clad plate polishing?

[newone2010]

vjpalsa,CONGRATUNATIONS!

Mike sent me 2 of his clad plates too,but I haven’t try them.I have not any suitable electro mechines.I just have a polishing machine for prepare cooper.I do all the polishing and buffing by my hands.I control hand buffing better than before,and I do not want to back to machine polishing at right now.When I can do perfect hand buffing,I will learn to how to do a perfet polishing by machine.

best,

Li

[vjpalsa]

Thanks Li,

I am very pleased with the plates I purchased from Mike Robinson. I know other dag workers who polish solely by hand and they produce beautiful work. I know you will too.

[vjpalsa]

I was wondering if someone could tell me what type of velvet to buy. Mike talks about German velvet (cotton @ $75/yd). I had been buying premium velvet from Joann Fabrics ($25/yd) and it seemed to work. However, I found some cotton velvet on-line and purchased some to try and, although I know it is 100% cotton, it doesn’t seem as soft. Can someone advise me what I need to purchase. Thanks.

[vjpalsa]

So a silk/rayon blend velvet would be your suggestion to use? Thanks for clarifying.

[vjpalsa]

I realize this is probably a really dumb question but (citing the expense of the velvet) are you able to wash the silk velvet and reuse a couple of times or is it only good for one polish and then toss?

[photolytic]

If you are using dry rouge or lampblack just keep using the same velvet until it become torn or worn. You can polish dozens of plates with it.

It actually works better as it accumulates more polishing agent in the nap of velvet.

I always keep one paddle or random orbital pad covered with clean velvet to remove residue from the plates. When one of the more heavily used rouge or lampblack polishers wears out, I replace it with the slightly dirty clean pad and make a new clean pad.

One yard of velvet lasts me for years that way.

In the long run you actually spend more on double-sided tape or buying premade plates vs. having your own copper plated with silver

[vjpalsa]

I believe I am not doing things correctly because I have been going through a lot of velvet. When I begin polishing a plate with the orbital sander I put on two dabs of Nuvite S and a couple of drops of mineral spirits as directed in Mike Robinson’s post, but then I get the gooey residue from the polishing on the plate and I have been putting on a new piece of velvet and then continue 🙁  Of course, this is all before the hand buff. So, I guess my question is . . . how do I keep the plate clean when I polish with the orbital sander. I have it taped down to a smooth surface but when I am polishing the grime gets on the surrounding surface and ultimately back on the plate.

 

[newone2010]

I was still looking for good velvet in China too.The velvet john suggested is too expensive for me.In China,somethings are much cheaper,but you really need to try many until you get the right one.Do you wash the velvet before you use it for buffing?

[newone2010]

Okay,maybe this questions is really foolish.I still want to know,how can I do only hand polishing with Mike’s clad plates?

[Mike Robinson]

In answer to the above two questions,

 

with Nushine you will get a silver/black grimy surface. Keep good strong downward force on the orbital polisher. I teach my students to work in 1 minute increments. At the end of four minutes a quarter plate should be quite free from scratches. It might look grimy with residue or quite clean depending on how much you have used the velvet. In either case, the plate is coated with some sort of wax that MUST be removed.

 

Take a cotton ball and mineral spirits and lightly with the plate and youi’ll see black residue on the plate, even if it looked quite clean. Do theis a couple of times, the make sure you use dish soap and a piece of velvet, finally a sprits of alcohol polished off with velvet before hand buffing.

 

If you don’t clean off the Nushine residue well enough, you plate can look like this!!

 

You can prepare clad plates totally by hand, sand the plates first as directed above. Instead of using the random orbital sander, take a square of velvet, make a small hand block, padded with something like a piece of and old computer mouse pad and polish in tight random orbital circles by hand. It should not take too long to bring the plate to buffing condition. (something between 20 minutes and a week, technique dependent)

 

best

 

Mike

 

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[vjpalsa]

Thank you so much for your help.

[newone2010]

Hi Everyone?

I am thinking about using Random Orbit Sander now.I remember someone said he use Bosch sander which has a low speed 4500 RPM.I can not find this kind of sander in China,but I found

BOSCH GEX125-1AE.The speed is 7,500-12,000 RPM.Is it too strong for silver polishing?

I also need to find foam discs.I found it’s too difficult to be found here.Which kind of foam disc do you use?Is it is a kind of Special products for Bosch sander?

Thank you so much,

Looking forward for your reply,

Best,

Li

[newone2010]

By the way,(maybe this is another stupid question of mine),whether a Flat sand grinding machine(like Bosch GSS 140 A) can be used?

[newone2010]

GEX 125-1AE

Hi all,

I posted my question here.I want to know whether the sander which I can get in China can be used?I can only find Bosch GEX 125-1AE (7500-12000 rpm).Is it too fast?It’s very expensive in China,I do not want buy one which I can not use.

Looking forward your quik reply,

Thank you all so much.

Best regards,

Li

[newone2010]

Hi All,

All the reason for what I need a Bosch sander is: I found it is very difficult in recycling plates if I only do hand polishing.Only hand polishing will left much more spots and scratches on the plates.I think if I have a Bosch sander,it would do best work than only using my hands.

Thanks,

Li

[dagist]

Li,

In my opinion, the best Bosch random orbital sander to use is their model #3725DEVS which has variable speeds from 4,500-12,000 rpm. It is a high quality ROS that has a dual ball bearing design which eliminates any wobble or vibration of the pad (especially important if you use your ROS for final buffing).

I would not suggest getting a ROS which only goes down to 7500 rpm. The 4500 rpm speed can be very useful for gentle polishing and/or buffing. I use three Bosch 3725DEVS’s, two of which are set to their lowest 4500 rpm setting. If you only use the ROS for polishing copper or with Nuvite as Mike does, then you may not need the lower speed settings. For me, they are invaluable.

Cheers,

Rob McElroy

Buffalo, NY

[Author]

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