, a couple bucks more a foot for the finer the finish but a couple bucks a foot or a couple hours a foot. Starting with mill finish I tend to file the whole piece with a couple different files if you don't and you polish it looks wavy. But when you get done filing and sanding (I usually go from 120 to 4000) buff it with card board cut outs to fit your buffing set up and emery compound then your siesle wheel and up and up. The cardboard dulls down the 4000 but you have a good sound finish with 4000 but buffing with card board will get your buffing cuts to go a little smoother, try it on a small piece it was a real head slapper when a trim guy told me about using cardboard.

Pat
 
I agree with pat, the better it starts the better the finish.

As far as buffing or brushed, I guess after you spend hours buffing the first piece, you will see you can brush it and make it look really good in 10% of the time, maybe less.
 
Sounds like this is going to be a time consuming process.. I do have to keep in mind that it is a exhaust system but it still has to be nice..
What would be the process for a brushed finished? This is probably what I should do because I think we are going to get the bumpers done in a brushed tinted nickel finish.. I think.. Still planning some things out.

I have some time yet but I am trying to get things planned.
 
My day job is building Waterjet intensifiers.... Mostly all stainless and all sealing surfaces super finished. The milder stainless 300-400 series are more difficult to polish, shines method is the best bet there due to the softness of the material. 15-5, 17-4, and the other higher end stainless materials tend to polish far better, sand in steps up to 600, then white rouge with a buff wheel will get you into a 1-4 microinch finish I'm not sure that the 15-5 stainless would be available in tubing(or very cost effective) but it will last the longest and take the best polish, if its heat treated it will polish even better.

Wish I knew a good way to do a brushed finish and hopefully some of my ranting was helpful.

When we polish from rough stock here the harder material we start with about 40-80 g depending on scale from extruding and drawing the material.

A good piece of material with not too bad a scale on it will polish not too terribly bad, of course their are several feet in an exhaust system and I rarely polish anything over about a foot long, if you have access to a lathe with a long enough bed on it that'd be the ticket to polish the tubing prior to being bent you can really put your ass in it all chucked up with a center, then have it bent and do the touch up afterwards....
 
bomccorkle;39480 said:
My day job is building Waterjet intensifiers.... Mostly all stainless and all sealing surfaces super finished. The milder stainless 300-400 series are more difficult to polish, shines method is the best bet there due to the softness of the material. 15-5, 17-4, and the other higher end stainless materials tend to polish far better, sand in steps up to 600, then white rouge with a buff wheel will get you into a 1-4 microinch finish I'm not sure that the 15-5 stainless would be available in tubing(or very cost effective) but it will last the longest and take the best polish, if its heat treated it will polish even better.

Wish I knew a good way to do a brushed finish and hopefully some of my ranting was helpful.

When we polish from rough stock here the harder material we start with about 40-80 g depending on scale from extruding and drawing the material.

A good piece of material with not too bad a scale on it will polish not too terribly bad, of course their are several feet in an exhaust system and I rarely polish anything over about a foot long, if you have access to a lathe with a long enough bed on it that'd be the ticket to polish the tubing prior to being bent you can really put your ass in it all chucked up with a center, then have it bent and do the touch up afterwards....
Click to expand...

304 stainless is what I will be working with, and that is what the mufflers are made out of as well, and it's all mandrel bent pieces i will tig weld together to get the fit I want.. It doesn't need to be mirror polish, I just want it uniform and I want to clean up the inconsistencies that come on the tube. Something that will stand out when looked at from underneath the truck. it's probably overkill for a truck that will sit 5 inches off of the ground but I want it to be nice.

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shine;39483 said:
i'd chrome it before all that polishing
Click to expand...

I think I am going to give you're method a try, sand it as fine as I can and start polishing.
 
Chad I would assume that the automotive papers/abrasives would he your best bet in sanding. Most of the problem with the 300-400 stainless is that they tend to be gummy and that is why they don't polish well. When comparing it to the 15-5 style steel its like sanding filler too soon if that makes any sense?

Also when polishing the stainless stuff it seems a lot of surface velocity and a lot of back and forth seem to force the "POP" sooner.
 
with the pieces cut it will be easier to do. i wet sand stainless . i double up the pads for more surface also. if you could find some of the old super duty compound it does a good job on first cut . polishing stainless is just a pia any way you go about it.
 
I would have never thought of stainless to be gummy.. Interesting.. What grit should I start with.. And can I get away with just using a buffing pad or do I need to get another style pad?
 
Nice site... Since most of the pieces I have will sections of tube it would almost be better to buy a buffer and stand but only so much room in the shop left.
 
mount your polisher on a post. cut a hole in your floor and sink a pipe into the concrete so you can set the post in the ground when you need it .
 
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