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Polishers Unite!

mlwynn

Well Known Member
For far too long, polishers of our fine aircraft have had to take a back seat to people priming and painting. We have an entire catagory of painting, one for priming, separate sections for interior and fiberglass. Do we have one for polishing? No. Why, I ask, do we not have a section for polishing?

There are many posts to be found with the search links of polish, polishing and Nuvite. Were these all in one place, those contempating a polished airplane and those in the facinating process (right up there with watching grass grow) would have a place to share tips and commiserate.

So I say, polishers unite. Request, no Demand a separate section to post. (This is a hint, Doug)

Michael Wynn
RV 8 Finishing
San Ramon, CA
 
Polish Unite

My name is Jim and I polish my plane! --Nuvite S. Couldn't be happier.

Jim Diehl
RV-7A N891DD
Based at Lock Haven, Pa.
 
1047 Days

I'm Ernst and I used to polish.
It's been 1047 days since I sold my polished RV-8.
Never again, I swear, I won't, ever.....:eek:
 
Michael.

My name is Bevan and I'm considering to polish. I like the weight and cost savings, and the retro look. Polishing once a year doesn't sound too bad. Can always have it painted later when the bank account recovers.

Question, did you alodine/acid etch only the areas of aluminum that were to be painted? If so, how do you keep the etching off the areas not to be painted or does it matter?

Bevan
 
Etching and Polishing

Hi Beven,

I was pretty careful not to etch or conversion coat any area to be polished. I screwed up on one section of the fuselage, allowing the etching solution to get under an area masked off. Didn't figure it out till some weeks later. Polishing took hours to get the corrosion off. If you look close, you can still see some tiny spots.

So, be really careful. Any areas will cost you much time.

Regards,

Michael Wynn
RV 8 Polishing
San Ramon, CA
 
Tounge in Cheek

I keep hearing how horrible a polished airplane is to maintain and yet I haven't seen the were all the work is supposed to be.

You are right, not all that bad except during bug season.
I enjoyed the look of the polished airplane, the weight savings,
and all the attention it was getting.
About a week of polishing during winter brought it up to show quality for the season.
I did not like the glare and heat reflecting off the wings and the buyer of my 8 ended up painting just the wings, good move.
 
Couple of photos of nice paint/polish combinations. Sorry, I don't know who these belong to so can't give proper credit.

n78NXzXl.jpg


JFWxebml.jpg
 
Polishers Unite

I'm polished and partial paint as well. Just painting the fiberglass so far.
RV7 wings done, emp done, fuse formers half done.

Keith Rhea
 
Thank you Michael Wynn

This thread made me read (and re-read) a lot of the other threads on VAF about polishing. I learned something. I had a revelation today.

I had been kinda' following the Swift Method. I had missed reading the PerfectPolish website. I tried the PerfectPolish "compounding" method today.
WOW. Easy (relatively speaking) and the results are WAY better than what I had been doing. I had not been able to seriously affect the grain or do much with scratches by using the Cyclo orbital even with very heavy grits. The straight spinning pad method works like a charm.

After my arms were done (and the drill motor was screaming hot), I took some pics with the cell phone. Played with double reflections.

Don't go all crazy. The pics look better than reality, but I still like it. :)

155492534951b51f7a826bc.jpg


196943829351b51f7a8c2fa.jpg


158698710051b51f7a7ffa2.jpg


I'm so stoked about today, I'm actually looking forward to doing more. That's a change. I was seriously thinking about giving up.
 
I've read the site several times and still can't figure out what they're trying to tell me.

I use the standard method : buffer/polisher Grade F7, buffer/polisher: Grade C and Cyclo Grade S

It looks like PP recommends Cyclo F7 or cyclo C somewhere in there but I've never been able to figure out, or understand the logic.

Your plane looks fine, Bill. now how about indicating the procedure ?
 
The proud, the few...

The masochistic, the cheap...

Great to see a thread on polishing! I am finishing up polishing my -4 and will post my results/experimental findings when finished.

