How To: Mirror Finish Hammond Boxes

[Supa-T]

I'm working on some new boxes and have been tired of painting, so I decided to try to polish a 1590b.  It's taken me quite a bit longer than I had initially planned but it is possible to turn the raw shipped box into a mirror finished piece.



Here's the process.

I initially started with 320 grit.  The box seemed flat enough, but as i started getting into it I realized that there were some pretty deep gouges.  There were also some deep contours in the seam between the bottom plate and the body.  So I stepped back to 100g, got out the powersander and to let 'er rip.  Tons of sanding at this point; sanding all sides until the surface was smooth and the joint between the body and the bottom plate was seamless.  The seam almost disappears when it's at the right point.  The process also squared the box up quite a bit, giving it sharp edges, which I like.

After the 100g, it was time to move back up to 320, sanding again untill the box is uniform.  At all sanding stages, I wanted to move to the next grit too fast.  I'd get sick of sanding and move up grade or two in sandpaper and later realize I'd have to move back down.  It's a waste of time and paper (which can get expensive), so DON"T SKIMP!  Stay at your current grade of paper until the grain (all the scratches) is totally uniform.  You may think that ONE scratch will be ok and want to move on, but trust me, that one scratch will be a real pain in the ass later, so get it out as early as you can.

I had to get that warning out of the way. So moving on, here's the order and grades of my sandpaper:  100, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000.
Since this was my first attempt, I went up and back down a lot and wasted a lot of time. I learned my lessons, and next time I'll be able to get this thing in one pass through the grades.

After all the sanding, I used some metal polishing paste that I picked up at my local Lowe's.  I used a Dremmel to polish.  It's not the best tool because the surface area of the polishing wheel is too small.  It doesn't polish uniformly and leaves some streaks which you can see slightly in the photo.

I used two grades of polishing paste, a general polish, and secondly a fine polish (intended for precious metals).  I'd had never polished metal like this before and I initially expected to run the polish a few times and have a shiney box, but in reality the paste is an abrasive (just finer than sandpaper).  I had to spend a lot of time with the paste just like sandpaper, but with each application and buff, I could see the tiniest scratches disapear.  Like the sandpaper, stay with each grade of paste until the scratches are uniform.

In my photo you can see some of the streaks.  If I worked with larger buffing wheel these would come out, but you gotta work with the tools you got.


Thumbs up!

-Ticean

[chokeyou]

cool indeed. i tried to polish a Line 6 enclosure off a dead FM4 for use with other guts, failed miserably so now its a half polished, ugly little box with various effects in it.

[Aharon]

Nice going ,thanks for the report.
Aharon

[markm]

Sometimes a little bit of 0000 steel wool can help before using a polishing compound.
I've done this with a few of my etched enclosures and it works real,,,,,well....FINE!
nice job!!

[Phorhas]

Beautiful!

[Supa-T]

markm,

I did indeed forget to mention the use of some steelwool before the polishing compound. It's exciting because while you can still see slight surface scratches, it's the first step where you can really see some gleam.

Btw, this box is intended for etching.  I'll give another report when that is done, as I'm using a photoresist and negative template instead of press n' peel.

-Ticean

[Peter Snowberg]

Welcome to the forum and thanks for a wonderful post!

Great job!

[petemoore]

  Tha's super cool looking lPolished metal, no worry about painting/paint problems.. 
  What about a belt sander jig.
  Delta belt sander over at Bills'..we build a frame for it's backplate, add a simple stop @ 90 degrees would take care of 3 of the dimensions...the sander plate as floor, the backplate, and the stop...
  Then at least you'd be getting faster cut, and would only have to hold gently.
  Another way would be to chuck the box to a longboard, then attach the other end of the board in front or behind the sander, for hopefully perfect alignment and even cut, weight the box to the cutting survace and let her rip for a while. You'd need a board with a jig of wood on the end that would accept all sides and the bottom...
  It might not be as even looking if you're not nursing it, and you'd probably want to finish with your method, but for the long task of getting the surface down to flat, I'd probably be looking for some automated option to quicken the process...but often these shortcuts show in the end product...try something like this first on a bottom...

[Supa-T]

I'll say this... I'm making two of these boxes, and I'm not really looking forward to the hours of sanding on the second one.  I think it would perfect if you had a nice belt sander setup with a jig or stop to hold the box in place.  You'd still need to babysit the thing and check it regularly for progress, but the work would move along much faster than with my orbital sander.  End results would probably more even as well, as you could get the entire face in one pass.  The problem with my orbital sander is that it uses sheet paper, which loses its grit pretty quick.  I understand the abrasive in a belt sander is more durable.

Once you hit 600 or so, best to go by hand anyway.

[John Lyons]

Here's a couple more tips.

Wetsanding with 220, 320, 400, 600, and up with silicon carbide wet dry sandpaper. The water washes away the metal dust and keeps the sandpaper clean and free of clogs. WHen you get to the higher grit you can use dish soap to help get a finer finish. The soap cuts down on  cloging and produces a finer grit in practice.

Toothpaste  will work as a metal polish. Smailles better as well.

0000 Steel wool and paste wax produces a nice mirror surface as a final step. (but only if you aren't painting or etching as it will repel eater etc.) You can always acetone or alcohol wash the boex to remove the wax.

John

[Supa-T]

I had bought a 5" buffing wheel, but I don't have a buffer, so tonight I attached it to my power drill. I didn't think that it was really going to work because the drill isn't very fast, but  I stuck the box in the oven and heated it up to about 150-175 degrees. It was just a little too hot to touch.  Once the piece was heated I applied the compound directly to the box, instead of the buffing wheel.  The compound flowed onto the box very easily forming an opaque, free flowing layer.  Then I buffed with the drill/wheel.

I've never buffed aluminum or any metal before so those of you who are familiar with buffing may think this odd, as the instructions say to apply the compound to the wheel, but buffing this way removed all the faint streaks from the dremmel.  Now I could shave using this box as a mirror. It's even shinier than my Vexter FF.  The key was the heat.

I thought this tidbit might come in handy for those like me who don't have the "correct" power tools, but want a chrome like finish.

[nelson]

I just ordered some wet dry sandpaper to try this out.

I dont have a buffing wheel apart from the mini dremel thing, I may get one.

[Bernardduur]

I always use some silver polish I have laying around..... should be like 15.000 grit or something

[R.G.]

Cool.

Consider spraying a clear coat over it to keep it from oxidizing over time and showing fingerprints as oxidized places.

The metal they're made from may be based on aluminum or zinc. Possibly magnesium, but probably not. Both Al and Z will gray with exposure.

[aron]

Very nice and great post!

[nelson]

Wiki?

[Harry]

You might wan't to try chocolate if you happen't to see that Mythbusters episode. They got the bottom of a soda can shiny enough to start a fire just by rubbing it with chocolate (I guess happens to be minor abbrasive).

[gaussmarkov]

Wiki?

done.

[1wahfreak]

I've done this alreay by using a buffing wheel on a 6 in. grider. It works pretty well but when things start to get shiny, all the imperfections show up from the casting process. You can see the swril marks left by the molted metal. You can't really ever get it out. I masked out the certain areas, painted the box and then removed the mask revealing the shiny metal letters. Worked pretty good, but takes some work.

[johngreene]

I haven't tried it yet on boxes but it does one hell of a job on aluminum rims.

http://www.autogeek.net/mo5148.html

--john