can i polish my black rt body rail?

[jwren00]

My RT has a polished main body, chrome grip frame, chrome barrel, chrome foregrip, basically everything. Now i just want to get my body rail done. Is there any way that i can polish it myself like you can with the grey automag bodies? or do i have to get it nickel plated at a shop or something? thanks for the help

peace

[BajaBoy]

yea u can polish it but its not gunna match everything else bc its Alu.. best thing it to get it plated

[PyRo]

You can polish it, but alluminum doesn't polish as well as stainless steal, so it won't look the same. If you get it plated, i'm not sure if getting the plating on the bottom, and above the rail may cause tolerance issues.

[jwren00]

tolerance issues?

what do yo mean by tolerance issues? i dont see how plating that rail could really screw the gun up at all... please explain...

thanks

[PyRo]

When you plate the rail it will get thicker.

[jwren00]

how much thicker? i heard it was only like 5/1000 of an inch, would that make a difference?

[shadow462]

just a note

if you're the economical sort with some time on your hands, you most certainly can polish the rail yourself. I did it with my old minimag's rail. Granted, it doesn't look EXACTLY IDENTICAL to the s/s body, but neither will plating, either way, it's different metals which will refract and reflect light a bit differently. All i have to say is you have to REALLY look to tell the difference on my rail. It is mirror polished, you can literally see yourself in it. It took some time, some sandpaper, some brasso, and a few shop rags, but I did it myself, and I know it will never chip off, cause it's not a plate job. Hope i helped, any questions, let me know
John
Team Vanish

[athomas]

Yes, you can polish your rail. Then anodize it to protect it from oxidizing. If you are concerned about a different sheen, consider a crome plating. The plating won't add much to the thickness so tolerence issues shouldn't be a problem. Plating isn't like powder coating or painting.

[FactsOfLife]

you don't need to plate the aluminum after it's been stripped and polished.

there's enough of the original aluminum oxide left in the surface of the part to leave it tougher and more resistant to oxidation than raw aluminum.

go find TXStorm's mag pics. I did the strip and polish on the site rail body rail, and the foregrip. they had anodising done by elipse on them. by all accounts a tough anno.

TX did I polish the body on your mag too? I don't remember if yours was one of them or not.

you guys be the judge of how good it looks after being polished.

[Ironmag]

That is a sexy gun. Btw, if you are interested in annodizing stuff yourself, I found this webpage that tells you how and what you need to do it yourself. http://www.maxxtraxx.com/tech/tech006.shtml

[FactsOfLife]

Good link. However, I have little interest in playing with sulfuric acid and battery charger in my basement...

[BajaBoy]

Originally posted by FactsOfLife
Good link. However, I have little interest in playing with sulfuric acid and battery charger in my basement...

haha thats great make SURE u know how to mix the acid n water other wise uh... i dont even wanna know, anyway i anodize. im getting payed to ano this kids cocker 120$

[FactsOfLife]

I've done some basic anno for my original scope parts. Now I just farm that stuff out. Caswell Plating Inc is about 20 minutes from my house. I get all my polishing stuff from him now. The guy is a wizard at plating stuff.