Stainless polishing

[Leeds88]

Hi

Got some 316 satin polished stainless handrail to do!!

Handrail will be welded to 12mm pins on the uprights and there will be 3 joints to weld and polish!!

Anybody got some advice on polishing from start to finish.

What's pads to start and finish with??
Any recommendations on tools??

Cheers!!

 

[Parm]

There are some stainless steel gods on here, one will be along shortly

 

[Hood]

Satin polished? Is that what I would call Dull Polished, ie basically grained?

I have done a few bright polished rails for boats and just used mops on the cordless drill with the soap you get. I got some stuff from here once and it was ok.
http://www.metalpolishingsupplies.co.uk/

 

[Shox Dr]

I've not used soap with mops. Just 60grit flap wheels and scotchbrite wheels with abrasive tape and pads.

 

[henry Kadzielski]

Hi

Got some 316 satin polished stainless handrail to do!!

Handrail will be welded to 12mm pins on the uprights and there will be 3 joints to weld and polish!!

Anybody got some advice on polishing from start to finish.

What's pads to start and finish with??
Any recommendations on tools??

Cheers!!

Good morning Leeds88. Be prepared to get dirty, even with the right equipment it is a slow labourious process. There are some quite nifty toys for S/S polishing, it depends on exactly what you have to do, access and the level of finish you want. Post some pics, that will make it easier to come up with a solution and process

 

[Leeds88]

Satin polished? Is that what I would call Dull Polished, ie basically grained?

I have done a few bright polished rails for boats and just used mops on the cordless drill with the soap you get. I got some stuff from here once and it was ok.
http://www.metalpolishingsupplies.co.uk/

Hi
Yes it's just a satin finish really, it's just the external 48.3mm handrail that's used for stairs etc....

 

[Leeds88]

Good morning Leeds88. Be prepared to get dirty, even with the right equipment it is a slow labourious process. There are some quite nifty toys for S/S polishing, it depends on exactly what you have to do, access and the level of finish you want. Post some pics, that will make it easier to come up with a solution and process

Hi
It's basically going to be external handrail and glass. The top rail will be welded to 12mm pins so they will need polishing!
There will also be 3 joints in the 48.3mm tube that will need filly welding so polishing aswell.

Last place I worked did loads of stainless handrail but we had a separate polishing shop so never got to do it!! I know they used a "poly-romy" for the top rail and a dino file for the bends but I have no idea what pads to start/finish with etc.. ....

 

[Hood]

Will just be flap wheels needed then, the type you fit in a drill and not a grinder. You will have to make sure you go in the correct direction for the grain and also may have to mask off corners etc to keep the grain direction correct on all parts.
Think @Paul. does a lot of that kind of stuff so hopefully he can give some info.

 

[gordon stephenson]

I think the corner masking to obtain a mitre look is done with very thin stainless shim steel.

 

[Paul.]

Bit of a how to here using basic kit, if its only 3 joints then a flapweel in a power drill (not a cordless) will be you main weapon, then fine finish with garryson abrasive blocks and scotchbrite,

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/how-to-make-a-handrail.22424/#post-249100

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/finishing-a-mitred-joint.27837/#post-304411

 

[-Matt-]

We have a thing at work called a Poly Romy

Works like this:

We also have a Metabo drum sander (portable, looks like an angle grinder with a bog roll mounted on the spindle) and a 'slow grinder' which is just like a normal angle grinder but variable speeds, use flapwheels on that in both scotchbrite flaps and those mixed ones with scotchbrite and layered emery paper. We also have a pedestal grinder with various wheels, one of which is a flapwheel, and we have a stationary motor with a flexy shaft that takes the same wheels.

I don't know if you could rent any of those things to get your job done but I guess you know they exist now!

If I remember right, standard DP1 finish (as the sheets and tube come) is 180 grit grained. I have some 180 grit I use and it seems to blend well. Scotchbrite as mentioned by others.

Oh and 1 litre tin of elbow grease is usually applicable!

-Matt-

 

[Tiggy_dorset]

We also have a Metabo drum sander

What are the Metabo ones like? I have been looking at Drum Sanders for a while now, and there seems to be not a lot of choice. I use a Flex daily at work, I want quality but its hard to spend ~£600 for Flex. Then theres the cheapy £60 jobbies. Metabo ~£350 seems the middle choice, which is likely what I will get within a few weeks. They also look the least cumbersome of all others I have seen, even the Flex.

 

[henry Kadzielski]

What are the Metabo ones like? I have been looking at Drum Sanders for a while now, and there seems to be not a lot of choice. I use a Flex daily at work, I want quality but its hard to spend ~£600 for Flex. Then theres the cheapy £60 jobbies. Metabo ~£350 seems the middle choice, which is likely what I will get within a few weeks. They also look the least cumbersome of all others I have seen, even the Flex.

.

Yes there is a multitude of choice and yes Metabo is one of them. I have all metabo grinders, drills and their new S/S polishing gear, which works great, so far so good. The 'drum' sanders I have are Poly PTX from Germany and have been good, but pricey. You probably can't go wrong with stuff from Germany, generally the Germans don't have a sence of humor when it come to equipment quality. The equipment you want should be variable speed, so you don'y overheat the job. It depends on what and the volume of polishing you have to do, as the choice and cost of equipment goes up. There are many toys to chose from and you don't need them all. These are some of mine

Flat nose grinder, as you need to get into tight places this helps

You have seen these before. This has scotchbrit on it but the abrasive is very important to the finish and the speed of finish.

This thing is great, the wheel shown is the grinding wheel, available in two widths 6mm and about 3mm, you shape the wear contact patch on the outside diameter to the shape of the weld that you need to grind and away you go. These machines have also polishing felts the same as the pic to be used with soaps the get the final bright polish. As you can see I like Metabo and have had no problems with them, yes there will be others out there that will be good, but I am sticking with what has worked for me.

 

[Tiggy_dorset]

We use a flex weld grinder with various abrasives. The flex are great, cannot knock them on performance and quality; however the Metabos look more confortable to use for my small hands (not a reflection on other parts of my anatomy), yet possibly retain quality at a slightly cheaper price. The Flex are quite 'blocky' for me I find.

 

[graffian]

What about using Satene on your mop?