Bob-
I've read through all the posts and PP's site as well and after side-by-side experimenting with F9, F7, G, C and S, I found the best approach was simply 8-12 compound passes with F, followed by 3-8 passes with F on cyclo (to remove swirl marks and haze), followed by 1-2 passes with S. I can get a mirror finish with F7 alone, all S does is bring out the "luminosity". Feel free to PM me if you would like more detailed info. Time was approximately 10 hours for one side of a wing, assuming you're past the learning curve.

Eric
 
The proud, the few, the masochistic, the cheap..

You kill me Eric. ROTFLMAO. :D

Bob,
In the spirit of being CHEAP :rolleyes:, I used what I had.
A Sears drill motor. I bought a wool pad mounted for a drill at O'Reillys Auto.
I used the most course grit I had. Nuvite G6.

It took 2 applications of G6 with the drill motor and pad to get the surface where I was happy to move on. Next step was same G6 grit with the Cyclo for one application. I have not settled on whether I need to use the finer grade C before going to Grade S. If I used C, it was one application of C and then one of S.

Now that I am "compounding" like perfect polish says, I am starting to see the characteristics of G6 where it is supposed to cut hard in the beginning and then taper off to a grade similar to C. I find that if I have a special scratch, an immediate dab of G6 under the pad will take care of it right now.
 
So you're only using a pad for one grit and then going to the cyclo?

Maybe I'm doing this wrong, then. My understanding from Nuvite is use the Cyclo for the S Grade. But maybe I should use the Cyclo for all grades?

Those wool "blankets" will get expensive, though.
 
Cyclo takes out F7 etc swirls

I always follow compounding of any grade with Cyclo of the same grade. I do as many passes as it takes to remove swirl marks and glazing. In my experience, the swirl marks/glazing of a higher grade (say, F7) will not be taken out by compounding of a lower grade (C). That said, I don't even use C any more, I just compound F7, cyclo F7, then cyclo S. Perhaps I'll use C when I go back for future repolishes since F7 would be overkill.
Per the PP website, soak your wool pads overnight in TSP. Mine generally clean up pretty well after that, rinsing with clean water a few minutes in the sink. Be sure to buy a new pad when the nap gets too short.
Eric
 
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So you're only using a pad for one grit and then going to the cyclo?

Yes. Wool spinning pad in a two handled drill (or maybe a spinning rotary polisher from Harbor Freight in the near future). I did 2 applications of G6 but I suspect F7 would be similar so don't jump to buy more Nuvite.

Then move to Cyclo. I am using the foam pads, not the wool on the cyclo.
One application of G6 and it gets rid of the swirl marks.

As stated earlier, the rest I am still experimenting with. Grade C then S or just straight to S.

But maybe I should use the Cyclo for all grades?

Definitely not. That was my revelation this past weekend. I was using Cyclo for all grades before, with wool pads for heavy grit. No workie. The orbital just does not cut well for the initial passes. Lots of sweat and tears to get anywhere. I should have known better. I have used a Dual Action sander (DA) many times before and it is well known that on spin setting it cuts like mad and then much less in orbital mode.

Bob, I thought your pictures looked good, man. I thought you were ahead of me and I was just catching up to you. Like I said in the picture post, the pictures look better than reality. Its good, but others still do better than me. I think this method will be good enough to make me happy. Mostly because the labor/reward ratio improved a lot from where I was before. You may already be there. Don't know.
 
Are you getting any "cloudiness?" I notice that sometimes when polishing with the wool pads -- Grade C -- that these clouds would form. They don't really come out. The PP site suggested using Alumiprep but then I said, "yeah...umm... no" and decided to live with it.
 
.............. Request, no Demand a separate section to post. (This is a hint, Doug)

Michael Wynn
RV 8 Finishing
San Ramon, CA



Attention polishers,

There is a new section in the forums dedicated just to you :). I moved a few of the threads mentioned in this discussion over there as a start.

