Stainless Steel Tube Polishing

ctva

ctva

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I have got raw SS tube for a new cockpit tent and need to polish it to the usual mirror finish.

Is it best to use a drill or angle grinder mounted pad(s) for the different stages needed?

I have about 12m of 12 tube to polish up so how much of the black, green and white compounds should I need and how long do the polishing pads last?

Is there any other things that I should consider?

Any help or advise of how to and suppliers / equipment would be welcome. Thanks.
 
ctva said:
Is it best to use a drill or angle grinder mounted pad(s) for the different stages needed?
I have about 12m of 12 tube to polish up so how much of the black, green and white compounds should I need and how long do the polishing pads last?
Click to expand...

If you get one of the mop & polish kits from Amazon/eBay for about £15, they'll do that tube and much more, no problem.
A drill or angle-grinder will certainly work, but a bench grinder is designed to have its bearings stressed laterally, so that that's the preferred choice. It's also generally more manageable.
 
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I've just experimented with this on my pulpit, which had scuffs, was dull and had flying rust on it, mainly to learn how to do it for the upcoming solar arch, which I'll be polishing myself to save some dough.

It was easier than expected (presumably because the Pulpit once was shiny, so there was less polishing needed)! I've used some of my trusty supply of good quality wet sanding paper (Starcke), starting with 600 grit on the scuffed bits, then 1000, 1500, 2000 on all areas, with a bucket of water to rinse the sandpaper often (black fine dust comes off - wash it off the deck before it dries). The long tubes are quick work, most of the time is spent on the corners and around the welds. I've then polished one half with my trusty can of Peek metal polish, which came out with a great shiny mirror finish. As an experiment, I polished the other half with some International Polish & Wax I used on the gelcoat. I was curious if the wax would protect the steel from new flying rust for a while - will have to see in a month or two. The finish on that was good, but slightly less shiny compared to the Peek. Overall it went much quicker than I thought, and wasn't that much work, so I wouldn't bother with polishing machines and the likes unless you're on the clock.
 
ctva said:
I have got raw SS tube for a new cockpit tent and need to polish it to the usual mirror finish.
Any help or advise of how to and suppliers / equipment would be welcome. Thanks.
Click to expand...

What is the finish like now, are you just wanting to bring it back to it's original polished finish or is it just plain unpolished st/st tube? I made a boarding ladder from standard engineering st/st pipes as I wanted to use preformed weld fittings, I polished it but it took a lot of work using a 1HP motor fitted with a 8" calico buffing wheel and using the correct polishing compound.
 
Expect to take several days to do the job even with a proper bench polisher. You will need stainless steel grinding pads in coarse, medium and fine for the mini grinder to begin with followed by hard stitched wheel and soft polishing wheel on bench polisher. One bar of each grade of polish will do the trick. Personally I'd buy some polished 304 for what it costs (we always use 304 but others will wrongly scream that it's not suitable) and forget about trying to polish that length.
 
macd said:
If you get one of the mop & polish kits from Amazon/eBay for about £15, they'll do that tube and much more, no problem.
A drill or angle-grinder will certainly work, but a bench grinder is designed to have its bearings stressed laterally, so that that's the preferred choice. It's also generally more manageable.
Click to expand...

Will the 100g bars of white, green and black be enough or will I need the 500g bars? The tubes are 1" and about 12m in length.

kolster said:
What is the finish like now, are you just wanting to bring it back to it's original polished finish or is it just plain unpolished st/st tube? I made a boarding ladder from standard engineering st/st pipes as I wanted to use preformed weld fittings, I polished it but it took a lot of work using a 1HP motor fitted with a 8" calico buffing wheel and using the correct polishing compound.
Click to expand...

They are raw engineering finished 316 so need to go from the bottom!

PCUK said:
Expect to take several days to do the job even with a proper bench polisher. You will need stainless steel grinding pads in coarse, medium and fine for the mini grinder to begin with followed by hard stitched wheel and soft polishing wheel on bench polisher. One bar of each grade of polish will do the trick. Personally I'd buy some polished 304 for what it costs (we always use 304 but others will wrongly scream that it's not suitable) and forget about trying to polish that length.
Click to expand...

Given the length and shape, a bench polisher (which I have) will not really be practical so was thinking about using an angle grinder but the recommended rpm is around 3k-4k. Mine is a set 11k rpm so would it be worth buying a cheap variable speed angle grinder https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product...sfl_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1AFJESMA8SCN6 ?

Thanks for all the other reply's, some good info. :)
 
You'll need a 200 litre drum of elbow grease. To mirror polish 12m of 1" tube is a very long job. I'd suggest you buy a length of polished tube.
 
I removed all of the stainless on my boat when I bought it and polished it with an angle grinder and a DA sander with a compounding foam and Autosol to finish.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Angle-Grinder-Aluminium-Metal-Polishing-Kit-6pc-/301602831004

They can substitute the soaps to suit stainless.

I also bought more polish wheels as they don't last that long:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1X-Dronco-Felt-Flap-Gloss-Polishing-Disc-115mm/282117085961

To polish out the deeper scratches I used a wire wheel and then 600 / 800 / 1200 grit paper before going to the soap.

You'll need ear plugs or defenders as it takes a while - long lengths of stainless tube tend to vibrate with an angle grinder polishing them creating a rather unpleasant noise.
 
I brought some S/s cleaner from Morrisons the other day,haven't used it yet,you just spray it on got it to lmprove a sink top.
 
Best done purely manually using 3M metal-finishing pads.

I just bought a pack of 3grades x 10 of each on Amazon.co.uk. for a very reasonable price - do not confuse with pan scourers which they closely resemble.
I think you'll find it most economical (certainly of your effort) to use polished tube and the pads for where it's been worked.
I've not seen the professionals using power tools except for fairing weld. Polishing is done by hand.
 
Not sure about polishing large amounts but I have done small bits using mechanical aids and also by hand.
Certainly a wheel was advantageous for flat bits but I had good results on tube using wet and dry and then paste polishers on a cloth
where the shape of my hand meant I was polishing a large area at a time versus the comparatively small surface contact from a wheel.
 
charles_reed said:
Best done purely manually using 3M metal-finishing pads.

I just bought a pack of 3grades x 10 of each on Amazon.co.uk. for a very reasonable price - do not confuse with pan scourers which they closely resemble.
I think you'll find it most economical (certainly of your effort) to use polished tube and the pads for where it's been worked.
I've not seen the professionals using power tools except for fairing weld. Polishing is done by hand.
Click to expand...

I haven't seen anyone polish by hand in the marine industry - certainly all of the local fabricators use bench polish mops and soap.
 
DrSpock said:
I removed all of the stainless on my boat when I bought it and polished it with an angle grinder and a DA sander with a compounding foam and Autosol to finish.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Angle-Grinder-Aluminium-Metal-Polishing-Kit-6pc-/301602831004

They can substitute the soaps to suit stainless.

I also bought more polish wheels as they don't last that long:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1X-Dronco-Felt-Flap-Gloss-Polishing-Disc-115mm/282117085961

To polish out the deeper scratches I used a wire wheel and then 600 / 800 / 1200 grit paper before going to the soap.

You'll need ear plugs or defenders as it takes a while - long lengths of stainless tube tend to vibrate with an angle grinder polishing them creating a rather unpleasant noise.
Click to expand...

Did you price all of the time up at £45 an hour ?

Must have cost a fortune.
 
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