Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Joe Harrington on November 19, 2012 at 7:09pm

OK, there are a few other posts and threads on this site regarding polishing. I thought it would be nice if this thread could be a comprehensive place of info on polishing. I thought I would try to copy and paste some of them here. I hope this is okay with the original authors/postees. First if from Rich Whittington (see down to Jerry Latimer's post of May 16, 2009):

Permalink Reply by Rich Whittington on May 16, 2009 at 8:28am

I used the Rolite polishing system which I bought from http://www.topoftheline.com/rolmetpolkit.html. I don't know if Rolite is any better than Nuvite, there are opinions both ways, since I never tried Nuvite I don't know. I chose Rolite primarily on one comparison I read of a guy and his wife who took aluminum samples to both the Rolite and Nuvite booths at Oshkosh and compared the results.

It's a slow and dirty process as you can see from one of the pictures I've added to my webpage here. Note I'm still building so my plane has no time outdoors in the elements so I can't tell you how this is going to hold up but I think annual or semi-annual lite polishing (basically like waxing) will keep it looking good.

If you go here http://www.nuvitechemical.com/procedures.asp you can download a Nuvite polishing manual that provides a lot of information on how to.

Permalink Reply by Christopher Nail on May 20, 2009 at 8:49pm

So i went with the rolite and started with an oribtal polisher i got at my local hardware store for 30 bucks. After an hour and half i'm starting to think i didnt get one robust enough. What did yall use? Where from?

I guess if i add to much pressure the orbiter just stops rotating and vibrates. I dont mind the vibration if only i felt like it meant i was making progress. Thoughts?

Permalink Reply by Jerry Latimer on May 16, 2009 at 1:50pm

I'm using Nuvite to polish my plane. You can look for me on this site and see a posting of the first piece that I polished. It was the top nose fuse skin. Several builders has used Nuvite. Scott Laughlin being one. He has a nice website (http://www.cooknwithgas.com). He has several photos of the polishing process.

I'll attempt to upload the pdf off the Nuvite site that details a process for their polishing system.

Hope this helps
Jerry

Attachments:

•  polishing_nonclad.pdf, 88 KB

Permalink Reply by Jerry Latimer on May 16, 2009 at 1:55pm

I'll also try to upload a pdf off the Sonex site that details the polishing process for Nuvite

Attachments:

•  nuvite_polishing.pdf, 449 KB

Permalink Reply by Christopher Nail on May 16, 2009 at 6:38pm

Great information guys. I have a question that I have been too lazy to look up or try out different solutions for. I like to make a lot of notes on the skin with a sharpie, as simple reminders (like "Forward" "Top" "L"/"R" centerline marks etc). Whats the best way to get that off, just polishing? Also the skin on my horizontal stab came from Zenith with the "6061T6" markings on the outside. Same solution?

Permalink Reply by Jerry Latimer on May 16, 2009 at 8:49pm

I used denatured alcohol to remove both. Got it in the aviation department of Home
Depot.
Jerry

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Permalink Reply by Peter Autenried on September 20, 2013 at 12:52pm

Here is an older thread from the 750 forum on the same topic.

http://www.zenith.aero/group/stolch750/forum/topics/using-nuvite-po...

I ended up abandoning polishing my wings because the aluminum skins had suffered from street salt during the winter move from the east cost to the midwest.

Peter

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Permalink Reply by Joe Harrington on October 12, 2013 at 10:30pm

Peter,

Sorry I didn't respond to this earlier. I had a fair bit of corrosion on some of my aluminum. I tried a few methods that did not look good once polished but ended up trying something that worked very well. I cut a piece of maroon scotchbrite the same size as my random orbit sander and the put 2 big gobs of Nuvite F9 and went to town. It actually does not take much of this, then I go back at it with my regular polishing procedure. You can't even tell where the corrosion was at all. I also tried putting the polish laden scotchbite under my compound polisher and that also worked ok. If you are still interested in having a polished plane, give it a try.

