It came up very well

That's an understatement. Great buffer Paul, and enormous hunks of compound. You must have had to lean into the wheel HARD to get the tripoli to get those scratches out of stainless. Have you ever tried the gray compound? Not has harsh as emery, but cuts much better than tripoli (brown).

Outstanding job. You're right, Hong Kong is nuts, but it's fun. The air pollution finally drove my wife and I away. I sure miss it sometimes though. Went from a city of 7 million to a town with 2500. Where is your shop?

I am in Kwun Tong, just opposite the old Kai Tak runway. I understand about the pollution, I've been out in Sai Kung the past 9 years where the air is a bit better and we are closer to nature. HK is changing so fast, even in Kwun Tong where it was the heart of the industrial boom from the 60's the old factory buildings are making way for glass and steel office spaces. You can still walk around and see a few garment factories but one wonder how long they will still be there.

I used to take steel pieces to a wonderful man in Kwai Chung who did my steel polishing. His work was flawless, a real craftsman (unusual in HK) who was always working on interesting pieces. Sadly he seems to have closed his business. Each time I go to visit the chrome platers I never know until I get there if they are still running. They are in an old part of Wan Chai in an old tenement building whose days must be numbered.

Anyway back to the machine, yes I push quite hard when I use the brown compound. To stop the part bending or deforming I put a small wooden board behind it.

I did find a shop that sells the abrasive grits that you glue to the mops, now that my polishing man has gone for good I will have to do it all myself and will buy the grit the next time I go to mongkok.

Just to reiterate, I am entirely self-taught so my methods are probably a bit off, but I get there in the end.

Paul_Pratt wrote:Anyway back to the machine, yes I push quite hard when I use the brown compound. To stop the part bending or deforming I put a small wooden board behind it.

I did find a shop that sells the abrasive grits that you glue to the mops, now that my polishing man has gone for good I will have to do it all myself and will buy the grit the next time I go to mongkok.

Very nice tips to someone who botched his first and second attempts to polish steel panels and doesn't really want to do it by hand. I'm interested in the specs of that glue and grit and may ask locally. Starting with coarse sand paper will take out old scratches by putting in new, more uniform ones. But if you've got a high torque polishing motor and have found a way to lean into it hard without distorting a panel, then maybe the scratch removal stage can use a finer grit than that sand paper and not be so prone to doing more damage than it fixes.

The high torque motor, strong push into the polisher and backing with a wood panel make sense to anyone who's tried to polish with a buffer, saw that a strong push created a very shiny spot, but then wonders how to make that effect uniform across the piece.

Paul_Pratt wrote:Just to reiterate, I am entirely self-taught so my methods are probably a bit off, but I get there in the end.

Or you find a new way to do something. Just to see how it's done successfully with any method really helps. Thanks!

I dropped the chrome parts off today. In actual fact there was a small accident and the main group part got dented, so all chrome pieces have gone away.

Sadly my new iphone died last night so I was unable to take photos of the chrome platers shop. I will try and do it when I pick the pieces up. They should finish this weekend.

All I am waiting for now are the parts from Italy and then it will be putting it all back together.

Paul

I had a little time today to do some more polishing. This time I managed to do the 3 strips that go on the red body panel. Then I put them, and the polished name badges onto the red panel. Here's a little test on the frame to see how it looks. Actually this panel needs to be fixed in place before the side panels, so it has to be done at this early stage anyway.





I'm so pleased I was able to restore the red panels and keep the original colour and texture.

Tomorrow I will collect the plexi-glass cup warmer from my friend at the acrylic shop.

Paul

Wow. Nice thread and great work. I don't think I would have had what it takes to keep going when the ez out broke off. I've done that on an engine and it was pretty miserable (and expensive).

I've been much luckier with my studs. Two of them holding the group to the boiler backed out on their own when I took off the acorn nut. I'd given up on the other two but had never heard of the two nut trick. Doh! Clever. Wish I'd thought of it.

I was thinking of using anti-seize compound on my bolts/studs when I reassemble just to avoid the problem down the road. Are you doing the same or just going without? Or stainless?

Thanks for all the pics.

Tom

Yes it is much better to try your utmost to prevent any snapped studs. I actually dab a bit of food grade grease on the bolts and studs before I put them back in. Other people use a copper slip which is ok as long as it is used in a blind hole and not in contact with any water.

For any boiler bolts, studs and nuts I always put in new stainless just for safety and so one day down the line taking it apart is easy.

For all other nuts and bolts I try and reuse the old original ones, unless they are badly rusted. I often have them rechromed! Mostly this is because I like the old slotted head screws rather than modern philips cross head screws. The old screws have a certain charm whereas modern machines screws are just plain ugly.

I did a bit of cleaning work today on the pipes and the brass pieces. I originally planned to go and pick-up the plexi glass trim but the chrome platers called to say they had finished already (gotta love a 48 hour turnaround time). So I will make 2 stops tomorrow since both workshops (chrome and plastic) are near each other.

Right, so I spent an hour working on the copper pipes and other brass items such as steam valves. To recap, these items were taken off the machine, cleaned a little in soapy water, then put in the acid bath for a few days, rinsed off and that was it. Here they all are in the red parts bin. The clean cardboard box on the right is where I put them after they are polished.



My weapon of choice for cleaning them up is a bench grinder with a wire brush attachment. Here is my well worn grinder. This technique will remove the tarnish from the copper and brass and will make them looking factory fresh.



The bench grinder is nothing special. It has a bit of power so that it will brush away, but not so much that it will pull your arm off. If you push too hard it will stall the motor.

Basically let the wire brush do the work. Hold the piece up against the wheel and let it buff away. Goggles and a mask are a must when doing this. I tend not to wear gloves when doing this (just like when doing the polishing) - I'd rather lose a bit of skin than an arm. Not so much this motor but the buffing motor would easily do some serious damage if a piece of glove got caught in the wheel.

The steam valve below took around 30 seconds. Before is the one on the bottom.



Copper pipes and the end nuts are a bit more tricky since you have to manoeuvre the parts carefully without it getting caught in the wheel. If you remember these pipes had a nickel plating which is still visible in places. Usually if you did not have the plating, the wire brush will bring out a brilliant shine on the copper.



The brass nuts polish up very well, but the pipes look a bit crappy. I think I will have to buff these up a bit more using some green scotchbrite pads. But anyway the pipes and the nuts will tarnish again so it is not worth getting them to a mirror shine.

By all means you can also use brasso on these nuts and pipes and get a mirror shine. But it is messy to use and will tarnish quickly. I find this wire brush finish is much quicker, less messy and the finish ages well.

After I do all this work on the wire brush, I will then clean them again in fresh clean water. When I do that tomorrow I will probably give the pipes a quick rub with the scotchbrite pads as well.

And that is all I do for pipes and fittings.

Interesting. Thanks. I got into the habit of using some food grease on the bolts that use brass nuts on marzocco boilers where you cannot see the actual nut. You just have to feel it thread in properly, so a little help with some lubrication was brilliant at stopping any cross threading nightmares.