axle polishing.....how to??

[alteredpilot]

i'm getting ready to smooth the axle for my '27 it looks like a '32 or so. what i'm wonderin is what is the appropriate process for grinding/smoothing and can one of these things be either polished or buffed to a matte/brushed look to be clear coated??
what say you??

[Unkl Ian]

It's just steel,use progressively finer abrasives with rotary power tools.
Keep going until it's perfect,or you get bored.Which ever comes first.

The smoother you polish it,the more likely the clear will chip.

[DrJ]

[ QUOTE ]

The smoother you polish it,the more likely the clear will chip.

[/ QUOTE ]

Aint that the truth! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[polisher]

Greaseless abrasives and a buffer.
We start with 30 grit belts and knock the tops of then we start to buff at 60 grit and work our way upto 600.
Don't recommend you go beyond that if you want clear coat to stick.
You will still get oxidization under clearcoat unless you really take your time, and road grit will chip it anyway.
Gotta be a better spray on finish these days.
But for sure iron is tough to polish.
I wouldn't do it unless you paid me well.
I reckon it's go to be around a $1000 job to do it right.
Don't think I'd go that way.
I've got all the gear if you need it, but I wouldn't do it on a motor of mine.
Too much work and too many maintenance hang-ups.
I'd look at a good coating.
Best of luck

[Roadsters.com]

Rather than dealing with the limitations of clear coats or powder coating, I use this to protect bare metal:
http://www.roadsters.com/gibbs/

[ QUOTE ]
...what is the appropriate process for grinding/smoothing...

[/ QUOTE ]

That depends on how fussy you are. If you just want to make it shiny, what "polisher" said could work. If you want to get rid of all of the ripples and waves and then make it shiny, that's harder to do, but it can be done.

In the last few months I've bought almost $1,000 worth of abrasives, and I've experimented with a great variety of them and learned a fair amount. I've decided that I'm not going to tell people how I do this other than to say that I never bring the work to the tool, but instead always bring the tool to the work, because you have better control, and it's vastly safer.

http://www.roadsters.com/3-axles.jpg

http://www.roadsters.com/1941-axle.jpg

These axles show some of my work. I'll polish any early Ford I-beam axle for $450, and when I'm done with it, there won't be any ripples or waves in it.

Here's my page about axles: http://www.roadsters.com/axles/

If you have any questions about polishing axles, please phone me any day until midnight Pacific time at (602) 233-8400.

Dave
http://www.roadsters.com/

[Tman]

Yeah, for heavans sake dont listen to polisher. He just happens to prep metal for CHROME on a daily basis! And has for years, not a few months!

[Mike Paul]

Greaseless abrasives and a buffer.
We start with 30 grit belts and knock the tops of then we start to buff at 60 grit and work our way up to 600.
Don't recommend you go beyond that if you want clear coat to stick.


Is this the same procedure if i want to prep an axle for chroming? How far do you go grit wise?

[polisher]

Basically, but not going anything like as far.
For chrome I'd take it through to around 1200 or 1500 grit if I was just going to nickel chrome it.
If it was a show job, I'd stop at 600 then nickel and copper it.
Buff the copper then finish the plating.
On the outer faces you can remove metal fast with a D/A just make sure you use good paper and don't have too wild an action.
Swirl marks are a bitch.
I like to use belts for ripping down the rougher areas, they are fast and give a good finish.
D/A's are good for helping you keep everything flat and consistant.
So what ever I use, I like go to a D/A every now and then to make sure I'm staying flat.