Rub away!

v/r,
dr
 
Time saver

I needed something to fly while building. Since I'm really, really busy trying to build I figured I didn't have time to maintain a paint job and bought a plane which needs polished. Pretty smart, huh? Those guys over in the paint forum don't seem nearly as smart as the guys that hang out in here :D
 
Are you getting any "cloudiness?" I notice that sometimes when polishing with the wool pads -- Grade C -- that these clouds would form. They don't really come out. The PP site suggested using Alumiprep but then I said, "yeah...umm... no" and decided to live with it.


Bob,

Go deeper with F7.
At least 6-7 passes then C then cyclo S.
 
Cloudiness

I have had that same problem. I had theorized that it was the polish glazing from being too hot or too much polish. I see it much less with a slower speed, like 8-900 RPM. I have experimented with pretty much every speed from dead slow to full. It seems like the glazing happens more at higher speeds, but I had some today at a really slow speed. So, beats me.

Anyone else have any ideas?

Michael Wynn
RV 8 Polishing
San Ramon, CA
 
I will be following this thread with great interest.

I'm still not where I wish mine were after three years and four polishes. It was really faded when I found it, but straight as an arrow and just begging to be polished. The owner said "you'll want to paint it".

I must be insane. :rolleyes:

 
You know, it's funny. I haven't been out to the hangar in about a week or so and the last few times I was there, I'd get frustrated at looking at some of the areas I want to polish better than they are... generally wondering if the whole polish thing was worth it.

But, like I say, it'd been a few days since I'd been out there.

So last evening I opened up the door without much thought and looked at the plane and my first reaction was " DANNNGGGG, that thing is shiny."

So there's that.
 
Couple of photos of nice paint/polish combinations. Sorry, I don't know who these belong to so can't give proper credit.

n78NXzXl.jpg


JFWxebml.jpg

Love the paint/polished aluminum combo - but how the heck do you polish bare aluminum up next to the paint line?? Mask off the painted parts before polishing? That's a lot of masking!
 
This is a little off topic, but..

I just came into possession of an old (50s-60s era) rotating beacon, and the housing of the thing is cast aluminum.

For a guy who always wanted a disco ball hanging from the ceiling of his hangar, this is the score of the century.

My question is: Can one do that magic-polish thing you guys do to sheet stock to cast aluminum?

My -8 is painted, so my ignorance knows no bounds...
 
Disco Ball Polishing

Hi Nick,

I just polished the intake rings for a James cowling. Cast or machined aluminum, probably the same thing as your beacon.

I used a Harbor Freight polisher ($39). This is a two ended motor with relatively soft pads and a stick of white rouge. Polished them up to a mirror finish in just a few minutes. I tried using Nuvite on the polishing wheels and it just got flung off by the centrifugal force.

Micheal Wynn
RV 8 Polishing
San Ramon, CA
 
Micheal,

This thing's been sitting (or spinning) in the coastal salt air of Maine for the past 50 years or so...so it's got quite a bit of "character".
qqqwc0.jpg

My current plan (feel free to give me advice on how I should really approach this) is to attack the barnacles, oakum and bottom paint with an air-fired grinder and some Scotch-Bright wheels (fine-medium coarseness), then to get a polishing pad, put some special sauce on it and spin it with an electric drill until done.

So far it's been very cool cleaning up the Corningware Fresnel Lenses...

However, if I can't get the thing to a reasonable level of shiny then my efforts will be for naught....
 
Now that's a beacon

Okay, I thought you meant a rotating beacon off an airplane. That thing is a little bigger. Probably go with what you had described and then polishing pads mounted on a drill.

If you could disassemble the beast, it might be a lot easier to do in parts.

Good luck,

Michael Wynn
 
Perfect Polish

I ordered some Nuvite last evening from Perfect Polish. I received a message this morning stating that they do not charge freight for domestic or Canadian orders. Hats off to Perfect Polish. Thought I would post here in the event others didn't know this was part of their service and price structure.

Now I fee guilty for not placing a larger order :)
 
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