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world gathers for metal finishing
Q&As since 1989


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Polishing ATVs and Street Bikes

I do all of my aluminum polishing by hand; now I am starting a small business. I polish the following things: atv swing arms and engine casings for atvs and street bike (Japanese bikes etc gsxr zx1). They all have very fine detailed areas hard to get by hand I get to them but takes forever and lots of skin off my fingers.

Please let me know what kind of sander is good for the work I want to do and where can I can get it. Thanks. I will look for it on the site.

Ovimer Gonzalez
- Staten Island, New York
2001

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2001

How much money do you want to spend?

Fastest way to do detail and achieve mirror finish is to buy a mass finishing system. Handle bars would need a tub unit. You can steel ball burnish or use dry organic materials which produce a finer finish. Second, you can use a fine glass bead blast system which will give you a dull bright finish, but it will speed up your hand polishing. Third a soft cotton wheel hand buffer or fixed wheel with aluminum oxide rouge will also work and be the cheapest method, but until you get the hang of this method, you may still need to do some hand work.

AF Kenton
retired business owner - Hatboro, Pennsylvania