Where does everyone get their POLISHING supplies?

[Numbles]

Title says it all.

I went to Home Depot tonight to get some sand paper and they only had up to 400 grit paper.

What type of polish should I get, and what type of buffing wheel. I need one that can go on the end of a drill. And where can I get this stuff would be a good start. Its gonna rain tomorrow and I have nothing else to do...

 

[Zero Signal]

Try this place. I've never bought anything from them, but I have asked them questions through the forum and email and they seem cool.

http://www.caswellplating.com

I think Home Depot would be the LAST place I would go for quality polishing equipment!

 

[Killercanary]

I got my tripoli and red rouge from Home Depot, my mothers aluminum and BILLETT polish (THIS IS THE BEST STUFF EVER) at autozone, my sand paper (up to 600) at Lowes, and I got my 1500 and 2000 sand paper at a local paint/body store, but I know my mom just got some 1500 grit 3M sandpaper at autozone. She said they have 2000 too. My buffing wheels were purchased at a surplus store near me as they were CHEAP as hell. I use a craftsman electric drill that I got at Sears. thats everything...

 

[HoofnIt]

Try the Eastwood Company. I purchased an entire polishing kit to do my Cobra upper intake. It was around fifty bucks. Local hardware stores like True Value and Ace Hardware will have fine grit sandpaper. I might also recommend a sanding block. This will make things much easier on the flat areas.

 

[1105]

Zero, I've been looking everywhere for thoes big bars of compount. Thanks!

 

[Numbles]

1195, what kind of compound are you looking for.

BTW congrats on 1500 posts.

And now that I know what to buy, whats everybody's personal process for polishing. Ive seen some of your work so I have a small idea on who to trust.

 

[1105]

I was looking for the big bard of the Tripoli and White Rouge... The crap I got at Home Depot wasnt doing anything.

What I do is... If theres paint on it I bead blast it (I'm lazy) paint remover will probably be even better because it wont leave pits in the metal. Then I use an air tool with a sanding disk on it to smooth down all the big imperfections in it (again, lazy and that goes A LOT faster than hand sanding) then once all that is done, I sand in this order: 80, 120, 180, 220, 320, 400, and 600 on the spots that are most noticable.

After all the hours of sanding, I then use the tripoli compound to remove the scratches, then the white rouge to bring out the shine. I used a drill and buffing wheel to do my valve coves, they have a reflection but they are dull (my drill is only 1200rpm) then I used our bench grinder (i think its 3000rpm?) on my altinator bracket and it came out MUCH nicer but it limits the pieces you can work on. My suggestion would be to get a 2500rpm drill, some 3"-4" buffing wheels (one for each compound) and you should be set. I'm going to be doing my intake and valve covers (again) here shortly so I'll post some pictures once I get them done.

Start with something simple and fairly flat just to get practice then work your way up. It takes a lot of patience for sanding unless you have the right tools. A DA sander will work great on large semi flat surfaces.

 

[1105]

I forgot... after I'm done, I take the Mothers Mag & Aluminum Polish and rub that onto the surface. The stuff works great Thanks for the congrats on 1500 posts... didnt even knew I hit that yet