How to get Near-Chrome Finish on 303 Stainless?

It is a challenge holding parts some time. With compound it gets slippery. Ive throw my share of parts across the room. :oops: Then having to repolish because of the huge scratch I just put in it.
With a lathe I would use a expandable arbor in Chuck then mount your piece. Spin the part and use a drill,or what have you with your buffing wheel and go at it. Will cut time down a lot with spinning part. Here is one tool I use almost every time I polish. Put a 3”x1/2 wide wheel on it. Works great they spin a lot faster than drills and such.
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Good idea on the pneumatic die grinder. I'll try the Dremel first (it spins fast, too, albeit with smaller pads).
 
A company that does electro polishing would knock them out in no time.
Before someone chimes in that this is EXPENSIVE and only used in industry the original question is how to do it.

A better thread title would be How To Get Near Chrome Finish On 303 SS As Inexpensively As Possible At Home.

This will keep people that work in the business from suggesting options that are cost prohibitive, such as myself.
Polish it by hand a mentioned above, you have time for this.

Good Luck
 
Not to argue but, since this is a "do it your self" forum I think the question is appropriate. If someone wanted to know how to paint a bicycle you wouldn't tell him to take it to a professional, you would explain how to do it.
I think if you know a way to do it better ,being in the business, you could have suggested how you might do it if for no other reason as to give thought about how a professional might do it.
This forum wouldn't work well if everyone said, well a professional could do it easy, and leave it at that. Have a good day.
 
As many have said, go down through the grades of wet n dry starting at around the 180 mark, 240, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000.
Then use tripoli on a hard buff followed by rouge on a soft buff.
Cut your wet n dry sheets into circles and stick them onto a foam disk. I use a rubber disk with the soft foam stuck to that then the wet n dry disk stuck to the foam with spray on contact adhesive.
Using WD40 as the wetting agent (test to see if your wet n dry will stand up to wd40) sand of all the scratches till its uniform, wash, change to next size, using wd40 should make the spray on glue semi release to swap the sanding disk.
Depending upon how bad the starting finish is will dictate what number grit you start with and its also possible to skip a grade as tripoli will remove a heap of marks. The rouge will bring up the final shine but wont remove any but the finest of scratches.
Use the buffing wheels on your bench grinder.
I would bolt your standoffs to a mandrel so I could apply more pressure without them spinning out my hand.
Start them in the lathe using the abrasive cut into strips and glued to strips of wood like a wooden ruler so you can get into the corners, use wd40 as the lube and cover the lathe with cloth.
When using a buffing wheel only apply pressure from below the centre line as if it grabs it wont throw it at you.
 
Thanks for all the advice. I ended up making a make-shift arbor out of 5/16" socket head bolts. The key was dropping down to 120 grit on the belt grinder to remove all deep scratches before moving to 220 dry, then 220 wet, 400 wet, 600 wet, and finishing with 1000 wet. Then a few minutes with a Dremel and a sewn buffing pad in a drill press with black rouge and I got acceptably shiny parts.
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The part on the right is "before". It's hard to get a good picture of shiny parts--the part on the left is polished--not sure why it looks dull at the top.
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ACHiPo said:
I just finished 4 stand-offs for a vintage auto luggage rack. I sanded them to 500 grit, then polished with Flitz on the lathe, but they don't have the mirror sheen I'm looking for. I'm wondering if getting a Harbor Freight tumbler would be a way to get the desired finish? If so, what series of media should I use?
Evan
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Robin Renzetti just posted to Instagram yesterday that he uses Cratex and Brightboy abrasive sticks to polish parts, and he gets some beautiful finishes.
 
I may have a stick. I forgot all about it! Thanks!
 
So far you got them on the right track but to be completely honest, for the project you are making them for i wouldn't agree that they are ready to install on such a Beautiful Machine in their current condition! You can clearly see the tool/sanding marks on the larger diameter flat surface. I know it is a very very tedious job but i would suggest that you go to at least 2000 grit wet sanding...... if done properly and diligently I have no doubt those standoffs will glisten as good as Show Quality Chrome job.
FWIW.... Im not trying to say that the current state of polish the parts are in is a "Bad Job" only that they could ABSOLUTELY be much better if you do the extra work! Besides That Beautiful Automobile they are destined for Honestly Deserves that Extra Finesse! Even though a million people will look at it and see nothing but "perfection" each time you see it those scratches will be the ONLY THING YOU CAN SEE and you will want nothing more then to kick yourself for not following through with a job that you could have done better on if only for yourself. Please forgive me if i overstepped my bounds, I meant no offense.
 
Latinrascalrg1 said:
So far you got them on the right track but to be completely honest, for the project you are making them for i wouldn't agree that they are ready to install on such a Beautiful Machine in their current condition! You can clearly see the tool/sanding marks on the larger diameter flat surface. I know it is a very very tedious job but i would suggest that you go to at least 2000 grit wet sanding...... if done properly and diligently I have no doubt those standoffs will glisten as good as Show Quality Chrome job.
FWIW.... Im not trying to say that the current state of polish the parts are in is a "Bad Job" only that they could ABSOLUTELY be much better if you do the extra work! Besides That Beautiful Automobile they are destined for Honestly Deserves that Extra Finesse! Even though a million people will look at it and see nothing but "perfection" each time you see it those scratches will be the ONLY THING YOU CAN SEE and you will want nothing more then to kick yourself for not following through with a job that you could have done better on if only for yourself. Please forgive me if i overstepped my bounds, I meant no offense.
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No offense taken. Just a brief update--I received the hardware from McMaster Carr Monday, and I was all set to send the stand offs and hardware off to the builder Tuesday. After looking at the hardware, however, I realized that I really need to machine down the heads of the carriage bolts, and polish them as well, as they are just machined stainless. Sooooo...I figured if I have to do the bolts anyway, I really should take another shot at the standoffs as they are not as good as I want them to be. I called the builder, confirmed that it wouldn't affect the schedule if I don't send them until next Monday. I'll take pics of the "really final" product before I pack them up and ship them.
 
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