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Author Topic: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it  (Read 3861 times)

Offline Westside88

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Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
« on: January 24, 2021, 06:59:14 PM »
I kept my old Protech toolbox for use on my new pickup. Of course that requires cleaning it up first. It's 20 years old and was pretty oxidized, but I think it cleaned up pretty well. I used a combination of mothers, chemical guys heavy metal a mothers powerball, a couple cheap cotton buffing wheels for the cord less and a whole lotta elbow grease. Not bad for an old toolbox.

Offline redi

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Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
« Reply #1 on: January 24, 2021, 07:12:11 PM »
Wow looks great. Nice work

Offline Fastass350

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Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
« Reply #2 on: January 24, 2021, 07:21:05 PM »
Looks great! I love the satisfaction of getting a good shine on aluminum, it’s not easy!  Good job 👍

Offline huntnphool

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Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
« Reply #3 on: January 24, 2021, 08:13:00 PM »
 Looks good, you should try doing a boat and trailer. :chuckle:
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Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
« Reply #4 on: January 24, 2021, 08:14:44 PM »
Looks nice!

Offline Westside88

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Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
« Reply #5 on: January 24, 2021, 08:33:12 PM »
Looks good, you should try doing a boat and trailer. :chuckle:
That sounds like a multi day affair. I’m planning to pick up an orbital polisher from Griots that with the right pad would probably save time on this type of project. 

Offline Magnum_Willys

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Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
« Reply #6 on: January 24, 2021, 11:57:08 PM »
Looks great- did you have to strip a protective coating off first?

Offline rasbo

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Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
« Reply #7 on: January 25, 2021, 05:21:27 AM »
Bought the ball and two jars for my boat. The box looks great

Offline Westside88

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Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
« Reply #8 on: January 25, 2021, 06:02:04 AM »
Looks great- did you have to strip a protective coating off first?
No they don’t have any coating to start with

Offline Westside88

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Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
« Reply #9 on: January 25, 2021, 06:05:22 AM »
Bought the ball and two jars for my boat. The box looks great
The power ball saved time for sure, but still required a lot of hand work to even things out. In the future I want to try an orbital polisher with a microfiber cutting pad. There’s a video on YouTube of a guy polishing diamond plate using the chemical guys polish. That looks like a good way to go

Offline Stein

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Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
« Reply #10 on: January 25, 2021, 09:57:00 AM »
I did this for the diamond seat boxes on my boat last summer while we were locked off the water.

I bought a dual action polisher and a heavy wool pad, it worked about 1,000 times better than all the other things I tried.

I used this stuff, it's a two step process outlined in the videos.  It took some time and multiple treatments, but for the super nasty salt corrosion it ended up working very well.

http://www.californiacustom.com/purple_metal_polish.html

The benefit is you now have a da polisher and can get different pads and chemicals and now polish and remove scratches on boat or truck paint.

Offline cavemann

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Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
« Reply #11 on: January 25, 2021, 10:06:25 AM »
I did my Stryker years ago..  I used Shark Hide when I was done and worked really well for me.  It was a pain but kept it protected very well and kept a shine.

Offline Blacktail Sniper

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Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
« Reply #12 on: January 25, 2021, 11:07:43 AM »
That looks really nice, effort well spent.
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Offline huntnphool

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Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
« Reply #13 on: January 25, 2021, 02:56:37 PM »
Looks good, you should try doing a boat and trailer. :chuckle:
That sounds like a multi day affair. I’m planning to pick up an orbital polisher from Griots that with the right pad would probably save time on this type of project.

 I got tired of cleaning the black residue from each diamond on the trailer and had it Line-X’d but still polish the boat and trailer once a year.
I did my Stryker years ago..  I used Shark Hide when I was done and worked really well for me.  It was a pain but kept it protected very well and kept a shine.

 I tried the Shark Hide once but it dulled the polished finish a bit so haven’t done it since.
The things that come to those who wait, may be the things left by those who got there first!

Offline Westside88

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Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
« Reply #14 on: February 06, 2021, 05:18:54 PM »
Got the old box mounted on the new truck today. I'm glad I was able to repurpose this one, they've gotten pretty expensive.

 


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