[Maceface77]

I have seen so many threads on how to pollish and there are mixed feelings all over.

WHAT IS A PROPER WAY TO POLISH A WHOLE GUN! can anyone help me out I have a Threshold I would like to do.,

[Spyder124]

My recommendation is to strip the current anodizing off the parts you want to polish with a lye and distilled water solution. This will strip anodizing off way more evenly than spray on oven cleaner. Lye is available in powder form at hardware stores and menards, usually as drain/pipe cleaner for around $5. You can get distilled water at the grocery store for under a dollar per gallon.

Use varying grits of sand paper and hand sand the scratches out. Around 500 grit for the deep scratches and up to about 2000 grit for the finishing sanding. After sanding, use an aluminum polish and clean cloths to finish the job. I like mothers mag polish, its about $5 at walmart.

It takes a LOT of time to polish a marker, especially one with some intricate milling. I have an intimidator body I've been bringing back from the dead and have put around 8 hours into and its maybe 35% done. Previous owner took a dremel to it for "texture". Good luck and have fun!

[cpt_crunch]

I dremel or a drill will go a long way in helping to polish. It takes a really long time doing it by hand. You should also consider wet sanding to get it just a little bit smoother.

If you're not sure of what sand paper grit to use start at the top (a very high grit) and if there are scratches you cant remove work your way down to a lower grit. Once all the scratches are out work your way back up to the high grit.

If you want to be really picky ask the internet about the best way to polish 6061 T6 aluminum. That's the specific aluminum your marker is made of

[Maceface77]

Thanks for the responses! What if I don't want to strip the anno off the breech and internals?

[cpt_crunch]

strip the anno from any place you want to polish. DO NOT POLISH DYNAMIC SURFACES!!! otherwise known as a surface something moves against. inside of the tubes, bolts, hammers, spools, etc... Leave the anno there and do not polish it

[Maceface77]

Thanks thats what I was getting at.

[Maceface77]

So you dont soak the body that contains the dynamic surfaces then I take it. Wrap it in a towel maybe?

[cpt_crunch]

soak towel in solution of badness, rub anno off.

[a sneaky panda]

or skip the chemicals and have it bead blasted. that would have the ano off an entire marker in about 2 minutes. it would also leave all internal surfaces to retain the ano. I do it all the time when I am stripping poor quality ano jobs from markers I am working on

[Maceface77]

Thanks guys I'm doing it right now here's my progress on getting off the anno and polish, I'm almost done.

[IMG]http:// [/IMG]

[cpt_crunch]

looking shiny

[Spyder124]

nice work! going to anodize or keep it raw?

[Maceface77]

I want to learn to anodize eventually but I really think once I get all the nooks and crannys on this threshold that it will bring out the extensive and intricate milling that they put into this beast. The poop brown it was before may be for some but its not for me lol. Besides I have a Full techt HE bolt and tooless back cap as well as a new board on the way so Im pretty excited to beef this beauty up. It si the same internally as a REV I and the REV I is a good gun.

[Word?]

Originally Posted by cpt_crunch

strip the anno from any place you want to polish. DO NOT POLISH DYNAMIC SURFACES!!! otherwise known as a surface something moves against. inside of the tubes, bolts, hammers, spools, etc... Leave the anno there and do not polish it

But....but.....I've had success with this

I mean I've also had failure and ruined a poppet and a bolt. But you gotta break a couple eggs to make an omelette.

Maceface:

Coming from experience: dye bolts love to be polished, invert mini internals....not so much. The parts are machined so exactly that removing that nanometer or so of ano will throw off the gun's ability to cycle.

Really, don't polish anything unless you're willing to replace it if it breaks. I have a guinea pig gun lined up before I polish or modify the actual week to week gun.

But back to your question and my take on it,

Ryobi(I think) makes an aluminum polish that you can buy at any Lowe's. You take that, get a felt wheel with a tool of your choice (I personally rely on a dremmel for this stuff), get that felt wheel nice and coated with the polish and apply it to the surface of your choice. The idea is to work a small area until the polish starts to turn black and cake up. At that point, you're exposing bare aluminum, and using the felt wheel to buff it away will expose a nice, shiny aluminum surface.

Aluminum polish, otherwise known as jewler's rouge is of crayon wax-like consistency and made by many brands, which are available at most home improvement stores.

[Word?]

Oh! An important detail:

The idea is to work a small area, moving the wheel up & down slowly. Do not keep the wheel hovering over any 1 spot, always keep it moving! You will start to actually take aluminum off, and create some bad burs.

Also, polishing the entire exterior of you gun is going to take a looooong time. If you wanna save yourself some aggravation take it to a machine shop.

[Maceface77]

Originally Posted by Word?

Oh! An important detail:

The idea is to work a small area, moving the wheel up & down slowly. Do not keep the wheel hovering over any 1 spot, always keep it moving! You will start to actually take aluminum off, and create some bad burs.

Also, polishing the entire exterior of you gun is going to take a looooong time. If you wanna save yourself some aggravation take it to a machine shop.

Thanks for the info the more the better for me. I have posted a piture ^ there on the progress so far. Its a real challenge considering that the gun is not straight lines like most.

[maloneoni]

Originally Posted by Word?

Ryobi(I think) makes an aluminum polish that you can buy at any Lowe's.

Ryobi is a Home Depot brand. It may be Kobalt.

[Word?]

There you go. Knew it was one of those two.

[RedoxRalph]

I had spent alot of time getting the aluminum to a high polish and then when it comes time to get it clean for anodizing. By time its clean enough, it has lost its shine I suggest Specialty 740 cleaner to clean before anodizing.

http://specialty740.blogspot.com/

[jeepscantshootguns]

Just a heads up, raw aluminum is stupid easy to scratch. If you don't feel like polishing it every time you touch it I would recommend anodizing it. That being said, you'll want to strip the entire gun. Inside and out. Existing anno won't hold up too well to the anno process and you'll have a hell of a time rigging it.

[jeepscantshootguns]

Also, I'd recommend against commercial aluminum polishes if you do plan on anno. They tend to have additives such as Teflon to fill the tiny scratches. This will be removed prior to anno and you will lose a considerable amount of shine. Real jewelers rouge is the way to go as it doesn't mask imperfections, merely corrects them without leaving a residue for fake shine.