Polishing Automag Matte Grey Powerfeed Body

[RetroEclipseMan]

I was interested in polishing my matte-grey powerfeed body on my automag so that it would have a nice chrome finish. Has anyone done this that can send me the exact process of what they did or know of a site that has the instructions. Your guys' help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!!

[FactsOfLife]

look in my sig for my site.

[RetroEclipseMan]

Polishing

I was actually looking for instructions on how to do it myself.If you could email me the process you use or something that would be cool. Thanks man.

[FactsOfLife]

Hmmm my methods....

I receive a customers parts and polish them...


Sorry, I can't be any more specific than that


by hand it's just hard work. start rough, end fine. it's not much more complicated than that really. If you have the time, and more importatnly the stick-to-it-ed-ness, you can polish them by hand.

I don't recommend it myself. By the time you've finished, you've spent enough on various sandpapers and a good finishing compound to justify having me do it professionally. And Even with shipping times, I'm faster.

But that's about the size of it. Start rough, finish fine. good luck, and post a pic when you're done.
This is what my finished product looks like:

[athomas]

I've done it before. It isn't very difficult.

I started with 300 grit sandpaper. Cut it in two inch wide strips to make it easier to work with. Sand the body until it is smooth (no roughness from the original bead blasting). Finish sanding with 600 grit sandpaper. Sand until all scratches made from the 300 grit paper are gone. The body should be a dull shine. Next, polish the entire body using a crome mag wheel polish. After this step the body should be a mirror finish, smoother than most of the original polish jobs right from the factory..

Good luck.

[RetroEclipseMan]

Polishing

I'll give it a shot. Thanks for all the info guys!!!!!

[FactsOfLife]

good luck. and if you get frustrated, check my thread out in the Dealers Forum here on AO. I'm still looking for four more people to have thier mag bodies done for free.

[RetroEclipseMan]

Polishing

Thanks for the offer. Looks like I was just a bit late. oh well. So far I have just used an SOS pad to take the top finish off along with some Mothers Wheel Polish and it's starting to get there. Off to the hardware store to get some sand paper and get down to some business and some real work.

[RetroEclipseMan]

Polishing

Thanks for the offer. Looks like I was just a bit late. oh well. So far I have just used an SOS pad to take the top finish off along with some Mothers Wheel Polish and it's starting to get there. Off to the hardware store to get some sand paper and get down to some business and some real work.

[FactsOfLife]

Not late, I still am looking to give away 4 FREE polsihings to get some feedback on here. If yourself, or anyone else wants to have this done, please check out my thread in the dealers forum, or PM me. I'd appreciate the chance at doing the work for you.:)

[Schnitzel]

seeing that you're not getting many offers, would you do my minimag body for free, if not, a reduced price?

[FactsOfLife]

scnitzel, yes, until I have the 4 more to fill out the offer, I'm doing standard grey mags for free and RT's, Mini's and E-Mags for $5. If you're interested, please see my thread is the dealers forum. I'm trying to not do business in this forum.

Thanks!

[RetroEclipseMan]

Polishing Help

I got a question for ya Facts. I started polishing yesterday and have invested more than 8 hours so far into it but can't seem to get a real shiny look. i went over the whole thing real well with 320 grit then a couple times with 400 grit and then a couple more times with 600 grit paper. After that I used Mother's wheel polisher and went over very well with it but I can't get a real good shine that is any where near the polish of the back part of my boomstick. Should I just keep sanding it with 600 or go up to 800 or higher and then use the wheel polish agian. By the way I am doing this by hand. Sorry for the long post but I really need your advise. Thanks man.

[FactsOfLife]

yikes! you're gonna look like Popeye when you're done!

Does it still look grey when you look at in really bright light such as the sun?

If it does, you haven't taken the first step deep enough to get to the bottom of the pitting.

If it doesn't go back to 320 and keep at it. Keep your wet dry paper wet while you do this. The easy way is to have a bucket of water with you when you're sanding. Dip the sandpaper into it to wet and clean the grit out. Do the same for the body.

Make sure you wash the body thoroughly between levels of grit. If you have any left over grit from the previous grade of paper and it gets under the current paper, you'll scratch the finish.

Try to sand in one direction. Then on the next grit, sand 90 degrees to the last direction. For example, if you started by sanding around the circumference of the body, the next grit you should sand down the length of the body. This is the only way you can see if there are any scratches or sanding strokes leftover from the previous grit.

When I hand polish stuff, I try to keep my grits 100 units apart until I get to the very fine grits. A polishing scale might look like this:
100
200
320
400
600
800
1000
2000
what ever finish compound you like such as Mothers.
carnuba wax.

If for some reason you can't get that mirror finish, and can't see any visible scratches, chances are you've got some surface hazing going on. Go back to the last grit paper you were using and sand across the direction you finished with. Make sure you use LOTS of water in this stage.

What I think you've got going on is a combination of things. You might have some leftover cuts from an earlier grade that are catching the mothers polish and hazing the finish.

[athomas]

Polishing stainless steel is very forgiving. The most important step is the first step using 320 grit paper though. Don't use anything more course or you'll create scratches that will be hard to sand out. The first step is important because it removes the bead blast and provides the smooth surface which you will polish. The next 600 grit smoothes the metal's surface to a dull shine. Now you just have to use a good crome polish for a great shine.

The whole process shouldn't take any more than 4 - 5 hours by hand( less if you have a buffing wheel).

I did mine by hand and it looks like the one shown by FactsofLife (nice job, by the way). Mine is like a mirror. It is really nice, so I know the process does work.