Has anyone tried something like this for polishing stainless steel?

[GILow]

This one popped up on my facebook feed, and it caught my eye as I have some stainless steel bar to be polished for my chainplates.

Has anyone tried something like this with their angle grinder? I don’t own a bench grinder and would like to remain this way, but I do have a good quality angle grinder.

https://www.nismoon.com/products/woo...ing-wheel-disc

Matt

[Nekton73]

What's the operating rpm on your angle grinder?





Most 4.5" angle grinders run around 10,000 rpm. You'd be mad to run an unguarded disc of any material at that speed if it isn't rated for the task. Catch an edge and you'll be lucky not to bury it in whatever is nearby, or your own face. No matter how strong you think you are you can't react fast enough to stop a kickback.



A polisher is the best tool for the job. Variable speed if possible.

[JPA Cate]

Wichard makes a passivating polish that works well as long as you can arrange shade.

Buy Duplex if you want that shiny, satiny, highly polished look. Titanium has a greyer look to it.

Ann

[Nekton73]

This old shipwright has some mad skills and knowledge, and one of the steadiest hands with a tool I've ever seen. But he just about gave me nightmares when I saw how he uses a grinder starting at 2:35 in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox93snKVuaM

It is manageable because of the large diameter of the blade and the thin kerf, and a lifetime of skill, but the torque from a small diameter blade would be close to unmanageable.


Here's another one, even crazier imo as there are much safer ways to do this but, as he said in the other video, he considers the savings in effort to him and cost to the boat owner and acceptable tradeoff for the risk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDUprNyYlfM

[Fore and Aft]

Gilow I purchased a stainless steel polishing kit from Bunnings and polished my new chain plates. They still look good after 6 years.
Cheers
https://www.bunnings.com.au/josco-ju...g-kit_p6310310

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Fore and Aft

Gilow I purchased a stainless steel polishing kit from Bunnings and polished my new chain plates. They still look good after 6 years.

Cheers

https://www.bunnings.com.au/josco-ju...g-kit_p6310310

Funny you should mention that. I have exactly that kit for the job already. Good to know it works.

But I feel like it would put the drill through hell and back. How did your drill cope?

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Nekton73

What's the operating rpm on your angle grinder?


Attachment 274060


Most 4.5" angle grinders run around 10,000 rpm. You'd be mad to run an unguarded disc of any material at that speed if it isn't rated for the task. Catch an edge and you'll be lucky not to bury it in whatever is nearby, or your own face. No matter how strong you think you are you can't react fast enough to stop a kickback.



A polisher is the best tool for the job. Variable speed if possible.

Good catch, hadn’t spotted that speed limit.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Wichard makes a passivating polish that works well as long as you can arrange shade.

Buy Duplex if you want that shiny, satiny, highly polished look. Titanium has a greyer look to it.

Ann

Budget constraints will probably force me to go with 316. These are rather big bits of metal, darn it. I priced titanium and various duplex levels and had to go and have a lie down.

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by GILow

Budget constraints will probably force me to go with 316. These are rather big bits of metal, darn it. I priced titanium and various duplex levels and had to go and have a lie down.

What, no bex, can't have been that bad.

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by Nekton73

This old shipwright has some mad skills and knowledge, and one of the steadiest hands with a tool I've ever seen. But he just about gave me nightmares when I saw how he uses a grinder starting at 2:35 in this video:

It is manageable because of the large diameter of the blade and the thin kerf, and a lifetime of skill, but the torque from a small diameter blade would be close to unmanageable.


Here's another one, even crazier imo as there are much safer ways to do this but, as he said in the other video, he considers the savings in effort to him and cost to the boat owner and acceptable tradeoff for the risk.

He better not have missed a screw before doing that. Skillful, but yes, very dangerous.

Sent from my MHA-L29 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Bill O]

Matt,
We used an air tool to polish our SS with a kit similar to the one sold by Bunnings. Worked well and you can control the rpm easier than w/an angle grinder. If you have an air compressor already, the air tools are relatively inexpensive (at least here).
The other way to do it is passivate the SS in a citric acid soln. Not hard to do a diy setup and does take the toil out of polishing.

[Scrimshaw4]

I've always used Collinite 850 to clean stainless. Use 3 3M sponge/scrub pad and let it. Wipe off with a micro fiber towel. If stubborn stain let it set for a few minuets after rubbing it in, then wipe off. Then give it a coat of the Collinite Insulator wax. Works great, but that's JMHO.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Nekton73

This old shipwright .......

It is manageable because of the large diameter of the blade and the thin kerf, and a lifetime of skill, but the torque from a small diameter blade would be close to unmanageable.

I know a guy like that. He has 9 fingers.

He may have gotten away with it but absolutely scary stuff.

This falls under...the most dangerous guy isn't usually the newbie. They are too scared to do stupid stuff. The dangerous guy is the one who is so comfortable, they ignore the dangerous stuff they are doing.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Uncle Bob

What, no bex, can't have been that bad. [emoji3][emoji3]

I didn't mention the Bex. I figured nobody would know what I was talking about.

[Yojimbo]

The specs on the wool wheel you linked called out 2500 rpm? Most 4" angle grinders are in the 10K rpm range. Sanders/buffers spin more slowly.