Polishing aluminum engine cases with a rotary dremel...?

[SASORacing]

Getting into the tight contours of an engine block and aluminum side covers and fins can be difficult with anything but small buffing wheels or cones. I was thinking of getting a dremel / rotary with variable speeds, and some 1 inch wheels and small cones. The speed with one of these would prob. be better than a drill. But will I be limited by a small dremel / rotary wheel options, will they polish good. I was thinking specifically a cordless Milwaukee m12 rotary. Thoughts?

 

[STEVENC]

I use my dremel to regularly polish aluminum and clean up other metal items. For aluminum I use the smaller cloth bits and use mothers to clean stuff up. The smaller wire brushes in steel brass or plastic come in handy as well. I tend to use those the most cleaning up light rust . Working on smaller bits like brake levers and such a dremel really shines.

 

[SASORacing]

I was hoping to get more replies but thanks. Sounds promising. one good thing about rotaries is that they have very high RPMs so as long as the m12 ha enough power it should be good. do you have any recommendations on cotton or wool Dremel buffing pad or cloths? Do you use half or one inch wheels. Or the tiny cotton cones?

 

[wagzilla]

I have not had much luck with dremels I have burnt up three of them They do sell some nice air kits HF has one that has a few different wheels that's about sixty bucks or so I have been buffing aluminum. I have about 20 different compounds
Here is a few pic's of the stuff I use

I have more stuff At work

Hope that helps

 

[wagzilla]

I was hoping to get more replies but thanks. Sounds promising. one good thing about rotaries is that they have very high RPMs so as long as the m12 ha enough power it should be good. do you have any recommendations on cotton or wool Dremel buffing pad or cloths? Do you use half or one inch wheels. Or the tiny cotton cones?

If you got the m12 fuel you would be fine!! If you like pm me!!


James

 

[Sydmoe]

Look up on YouTube wet blasting aluminum cases. It is great way to make motorcycle cases look brand new

 

[Hoppper]

I have done some polishing with my corded dremel tool, I have used the older cordless dremels and would not recommend them, 100% battery power fades fast, but battery technology has come a long way since then. I do recommend the corded version but not as a main tool, only for the tight spots. I also recommend getting the extension cable so you dont have to hold the tool.

 

[SASORacing]

Thanks wad, syd, and hop! Great polishing kit pictures of your setup wag. Polishing Alum. is time consuming especially prepping it before hand with ~220 - 800 grit sandpaper or taking the old clearcoat off. Wagzilla, in the first picture I noticed your BlueMagic polishing cream. That stuff works great as a final coating, it has long lasting ingredient of silicone in it.
So the shine lasts longer, its a good alternative to clear coating aluminum, because clear coat whether its paint or powdercoat dulls the high shine right away. But it is less maintenice in the long run. But with that silicone product its possible to maintain a high high polish with maintenice every few months or so if you are willing to keep up.

 

[candikid]

I got the Dremel 4000 for christmas and feel I've used it enough now to have an opinion about it:
It has more than sufficient power for sanding, polishing, grinding and cutting soft materials. It has just enough power for doing the same on harder materials like steel. If you push it hard and expect it to perform like an angle grinder, it will slow down and probably not last very long.
I used the "hole saw" router attachment the other day to make a large hole in a wooden wall plate the other day, and was really surprised by its performance!

So if your use is primarily polishing and maybe it stretches to some grinding and harder work, I can definitely recommend the 4000. But I would not recommend the battery driven ones, not even the brand new ones. We have them at work and they are way to weak!

 

[candikid]

Oh and the flex shaft attachment takes away a lot of the irritation regarding size and cord getting in the way

 

[SASORacing]

Ok now im doubting the Mil. m12 rotary dremel tool. Normally they come with 1.5a batteries. But I will be using the slightly bigger / better battery pack from my m12 FUEL impact gun which is a 2.0a battery!
All this talk about needing a cord, will the m12 and a 2.0 battery be too weak? Anyone know for sure? I would love to add another m12 tool to my collection for 4 now, but maybe I need to pass on a battery operated dremel for polishing....?

 

[justme-]

I've got 2 dremels - work great. My father started with a dremel and shifted to a mini angled air die grinder with scotch brite pads then a micro straight air die grinder for the details when removing the discolored clear coat and then polishing the aluminum cases on his (now my) sportster.
Scotch brite roloc 2" pads to remove the clear coat then flitz and mostly wool wheels and points.

 

[LXCam]

My choice would be a quality 1/8" pneumatic pencil die grinder, it's what I use. And that bike is SICK bud!, that's one sweet build.

 

[tdkkart]

http://www.foredom.net/

 

[Modern Jess]

Oh and the flex shaft attachment takes away a lot of the irritation regarding size and cord getting in the way

This. I've done a bunch of engine polishing with a wired dremel and a flex shaft. Polishing is a time-consuming process, with the tool running full-time for hours at a time. This is a job for a corded tool.

 

[wagzilla]

Thanks wad, syd, and hop! Great polishing kit pictures of your setup wag. Polishing Alum. is time consuming especially prepping it before hand with ~220 - 800 grit sandpaper or taking the old clearcoat off. Wagzilla, in the first picture I noticed your BlueMagic polishing cream. That stuff works great as a final coating, it has long lasting ingredient of silicone in it.
So the shine lasts longer, its a good alternative to clear coating aluminum, because clear coat whether its paint or powdercoat dulls the high shine right away. But it is less maintenice in the long run. But with that silicone product its possible to maintain a high high polish with maintenice every few months or so if you are willing to keep up.

The new powder coating I have seen is very bright and I thought they forgot to powder coat, they did a great job!! by the way in my frist pic you see the peeler this takes off the clear coat with out hurting the finish and you just blow it off with shop air.

James