Make sure the surface is completely dry before proceeding. Next, clean the surface with warm soapy water and a soft sponge or cloth: do not use steel wool or anything else that could damage the stainless steel. Remove any sticky residue with acetone or alcohol. If left, foreign matter can scratch and blemish the surface, making it look worse instead of better. Stainless steel surfaces must be thoroughly cleaned before polishing. Step #1: Clean and Prepare the Stainless Steel Machine Polishing Stainless Steelīelow are the supplies and steps you will need to get a smooth finish using an angle or bench grinder. If you still notice the scratch, you may want to sand it. If the scratch is still visible, repeat the process with a slightly coarser grit such as a 320-grit metal polishing compound. Typically, it will be a 400-grit compound. Use the least aggressive grit you have available to buff it. To determine whether sanding is necessary, locate the most serious blemish on the surface. Deep scratches, on the other hand, will need to be sanded out. If the stainless steel surface only has minor surface imperfections, you can usually deal with them using a polishing compound. Do You Need to Sand Stainless Steel Before Polishing It? If you want to polish stainless steel to achieve a mirror finish, you'll need buffing wheels with compound or abrasive belts in the super fine grits. Besides hiding welded metal, it makes cleaning easier. With this highly reflective finish, stainless steel achieves its most iconic look. A matte finish can usually be achieved with one or two buffing levels, such as 240 grit and 300 or 400 grit. It is commonly used for practical purposes like kitchen or bathroom sinks and workbenches. Unlike other finishes, matte is unpretentious and requires less time, effort, and expense to achieve. After buffing, it can also achieve a mirror-like shine with the help of high-quality buffing compound and a grinder with a polishing wheel. It's perfect for automotive parts with its chrome-like shine, but it needs an adequately prepared surface. Polishing stainless steel to a gloss finish improves corrosion resistance by smoothing crevices where rust can collect. To make the lines uniform on brushed finishes, a high-grade abrasive is required. However, it can reduce the steel's resistance to corrosion, so rustproofing may be needed depending on the application. It works well in areas exposed to bright indoor lights or lots of sunshine because it lacks the typical reflective sheen of stainless steel. Below is an overview of the most common finishing options.īy brushing stainless steel, delicate parallel lines are created to create decorative patterns. Generally speaking, the method and tools you use to polish your stainless steel surfaces and components will be determined by the kind of finish you’re looking for. These quality issues may be undesirable in some applications. Contaminant Removal: When stainless steel is polished, even invisible contaminants are removed from the surface.Corrosion Reduction: In metals, polishing reduces the number and size of crevices that encourage rust.Aesthetics: When combined with buffing, polishing enhances the metal's surface quality and keeps it looking lustrous.The benefits of polishing stainless steel include: Although polishing stainless steel helps keep it looking good, there are other benefits as well. Benefits Of Polishing Stainless SteelĪs stainless steel ages, its distinctive sheen can fade. In this guide, the team at Red Label Abrasives explains how to polish stainless steel so that it looks as good as it functions. It is, however, prone to fading over time, which is why polishing is a key factor in its upkeep. In addition to being aesthetically appealing, stainless steel is durable, corrosion and chemical-resistant, and won’t degrade under high temperatures. Stainless steel is used across a wide range of industries, from automotive and appliances to furniture and knife making.
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