Having recently acquired a bench polisher I seem to be having trouble getting a good finish on tilley brass tanks. If anyone has a polisher could they help me out with a few hints, I cant seem to work out what i'm doing wrong.
Hi Paul, I sometimes use a polishing mop on my drill, mounted in my bench vise (all very safe, I know! As long as I don't put to much pressure on the vice, the drill will survive 8) ). I think much depends on the type of mop (mine is made of layers of soft cotton fabric stitched together), speed, and the compound you use. I think the compound is the mayor factor. The finer it is, the slower it works but the result will be much finer. Just make sure you don't overdo things, as each time you polish an item, you remove some metal. Best regards, Wim
Hi ! Remember when polishing, the compound does the cutting and the mop is the agent for applying the compound. For your average home use , buy mops of 100 mm diameter and 12mm wide or 25 mm wide . The mops are made from calico . There's diferent grades of calico. Sisal string is added to make a very hard abrasive mop. The mop is also stiched with circular lines. Less hard mops are also stitch but less rings of stitching known as " half stitched ". Unstiched mops of calico are " B " calico or " SS " mops. Finally the softest mops unstiched are " Swansdown mops " very soft and require hardly any pressure. If you push a swansdown mop hard against copper ,brass or silver it disintergrates very fast "ie" nothing left of mop ! Compounds for polishing :- Start with TRIPOLI applying more compound to the mop every 45 seconds. Finaly use RADIO ROUGE or AAA ROUGE. Tripoli is for Sisal mops , " B " mops and " SS " mops. Rouge is for " S " mops and swansdown mops. Remember to wear saefty goggles as small items can and will get snatched out of your hand and get momentarily caught in mop and spin round and hit you in the face . Static builds up fast dragging the hair on your head into the machine fast ! Looking at the mop only work in the 7 and 8 o'clock area. Start in middle of work piece and bring it towards your self so that sharp objects and edges can not get stuck into mop taking you forward into mop. This may sound a load of old cobblers but I teach silversmithing in a college to age range 16 to 94 I know what happens ! Finally look on line for mops and compounds page 95 onwards of H.S.WALSH catalogue ! Thats London , England as no idea where in world you are ! www.hswalsh.com mick
Hi ! Forgot to mention the polishing motor needs to be turning at 3000 revs per min. to get unstitched mops to fight you back when applying pressure ,hope that makes sense ? I doubt your average electric drill will be turning fast enough to keep the momentum going when using sisal or " B " calico mops. mick
No, not at all - everything you could wish to know about bench-polishing (but probably were afraid to ask!) all in one place - thanks, Mick...
Sounds good to me. I have been using a bench polisher for years but I really can't add anything to Mick's comments. Except perhaps to reinforce the safety aspect. Holding a piece of metal to a wheel at 3000 rpm is a dangerous thing to do and you do need to always work with a trailing edge and wear protection. My polishing wheel has destroyed at least two tanks by throwing them to the floor and at that I consider myself lucky that they were not thrown at my face. ::Neil::
I have a bench grinder but no polishing mop fitted . I have a mop that goes in my pillar drill . Its only a cheap one but i find i use the to do all the hard work . and then i finish it off by hand . Last bowl i did i used brasso but now i have bought some autosol . I got a lamp i want to gove it a go on . I will have a go and see how comes out . but need to do some paint stripping 1st . matt
Use the bench grinder not the pillar drill. Polishing puts a side strain on the bearings and if you use it a lot you will eventually wear out the upper bearing. Pillar drill bearings are not designed to side thrust and the long lever effect will cause the shaft to rotate vertically around the lower bearing and cause heavy thrust and wear on the upper bearing. The same effect will shag out the remote bearing on a bench grinder as well but bench grinders are much cheaper to replace than bench drills. ::Neil::
Don't forget to have a simple extraction system as well , eyes nose & throat full of cotton fibres is not good for you & in the least make you feel rather uncomfortable I use a vacuum cleaner with a makeshift collector made from an old four pint milk carton riveted to a metal support frame & you should find this a nice easy fix 8) & it will make life a lot more comfortable & a lot less messy This is how i get the finish on my stuff..... http://www.spiritburner.com/fusion/showtopic.php?tid/22932/post/204291/hl//fromsearch/1/ Best regards Stu
