After almost 30 years of polishing my 53 ft. span HP-11A glider,
all aluminum, I've tried almost all of these polishes ! Finally
settled on one called Met-All - it was effective, and inexpensive ...
One trick that will really help get rid of that sticky black buildup
of aluminum oxide is to pat ordinary baking flour onto it - it dries
it & makes it easy to just swipe off .... wrestled with that
challenge for years ! If hand polishing, the best method is
straight strokes, followed by straight strokes at a 45 + degree
angle to the first strokes. Polishing raises tiny ridges, and
the diagonal strokes clean those off .... Learned that trick
from a tool & die maker who spent days polishing plastic
injection molding dies.
Almost all of these polishes are just Jewellers Rouge (a fine
abrasive), in an oil or silicone base. The big problem with silicone
is that you can pretty well forget about ever painting the surface.
Once it gets into the metal - nothing will stick ! This is also the
reason it's used in the polish - it shines, and prevents more
oxidation for a loooong time ....
(translation - MAYBE 6 months TOPS !)
Anyway, once you get the shine you want, you can then
wipe on Everbrite with a cloth, and the shine will last for many
years - if the EverBrite can stick !
--
......bobp
http://www.prosumers.ca
http://bpatterson.qhealthbeauty.com
http://apatterson2.qhealthzone.com
-------------------------------orig.-------------------------
On Friday 02 March 2007 04:20, Mike Davis wrote:
a bare metal aircraft to that mirror surface you see at airshows. Our localSomething that has come up several times on this list is how best to polish
EAA chapter had a link to a document last month that goes into great detail
on how to do just that. Of course it's produced by a manufacturer based on
the use of their products, but the results in the photos speak for
themselves.
Anyway, I've uploaded a copy of the PDF file to the archive site.
https://mail.dcsol.com/file/area222/Pol ... ooklet.pdf
Mike
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