Technical Stainless Trim Polishing

I was having the windshield put in my '59, so I had to get the paint shot in around the opening and the bottom stainless trim polished since it goes in with the gasket.

I got an HF polishing pad set that I put one of them on my Baldor bench motor. Picked up a stick of the stainless polish and let my brother give it a try. The results were amazing, came out really great and he has volunteered to do the rest of it!

 

When he gets real good at it, maybe you could hire him out? Trim looks great.

 

Thanks, he's a fussy guy and I told him he could work out of my garage. I think the going rate for the service is like $50-65 per foot.

 

Good Job. You'd be surprised how often when someone sees dull stainless steel trim, they think it needs to be rechromed and you'd be surprised how many actually get it done, when all it really needs is some elbow grease.

 

Don't let him polish the stainless ring that goes around the headlight bulb. That sucker will try to eat your arms off. Yes I know!!!!!!

 

Yeah, no need to polish that.

 

Make sure he knows to wear good leather work gloves. If the wheel snags a piece of that trim it'll cut you to the bone so fast you won't know what happened till its all over. Works better with gloves anyway since the buffing compounds work better once some heat builds up in the part.

 

Or have it ripped out of your hand and stuck in the wall or worse yet impale yourself with a piece of twisted broken trim. HRP

 

I happened by an auction a Year or so ago and bought a Baldor buffer and stand for $90.So far it is just as much fun as sand blasting.

 

Like others have said , be REAL careful, especially with long bits of trim. I never do it without a full face sheild, leather apron and welding gloves, because : A- it hurts/burns
B- you get covered in black crap from arsehole to breakfast time and C- it hurts / burns.

 

And completely destroy the part you were trying to make cherry......

 

See the big round center ring? I was buffing it after welding two halfs together and it caught and was banging around the motor shaft..I had a shut off switch mounted close by and hit it but at 3500 rpm it ain't gonna stop quick and I managed to get my foot up and braked the buffing wheel..A few dings but they sanded out...I padded the shaft just in case and continued buffing and of course I lost it again...My foot[again] and the padded shaft saved my ass...

 

I did all the stainless trim on my convertible, bought thestuff from eastwood. It is work, but beats paying someone to do the polishing for you

 

Thanks for the tips, it will help. He did have good gloves on too. All of the stainless on the car is pretty good to start with. We made up a couple of blocks from a piece of phenolic I had laying around to iron out some dings.

I was surprised that the stainless is strongly magnetic, is that a product of cold-working?

 

There are different compositions of stainless.... Some are magnetic, and others are not....
What you have going looks good so far.... As others have said be CAREFUL..

Good Luck --- Lynn W

 

No, most automotive trim is type 430 stainless which is magnetic. 430 is highly formable and doesn't work harden nearly as bad as the austenitic (non-magnetic) types like 304 or 316. Its corrosion resistance is almost as good as 304, and plenty good enough for automotive use. And, because it doesn't contain any nickel, its substantially cheaper than the austenitic grades.

 

I quite enjoy polishing stainless. Kinda zen like when you get into it. A tip for doing long pieces is to back it with some wood. Trim can be nasty and if it "catches" there will be hell to pay!

 

Here's the way for for good stainless steel finish, 3 phase 5 hp spin a 10" mop, the bigger the mop the more surface speed, quicker and better polish.



This is a piece of trim for a 52 Buick that I made and polished on this machine.



Polished

 

Good info here. I'm familiar with 410 and 420 from mold making, also 416. The low nickel content explains a lot too. I bet Ford bought it in huge rolls with one side already polished up.

 

Two tips I learned the hard way. Use a piece of broomstick to back up long trim strips to hold them against the wheel and install a foot switch so you can shut it down if both hands are busy. I don't use mine often but it works great for keeping the valve covers and air cleaner to pretty.

 

I like a big pad on the floor. My stuff always hits the floor. I've found other stuff can get polished as well like plastics or old Bakelite.


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One tip I learned was to turn the buffer/grinder backwards so the wheel turns away from you. I f you use the top of the wheel it's less likely to grab it and fling it to the floor.

 

Yes it easy to catch the part and fling it around. About 10 years I worked for a company that had about 150 old cars, planned on making a museum. I did restoration for them, and was doing headlight parts for a brass era car, and the rim catch. Bent the hell out of it, plus tore it really bad. It sent it into my chest, put a helluva a cut in me. Worst part was sliver soldering the rim straightening it and redoing the messd that I created