Joe

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Permalink Reply by Joe Harrington on October 12, 2013 at 10:37pm

OK, after a one year break from polishing, I am back polishing the wings on my 750. I had forgotten much of what I had figured out for myself, so I was happy that I had made notes on this thread. One thing that I can add right here is, today I tried putting a few drops of mineral spirits on the polishing pad when the pad got packed with polish. Using more polish than most seems to work for me, but this meant that my polishing pads would get fouled with polish fairly quickly and I would have to wash the pads frequently. Using the Varsol really allows me to use the pads much longer. Warning: Only put a very small amount (drops) onto the pad, or you will have a very big mess..

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Permalink Reply by Wayne Tyson Jr on January 17, 2014 at 5:17pm

I've vacillated between polishing and painting, and I'm swinging back toward polishing again. In reading the previous posts, I fall somewhere between being overinformed and confused. I hope y'all will help me avoid misconceptions and mistakes. With your permission, I'll take my remaining concerns one at a time.

1. One runs a risk of damaging the anti-corrosion properties of the aluminum by polishing.

Comments?

W

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Permalink Reply by Bob Pustell on January 17, 2014 at 9:52pm

If you are polishing clad aluminum that is true. The pure aluminum cladding takes a polish very easily (compared to alloys, anyhow) but you run the risk of buffing away the cladding. The cladding is there to serve as corrosion protection for the alloyed material below the cladding - many aircraft grade alloys corrode easily. The cladding is a very thin layer of pure aluminum and it can be removed more easily than you would expect.

However, Chris Heinz chose to use 6061-T6 aluminum in his planes. That alloy is not easily corroded so it has no alclad layer to worry about buffing away. The harder alloy surface takes a bit more effort to get up to a nice shine, but it also holds the shine better and longer than the pure aluminum surface of the alclad sheets used in many other planes.

So, on 6061-T6 airplanes, polishing poses no corrosion worries at all.

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Permalink Reply by Wayne Tyson Jr on January 17, 2014 at 11:34pm

Thanks to Bob for his answer.

2. What are the best buffers? Are the best ones a lot heavier? Faster? Low speed, the right amount of compound, with the "grain?"

WT

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Permalink Reply by Joe Harrington on January 18, 2014 at 2:13pm

My recommendation would be to buy a good brand name polisher. I don't think that the cheap Chinese Harbour Freight type cut it for this type of job. You want something with a good stout frame and one that has electronic rpm control; one the will hold the same rpm no matter the load. I have a Mikita which works fine. Milwaukee, Dewalt, etc all make good polishers. I have found that you do not need a lot of rpm.

As far as technique, review the posts in this thread and the info from Perfect Polish. There is lots of info all over the web. Everyone seems to develop their own technique.

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Permalink Reply by Louis W. Ott on January 18, 2014 at 3:53pm

I agree on the variable speed Makita and using low RPM. I also have an expensive dual pad orbital polisher and hardly ever need it except for the final pass. Even there the Makita would work fine.

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Permalink Reply by Wayne Tyson Jr on January 18, 2014 at 5:27pm

Thanks to Joe and Louis!

I have read a lot of posts and websites, and there does seem to be some disagreement about polishers. Some say that double-orbiters are essential, some say cheap ones are fine. As the devil always is in the details, I'm wondering about those who have had trouble with less than the most expensive and just what kind of trouble they encountered and what caused it--was it, for example, the machine or operator technique?

WT

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Permalink Reply by Louis W. Ott on January 18, 2014 at 7:54pm

Hi Wayne,

The dual pad orbitol I have is a Cyclo Polisher. It doesn't have the low RPM and power needed to cut the mill marks out of 6061 T6. It does the final ploish ok. The Makita works well for low RPM cutting and you can really lay into it and the set RPM doesn't lug down. It also works for the higher RPM and lighter touch needed for the final polishing. Polishing 6061 T6 is quite a different animal than the soft aluminum cladding on 2024. I found this "pre-polish" to be useful to remove the mill marks. http://www.pacificpilotproducts.com/product/PP-2

The Nuvite F9 just wasn't coarse enough to do it. After the Pre-polish, F9 will take out the swirl marks left behind.

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Permalink Reply by Joe Harrington on January 20, 2014 at 12:11am

Louis,

The Rolite Pre-Polish product looks very interesting. I have had a hard time removing the mill finish not knowing that there was anything coarser than F9 available. I am almost done polishing so it is a little late for me but hopefully this will help others who choose to polish 6061.

Thanks for the tip,

Joe

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