Originally Posted by
cstar
Thank you, this is very helpful. I was contemplating different ways to sand it evenly. I could use some guidance on grits. I was afraid 60 would be too aggressive... I want to be able to polish it back out to the factory appearance which is quite nicely polished as many 80s high end Japanese components were
Do you think I will be able to polish out all the 60 grit marks? My plan is to work gradually finer, say 60-80-100-150-220 etc etc. I'm not that experienced polishing aluminum so I would love guidance re: the finish polishing
tbh, i think i'd started with 80 grit, but i really don't think it's going to matter until you get closer the the 27mm diameter goal. i'd done it by hand and just kept rotating and moving the post up and down. doing it that way, each successive pass kinda cancels out previous scratching by the paper. iow's, it'll come out smoother looking than you'd think being that you're sanding in all directions. i was lazy and skipped doing a bunch of progressive paper grit. maybe move from 80 to 200 and on to the finishing grit like 2000 or so. it really didn't seem to matter because at the end you'll be wet sanding and rinsing and that will move much of the aluminum particles off the surface making the 2000 grit paper work to smooth rather than making more scuffing. i hope that makes sense. you'll see what i mean. don't complicate it
ps. i should add i didn't go for an ultra polished look. rather i wanted the more dull bright or aged look since none of the other aluminum bits on the bike were high polished. the post still came out very smooth, though