Polishing an automag Body

[Bpiatt]

I have noticed that many people polish their mag bodies and make them look very nice. I would like to do this to my mag and was wondering what the procedure is do to so. What do I need to do it and how do I go about doing so. What is the best way and how do I get the best finish? Thanks!
-Ben

[secretweaponevan]

The actual polishing article isn't anywhere near done yet. It started out as a couple of quick how-toos and now it's up to about forty photos and six or seven pages...

The photo thast Manike posted was one I slapped together from when I fiddled with my new L10 kit on Friday. The article's in the Guild Forum section under "Dude, where's my 'Mag?"

Anyway, real quick like:
Hit a store that carries automotive paint-and-body matrials, and buy "wet & dry" sandpaper- good 3M stuff if you can buy it, though others will work... make sure it's the "black" stuff, not brown grit. Get three or four sheets (each) of 320 grit, 600 grit and 1000 grit. If you have the patience and really want a deep, lustrous shine, add 1,200 or even 1,500 grit.

Tear the sandpaper into strips (don't cut it, tear it on the edge of a table or countertop, grit-up) then tear the strips into sections so you have a bunch of pieces about 1.5 to 2" wide by about 3" wide. Precision isn't important.

Get a bucket of warm water, a stool and a spot where you can make a mess.

Keeping both the body and the paper wet, sand every surface of the body in one direction. Keep in mind each bit of paper might only last a dozen or fifteen strokes before it goes dull. Keep turning the paper to a fresh "sharp" spot, and ditch it as soon as it wears.

Once it's sanded in one direction (keep it wet and rinse) now with the same grit, sand it "crossways" to the direction you just sanded it. IE, if you were running lengthwise, now sand perpendicular. Get every nook and cranny, especially around the feed neck or PF tube. Don't worry so much about the slots at the bottom, they'll be covered by the rail.

Once you have it well and truly sanded, and you can't see many little tiny spots in the surface, (for the above body, that was two full sheets of 320 grit) rinse and switch to the 600 grit and repeat. Keep switching direction so you sand at an angle to the direction before. This helps make a uniform surface.

Sand and repeat, getting finer and finer 'til you've used up the sheet of 1000.

Load up the buffing wheel with black emory and nail the body hard. Pay close attention to around the PF neck, and gergodsake don't let the wheel grab it.

Wipe it down, then switch to rouge on a different wheel.

Wipe it down, buff lightly with a soft cloth, rinse out the buffing dusts from the inside, reassemble.

That's GREATLY simplified- the Cliffs notes version of a Reader's Digest edition. But it should get you started.

Doc.

^Thanks to Doc for the article and LK-13 for managing to find it & the pic and posting them on MCB

[Bpiatt]

thank you very much, got me a weekend project =)

[Smoothice]

don't do it!!!

Dude I spent a total of 10 hours one vacation and I was horribly disappointed. I did pretty much as discribed above.

For some reason the middle of my area was more polished then the edges. It drove me crazy.

Not to mention I had 2 huge blisters on my thumbs after an hour. I had to drain them for the rest of the vacation.

My second try doing it I just slapped the above mentioned paper on my electric sander. The square kind where the head shakes. It took me about 30 minutes and it came out beautifully. I would recommend adding the higher grit paper to your shopping list also. It works great.

Good luck.

And take some pics!

[SSP REAPER]

oh man, that came out nice. I recently acquired a nickle micromag in a trade and the previous owner hacked it with a dremel. It took me 2 days to clean up his hacking and make it somewhat respectable... Needless to say, it's not shiny nickel anymore

[LK-13]

for $25.00 + shipping, i'll polish for you.
i can make it shine better than chrome.

[athomas]

It is quite simple. I did mine in a couple of hours. Its easier if you use wet sanding paper and a bit of water.

[Bpiatt]

for $25.00 + shipping, i'll polish for you.
i can make it shine better than chrome.

what fun would I have if i just sent it to you? haha thanks for the offer but i like to do my own work so i can learn =)