polishing aluminum

[aragorn723]

Hi,

I made a sound processor to go after the Quickie, and it has an aluminum plate to mount the components, ala bottlehead.  What's the best way to polish it up?  Was thinking about using 91% IPA to clean it, and then polish it with a car wax.  Would that work?

Dave

[caffeinator]

Hi aragorn723,

The steps you've outlined would probably work fine.  A quick google yielded a fairly low-tech approach for cleaning, followed by polishing:

http://www.howtocleanstuff.net/how-to-clean-and-polish-aluminum/

I've heard good things about Zymol for polishing chromed and aluminum surfaces (Zymol Z503A Cleaner Wax).

Get a lot of rags you won't mind throwing away, wear some kind of gloves; aluminum oxide will blacken them thoroughly.

[aragorn723]

Thanks.. It came out pretty nice, i'll have to post a pic at some point.  It was surprising how dirty the aluminum was.  Guess that was leftover from the machining.

Dave