Application Guide:

Mirror Polishing Small Stainless Components with The

Finipower Variable Speed Grinder

Application:

Mirror polish flat stainless steel components.  This process can be used for all stainless steel finishes, from mill scale and finer.  When applied correctly this process will give a high quality mirror finish.

Finish Required:

Bright mirror polished finish / blended finish with an existing mirror polished surface. n.b. Mirror polish finishes vary significantly so it may be necessary to vary the final polishing compound used to achieve the perfect match.  

Specific Criteria:

The Trizact discs used in this process will remove any flat spots in the surface metal.

General Guidelines

Successful finishing of stainless steel depends on working at the right speed.  This will prevent  work hardening the metal and allow better control.  This in turn will reduce damage and the need for re-working.  

The process begins by removing scale (also use for a weld), if your finish is significantly better then you can skip the first stage.

The discs used in this process work better at a shallow angle, work at between 5 and 10 degrees (maximum) to the metal surface.

Do not allow the work-piece to get too hot

Do not allow the  green polish to contaminate the  pink polish or the final finish will be much less clear.

Recommended Tooling:

Finipower variable speed grinder

Speed range 2,800 - 6,000rpm

Method:

Process

Product Used

Stock removal:

Finipower speed setting - 3 or 4

Use 777GR disc to remove all pitting and surface marks.  The 777GR will also show up any uneven surfaces, blend the surface until you have one continuous finish.

777GR  100 grit

115mm pad with Interface pad

Blending:

Finipower speed setting - 2 or 3

Working at an angle to the 777GR disc remove all the grind lines from the 777GR disc with the A160 grit.

237GR  Trizact A160 disc

115mm pad with Interface pad

Finipower speed setting - 2 or 3

Working at an angle to the A160 disc sanding lines remove all the lines from the A160 disc with the A45 grit.  You should be able to see indistinct reflections after using this disc.

237GR  Trizact A45 disc

115mm pad with Interface pad

Pre-polishing:

Finipower speed setting - 3

Working at an angle to the A45 disc sanding lines remove all the lines from the A45 disc with the SAGR/7.  You will be able to see indistinct reflections after using this disc.

SAGR  Grade 7 disc

115mm pad with Interface pad

Finipower speed setting - 3

Working at an angle again blend the previous disc finish.  Check to ensure no deeper marks or damage is showing from an earlier stage.

SAGR  Grade 5 disc

115mm pad with Interface pad

Initial Polishing

Finipower speed setting - 2

Place a felt disc on the back up pad, apply a generous coating of the green polishing compound ,  Apply the disc to the surface and allow the compound to move around (The metal should initially  disappear below a black layer of polish).  Remove any excess polish with Vienna Chalk (sometimes called French Chalk).

Felt disc

PV101 Green Polish

115mm pad with Interface pad

PV103 Vienna Chalk

Final Polishing

Finipower speed setting - 2 or 3

Place The cotton mop on the threaded mandrel, apply a generous coating of the pink polishing compound ,  Apply the mop to the surface and allow the compound to move around (The metal should initially  disappear below a black layer of polish).  Remove any excess polish with Vienna Chalk.

Loose Cotton Mop

PV102 Pink Polish

MH/T1 Tapered thread mandrel

PV103 Vienna Chalk

Tips:

Low pressure and low speed will improve the life of the discs and control of the operation.

Once a finish has been achieved working at a very light pressure vary the speed to achieve a perfect blend with the existing tube finish.

              Faster = Finer finish

              Slower = Coarser finish