Polishing with 3M Radial Bristle Discs

CalsXS2 · Mar 7, 2014

So I was looking around for different polishing methods. I ran across these 3m discs. They have a 6'' for a bench buffer, and a 3'' for a die grinder.

These things make no mess. They will polish to a near mirror finish. Everyone I talked to says you will still need to hit it on the buffer one last step for the mirror finish.

So have any of you guys used these, or even heard of them. They are fairly new.

They only thing I can say is I used the Nyalox wheels Gary recommended. They worked great to get me where I'm at. But they are still way to coarse.

I know you guys will say use a sisal wheel and black, then brown, then white. I'm just wondering if there is an easier way.

So what do you guys think. Ya or Nay.

Oh ya. In the beginning of this video I'm the customer who called this gal. I feel like I talked to a movie star or something,,,,lol.

Sparky · Mar 7, 2014

ive used smaller versions of those (1", for a dremel), and yes, they work very well. ive used them primarily for gold and silver jewelry, not as much for steel or aluminum, but the basics of polishing are the same. in my experience, they wont get you to a mirror finish that one would expect to see on a gold ring, but then i doubt you are looking for that.
these wheels dont use polishing compound like the cotton wheels do, so theres less mess/ dust. on the downside, they dont last as long and are more expensive. again, that is coming from a shop where we were polishing stuff for hours, 5 days a week. you would probably polish all the aluminum bits on 2 bikes before you wore out a wheel.

anyway, yes, they are pretty awesome.

CalsXS2 · Mar 7, 2014

Sparky said:
ive used smaller versions of those (1", for a dremel), and yes, they work very well. ive used them primarily for gold and silver jewelry, not as much for steel or aluminum, but the basics of polishing are the same. in my experience, they wont get you to a mirror finish that one would expect to see on a gold ring, but then i doubt you are looking for that.
these wheels dont use polishing compound like the cotton wheels do, so theres less mess/ dust. on the downside, they dont last as long and are more expensive. again, that is coming from a shop where we were polishing stuff for hours, 5 days a week. you would probably polish all the aluminum bits on 2 bikes before you wore out a wheel.

anyway, yes, they are pretty awesome.

Do you think I would better off with the 3'' in a die grinder, or the 6'' on a buffer.

Sparky · Mar 7, 2014

6" bench mounted buffer unless you plan to polish the entire frame. will have faster rotational speed, and last longer too. plus, much less likely to injure yourself when that wheel turning at 3400 RPM "grabs" a part and sends it flying across the shop.
oh btw, keep loose clothing/gloves/hair away, and safety glasses would be a good idea too. always polish off the edge to minimize chance of "grab". they can be dangerous- i know. i almost had 2 fingers broken when a heavy silver neck chain got caught in one and turned it into a flail.

weekendrider · Mar 15, 2014

Thanks for the tip Calvin. I found some of the 1" wheels for dremel tools locally.
In fact Sears had them at 1/2 price.
I picked up a 36, 120 and 220 grit and spent about ten minutes with each one on this breather. As you can see from the first pic no decreasing or paint stripper just these wheels

TwoManyXS1Bs · Mar 16, 2014

weekendrider said:
Thanks for the tip Calvin. I found some of the 1" wheels for dremel tools locally.
In fact Sears had them at 1/2 price.
I picked up a 30, 120 and 220 grit and spent about ten minutes with each one on this breather. As you can see from the first pic no decreasing or paint stripper just these wheels

Wow, that looks good 'nuff for me! I'm in...

CalsXS2 · Mar 16, 2014

weekendrider said:
Thanks for the tip Calvin. I found some of the 1" wheels for dremel tools locally.
In fact Sears had them at 1/2 price.
I picked up a 30, 120 and 220 grit and spent about ten minutes with each one on this breather. As you can see from the first pic no decreasing or paint stripper just these wheels

Did you get the actual 3M rail disc one's like in the video,,,except 1''. And did you mean 80 grit not 30. Or does the 1'' go down to 30 grit.

So anyway.

We've only done a few test piece's. I haven't done any of the buffing. My son done it all so far. I was sick. But he thinks the 80 might be to rough. He thinks it left some scratches. But he think if he spent more time on the next level they might come out.

Do you have any scratches left from the 80?

More to come.

weekendrider · Mar 16, 2014

Cal even the 220 will still leave scratches as you can see in the pictures.
I grabbed a valve cover out of the pieces box.
The first shot shows it complete with the oily patches. Most of the yellowed clear coat was already off. You can see the yellow patch just to the left of the scratch marks where it has been dropped. I did spray it with wd to get the oil off in case the oil would get the bristles gummy. The beauty of these is the fact the little fingers make it easy to get into the tight places, like the recess around the bolt holes

.
Unfortunately dremel only has the 3 grits 36, 120 and 220.
After using the wheels I did use a little semi-chrome on a patch between the 6 o'clock and 10 o'clock hole and with enough rubbing it will take the scratch marks off but I still would like to find the finer grits. It is just so easy with these. Time spent on this cover about 30 min.s

CalsXS2 · Mar 16, 2014

I gotta ask. Why aren't you cleaning the part's.

Anyway.

It looks like those 1'' discs aren't cut out for this job if it's as high as they go,,, and you're still left with scratches to deal will. I'd call that unacceptable.

The 3'' disc's are doing a much better job. I just gotta get the right method figured out.

CalsXS2 · Mar 16, 2014

Do you plan on buffing that out, or are you just playin.

weekendrider · Mar 16, 2014

Playin for now. I"ll hunt down a selection of the 3" wheels when I get serious.
I didn't clean the dirt off the breather cause I wanted to see what they do.
And they do fine for removing the clear coat so a step(stripping the clear coat) is
eliminated.
Did you get the jooltool or just the wheels?
I'm wondering if an angle grinder might spin them to fast? Kinda burning the aluminum? Or overheating the wheel material?

CalsXS2 · Mar 16, 2014

No I didn't get the jooltool.

I actually got the kit somewhere else because it has a 7 piece kit, instead of the 6 piece the she offers. And it's cheaper.

So far we've just been playing with them on a 1,300 rpm drill. My kid thinks any faster and you would remove too much material.

3M say 30,000 on the 3''

for optimum performance. She runing them at 5,000 on her jooltool.

Polishing with 3M Radial Bristle Discs

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