Achto 27,565 #1 Posted February 1 I could have dropped this in with the post that I have on my pulling tractor but I thought that it may be more useful here. I used a piece of unpolished stainless to make a new dash for my tractor. Well the unpolished was just not to my liking so I wanted to clean it up. I will add that polishing stainless is nothing like polishing aluminum. It takes a lot longer. A pic of the back of my new dash so you can see what I had to start with. I worked on this dash a little each night after work. Day 1 - I started by working it over with a black rouge and a buffing wheel on a drill. This took most of the dull off from the metal. Day 2 - I switched to a gray rouge and a new buffing wheel. This started to bring out a better shine from the metal. Sorry no pic. Day 3 - Start with a new buffing wheel again but switched to a green rouge. Now the dash really pops. After roughly 5hrs of buffing I'm quite happy with the results. Other than the deep scuff that I put in it with a slip of the grinder when I was making it. But I'll live with that. Materials used. https://www.harborfreight.com/4-inch-buffing-wheel-34743.html https://www.harborfreight.com/1-4-quarter-lb-black-polish-compound-96779.html https://www.harborfreight.com/1-4-quarter-lb-dark-grey-polish-compound-96769.html https://www.harborfreight.com/1-4-quarter-lb-green-polish-compound-96778.html Hope this post is of use. 9 13 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WHX?? 48,815 #2 Posted February 1 Shoulda brought it over I have a buff on a bench grinder with a stainless wheel. Did a bike build with polished SS hardware... never again! 4 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Achto 27,565 #3 Posted February 2 24 minutes ago, WHX?? said: Did a bike build with polished SS hardware... never again! Agree with that !! Had this been aluminum I would have been done in one night. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
c-series don 8,688 #5 Posted February 2 Looks like it’s chrome! Beautiful job 👍🏻 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
squonk 41,069 #6 Posted February 2 Before I retired, I took care of 13 ice machines in the hospital. PM's every 3 month's. Complete tear downs and cleaning. When ever I showed up at a machine I was put off by the way the stainless looked. The cleaning staff had stainless polish and it pretty much left a mess. Looked like crap. So I experimented. I had an old parts unit and I tried different cleaners on it and they all looked lousy. Finally I wiped ice machine cleaner along the grain of the metal. Even though the label said " DO NOT USE ON STAINLESS STEEL" looked fantastic. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
peter lena 8,610 #7 Posted February 2 @Achto have a number of 316 FOOD GRADE STAINLESS , pieces and nuts / bolts , polished some , but more important to me is its durability , even my S/S TIG wire has incredible strength , for hooks and PREFORATED STAINLESS , is also very good for make up mounts . we had , dozens of open dumpsters at the plant , what ever we used in production , had used /scrap , Hastelloy / titanium / all metals / Pyrex glass / could easily get a foreman pass / for dumpster diving / did a lot of that . 17 years out now , running low on goodies , wish I had made up , more S/S plow blade wear strips / yada / yada , pete 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wayne0 456 #8 Posted February 2 Black then tan than white. Never used green, but red worked for me to get that shine. 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
