Prop polishing

[Ruffles]

Boats out for a couple of days to scrub and polish prop.

I have a proper hull polisher. But I've only ever used this on the hull.

In the past I've taken the prop home and used a spindle mop on a bench machine.

What do you use on a hull polishing machine to polish a prop? Presumably not a wool pad!

I also have an angle grinder.

 

[richardbrennan]

Most people, including the pros, seem to use a wire brush. It's quick but you hardly get a mirror finish.

 

[Bobc]

I tried everything on mine, and painted it in the end.

 

[rogerthebodger]

I have a small and a large angle grinders fitted with polishing mops ans use then with the correct polishing mop.

Mine are standard grinders so very fast and can be dangerous if the get put of control but do polish very quickly.

 

[black mercury]

I just use big flat bladed screwdriver to get the worst off, followed by 240 wet and dry, then 400, then hand polish. Does ok. Really depends what size the prop is but average yacht propeller this should take about 30 mins.

 

[maby]

Ours went in highly polished last spring and still came out caked in barnacles - so this time round we tried ladling lanolin all over it. Instructions said to make the surface quite rough to help the lanolin stick. Hoping it will work - will be interesting to see it when it comes out next spring.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Ours went in highly polished last spring and still came out caked in barnacles - so this time round we tried ladling lanolin all over it. Instructions said to make the surface quite rough to help the lanolin stick. Hoping it will work - will be interesting to see it when it comes out next spring.

Last year, for the first time, I painted mine - International Trilux aerosol primer and antifoul. It came out close to clean, a much better result than I've ever had with bare bronze, or various gloops, including lanolin.

 

[johnalison]

I have a feeling that painting is the way to go. Someone who was connected to a chandlery was using AutoGlym resin polish on his and recommended it. I am currently dried out in St Helier while my prop hub is being changed and I found my prop quite scaled after only about two months use, so I will probably go back to lanolin next year, or try Trilux.

 

[Pete7]

Rob, do you have the original prop? We use one of these mounted in an angle grinder to clean ours. Does a prop in about 1 minute and leaves a very smooth dull finish which primocon sticks reasonably well to. It looks vicious, but dealing with last years old antifoul paint and barnacles is no time for pussy footing about and maximum violence is required quickly as we need to get the paint on between the tides.

Pete

http://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-wire-brush-twist-cup-65mm-m14/81337

 

[Ruffles]

I have a small and a large angle grinders fitted with polishing mops ans use then with the correct polishing mop.

Mine are standard grinders so very fast and can be dangerous if the get put of control but do polish very quickly.

How does a mop fit on an angle grinder? Do you fit a spindle and then spin on the mop? Or is there a sort that bolts onto the grinder in the same way that a cutting disk is fitted?

I can see that you can buy spindles for angle grinders. But doesn't that make the mop a bit vulnerable? It's dodgy enough using a mop on a bench. Often had pieces fly across the shed.

Edit: That's pieces of work - not pieces of mop! Buffs up fingernails well....

 

[rogerthebodger]

How does a mop fit on an angle grinder? Do you fit a spindle and then spin on the mop? Or is there a sort that bolts onto the grinder in the same way that a cutting disk is fitted?

I can see that you can buy spindles for angle grinders. But doesn't that make the mop a bit vulnerable? It's dodgy enough using a mop on a bench. Often had pieces fly across the shed.

Edit: That's pieces of work - not pieces of mop! Buffs up fingernails well....

I have adaptors on both my angle grinders that allow double polishing mops to be fitted. My bench polisher has an adaptor to twin mop's that I made as there was no thread like the angle grinders.

My hand polishing tools. The die grinder is a geared down die grinder to usinf 120 and 240 flap wheels to prepare the work for final polishing.

My bench polisher

Close up of small angle grinder and adaptor.

 

[savageseadog]

Prop polishing.................waste of time and effort

 

[AntarcticPilot]

I've just cleaned up my propeller - a Gori 2-blade folder.

A top tip for getting the rings left behind by barnacles is to soak the blades overnight in a few percent Hydrochloric acid (I used about half a litre of 20% acid in a gallon bucket of water). A stronger solution would have acted faster, no doubt. Removes all the lime, doesn't affect the metal, and a quick wash and wipe removes ALL the deposits. I'd have done the hub that way, too, but I didn't fancy getting it off the shaft and then reassembling it. A quick go with metal polish, and I had a prop like new.

The HCl worked far better than the abrasives (sanding disc on a Dremel look-alike) I used on the hub. I don't know why, but the carbonate deposits from the barnacles actually seem to resist the abrasives more than the "patina" between them.

 

[Ruffles]

Prop polishing.................waste of time and effort

No it's not. Looks nice in the pre-launch piccy.

 

[Ruffles]

I've just cleaned up my propeller - a Gori 2-blade folder.

A top tip for getting the rings left behind by barnacles is to soak the blades overnight in a few percent Hydrochloric acid...

My local hardware shop, Pollards, runs an industrial cleaning supplies bit on the side. They sell the HCl used in public urinals. Absolutely lethal. It removes calcification on stern gear in seconds. And the barnacle rings. And what are those worm caste things you get on the prop?

 

[AntarcticPilot]

My local hardware shop, Pollards, runs an industrial cleaning supplies bit on the side. They sell the HCl used in public urinals. Absolutely lethal. It removes calcification on stern gear in seconds. And the barnacle rings. And what are those worm caste things you get on the prop?

Tube works, I guess! See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tube_worm

 

[Ruffles]

I have adaptors on both my angle grinders that allow double polishing mops to be fitted. My bench polisher has an adaptor to twin mop's that I made as there was no thread like the angle grinders.

So those are bolted on? And it needs additional hardware to mount a mop on a grinder?

 

[rogerthebodger]

So those are bolted on? And it needs additional hardware to mount a mop on a grinder?

The mandrel screws on to the 14mm thread of the angle grinder and the mandrel has 2 clamp plates like a bench grinder to clamp the buff on to the mandrel.

I got the mandrels from Flex power tools and I think its a spare part for the machine below

http://www.flex-tools.com/gb/Produkte/Polierer/index.php?start=10&num=5

 

[Sans Bateau]

Ruffles asks:

"I have a proper hull polisher. But I've only ever used this on the hull."

Yes you can, I polish my prop at home with one, but there is no reason why you can't whilst it is on the boat, use a course rubbing paste. I normally soak the prop in brick cleaner and then work away at the barnies with scotch bright before the polishing. Last summer as I dried out alongside a wall I just painted on the brick cleaner and the result was as good. I would only use wire wheels or some other aggressive action if I were going to paint the prop. Interesting comment from TK though.

 

[wiggy]

I polished my folding prop on a bench polisher, looked fantastic, then coated in lanolin. Launched and after 2 weeks in the Basin at Southwick near Shoreham-b-Sea I had to get re-lifted due to engine problems. The prop is now covered in calcium deposits what a waste of time that was. Something must work.