ronhatch Posted August 7, 2014 Report Share Posted August 7, 2014 Hi All, Is there any method for polishing the ally trim, grille etc. Regards Ron Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AlanT Posted August 7, 2014 Report Share Posted August 7, 2014 You can improve these items quite easily. But getting back the original "bright-anodise" finish is difficult. Wet sanding with 240 grade and a bit of buffing will come out like this: https://www.flickr.com/gp/90670218@N04/By96zG/ A careful blast-cleaner can do the grilles. This helps because anodise is glass-hard aluminium oxide and difficult to get through. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
lynchpin Posted August 9, 2014 Report Share Posted August 9, 2014 Hi done mine with something called solvol autosol I think, comes in a toopaste size tube not cheap but good. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AlanT Posted August 9, 2014 Report Share Posted August 9, 2014 This is a very fine abrasive, normally used on chrome. It will actually work on lexan transparent plastic. Won't take out any deep scratches. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ronhatch Posted August 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2014 Thanks for the replies, I was hoping for a wonder product that I could brush on, have a cup of tea and clean off leaving the trim like new , looks like it's the old tin of elbow grease again. Regards Ron Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AlanT Posted August 10, 2014 Report Share Posted August 10, 2014 I did a 4A grille with Caustic Soda, ordinary drain-cleaning crystals. Two things happened: 1. all the grime, staining, flies and other muck vanished 2. the surface changed a bit from very bright silver to slightly grey silver Quote Link to post Share on other sites
John Morrison Posted August 11, 2014 Report Share Posted August 11, 2014 Interesting Alan, two questions, did the grill then polish back to original? and roughly what strength solution did you use? John. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AlanT Posted August 11, 2014 Report Share Posted August 11, 2014 I think this alters the anodised layer a little. You would need to polish off the anodise somewhat. This layer is very hard and getting into all the corners will make this difficult. Quite a strong solution. Will make your fingers tingle. My aim was to remove the anodise. In the end I used blast-cleaning. I am straightening and repairing these. https://flic.kr/p/oD2g7C https://flic.kr/p/oBd5xd Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tthomson Posted August 11, 2014 Report Share Posted August 11, 2014 Hi Ron, I found Brasso works fine. In response to the person who used caustic soda (NaOH), Aluminium reacts strongly with NaOH. I would avoid using NaOH in any dilution on Aluminium. You should see what happened to the aluminium handle sections of my "Le Creuset" pans when I made the mistake of putting them through the dishwasher 20 years ago. I ended up painting them with Hammerite so that they didn't look so bad. TT Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AlanT Posted August 11, 2014 Report Share Posted August 11, 2014 Oh I didnt mind if it reacted with the aluminium I was ready for that. But the anodise prevented it reaching the aluminium. I use Caustic Soda quite a bit, I am used to it. Its nasty stuff really and burns your fingers much worse than anything else I use. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Alan Cochrane Posted August 12, 2014 Report Share Posted August 12, 2014 I posted recently on this very subject. I have a TR5 grill which is complete without damage, but does suffer from some light pitting and yellow overspray from a totally **** respray, I had suggested blasting with glass beads and was warned off this. I think I'll now try this, starting on a hidden area first. Quite by accident I've found out that one of my workmates has an industrial buffing machine in his garage(queue dirty jokes) and he's happy to polish up the grill-result! Cheers Alan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AlanT Posted August 12, 2014 Report Share Posted August 12, 2014 The problems with abrasive action on grilles are: 1. took many in-accesible corners 2. if you go through the anodise then it will go patchy Paint stripper is safe to use, if you have overspray. You can get home anodising kits. I would work but it will be "grey-anodise" not bright silver. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RogerH Posted August 12, 2014 Report Share Posted August 12, 2014 Hi Ron, my answer to your original question - Most cleaning 'stuff' is abrasive. Although the bright anodise surface is quite tough you will rub through given time. Chrome is much softer and 'stuff' like Autosol will cut through chrome very quickly A very good cleaner that will cause no damage is good ol' Windowlene. It has a fair amount of ammonia in it that is good at attacking muck. If you use Caustic Soda on Anodising be very very careful - prolonged exposure and aggressive scrubbing WILL remove all the anodising. Alan T is something of an expert with some of these fancy chemicals and knows what he is doing - be careful. For instance I use thinners to clean my sunvisors - keep it there tooooo long and the visor will disappear Roger Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AlanT Posted August 12, 2014 Report Share Posted August 12, 2014 (edited) I think Roger is right on it here. Windolene safe and will clean it. I used the Caustic-soda to try to get the anodise off completely, so I can do some repair, prior to chrome-paint. This did not work and I resorted to blast-cleaning. It might work if you had a big tank and left it a day or so. Too messy and dangerous! I painted it on for maybe 15 minutes or so. It came clean, very clean actually, but the anodise went kind of milky, like this: https://flic.kr/p/kxQbDz I have a number of, basically scrap, grilles to practise repair/finishing techniques with, like this one: https://www.flickr.com/gp/90670218@N04/2870Sv Edited August 12, 2014 by AlanT Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lebro Posted August 12, 2014 Report Share Posted August 12, 2014 My TR3 grill was extremely grubby, & misshapen, I first straightened it all out, then sand blasted it. That got it clean, but with a matt finish, I then sprayed on white primer, followed (when dry) by Halfords Chrome paint. The result was surprisingly good. I then sprayed with acrylic clear lacquer to "seal in" the chrome effect. This actually reduced the shinyness a little, & if doing it again I would not use the lacquer. Bob. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MikeF Posted August 12, 2014 Report Share Posted August 12, 2014 Concur with above remarks on caustic soda. it won't really affect good anodizing which is basically aluminium oxide AKA alumina - ceramic. It will neatly dissolve aluminium though so if you are scrubbing away then you will probably end up with the exact opposite of what you want.I'm not a great one for over doing H&S, but I would leave caustic in the drain, It should be handled with real care. It is not the sort of stuff you want on your fingers, that nice slippery feeling you get from it is essentially your skin being turned into soap. Gloves make sense. If you do get it on your hands, rinse with water and then restore your skin oils with some hand cream. If you keep exposing your skin to caustic or for long periods you will end up with skin cracking and dermatitis. Any tingly feelings should be treated as the warning signs they are. I find common or garden Flash for degreasing is good, or paint brush cleaner. Pink Windolene is good ally polish, toothpaste is a minty alternative and rinses off easier. Some brands can be a little more abrasive than Windolene as they have silica (as in glass paper) as the abrasive whereas so far as I know WIndolene is essentially a talc emulsion. MIkeMike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AlanT Posted August 12, 2014 Report Share Posted August 12, 2014 Does a great job on Mazak. https://www.flickr.com/gp/90670218@N04/S5iEr9 https://www.flickr.com/gp/90670218@N04/9kGmn2 Hot solution, 2 minutes. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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