| Author | Message | ||
     Paul Dabrowski New User Username: shabbyshadow2 Post Number: 7 Registered: 9-2005 |
With the repaint under way at full steam, i was thinking of getting the grille polished. Can anyone recommend a firm in Melbourne? | ||
| Robert Wort Grand Master Username: robert_wort Post Number: 272 Registered: 12-2004 |
Hello Paul, I don't know directly of someone that does this but I do know someone that does. Graeme Bracher, of whom did an excellent repair to my Spur last year made mention of someone who does polishing of grilles and all stainless steel paraphernalia. Graeme can be contacted on 9720 6398. Hope this helps. | ||
| David Gore Moderator Username: david_gore Post Number: 564 Registered: 4-2003 |
Be Careful - be a thousand times careful before attempting to have the stainless steel grille polished. I presume you are referring to the radiator shell in its entirety rather than the grille elements of the shell. Polishing stainless steel is fraught with danger if the polisher uses the wrong mops, wrong compound and, most importantly, too much pressure trying to buff out any imperfections. This is because it is very easy to overheat the metal and as stainless steel has a lower thermal conductivity compared with other metals; the heat remains localised rather than spreading out into the metal. The consequent expansion of the metal due to the localised heat causes an "oil-canning" effect [i.e. the expanded metal "pops" up or down] creating an obvious visual imperfection that can only be successfully eliminated by stretch levelling techniques. "Shrinking" of the affected metal to remove the oil canning is not possible with the radiator shell. For this reason, I will not publish details about stainless steel polishing techniques unless I can personally demonstrate the techniques and show how easy it is to generate the problems that arise from inappropriate polishing techniques. "One look is worth a thousand words" in emphasising the care that is required. | ||
| Richard Treacy Grand Master Username: richard_treacy Post Number: 996 Registered: 4-2003 |
Better trust David on this one as he is a metallurgist. If it's not bad, use nothing harsher than Windex. David has mirrored the warnings about polishing stainless steel which are often featured in our Clubs. I would never attempt it as stainless is strictly off the roller, pardon the pun. I did lots of work at Comsteel in Unanderra, where BHP produced a range of rolled stainless steel. All the stainless came from the mill in final state. Although I have no experience in polishing stainless alloys, I have read horror stories of polishing Silver Cloud grilles, and can only assume that Silver Shadows are no different. One Flying Lady article about 20 years ago described a professional spending 120 hours to correct another's attempt, and even then the result was worse than the starting point. | ||
| David Gore Moderator Username: david_gore Post Number: 565 Registered: 4-2003 |
Hi Richard, Small world isn't it - I had 18 years with Comsteel and spent a lot of time at Unanderra whilst I was based in Sydney as a Service Metallurgist. It is a shame the Company suffered from management decisions made in the past - Unanderra is no more and some of the site buildings have been demolished including the Bright Anneal line tower that was the most visible symbol of the plant. Waratah is no longer the diverse alloy steel producer it used to be with whole sections of the plant [such as the Heavy Forge] no longer operating | ||
| John Shostrom Experienced User Username: silvawraith2 Post Number: 35 Registered: 4-2005 |
Richard and David are absolutely correct regarding concerns over polishing the Rolls-Royce grille. I have seen the problems they mention, and I have also seen grilles coming apart at the soldering joins, too. Use either Windex, or as the handbook recommends, a 50/50 mixture of warm water and ammonia. With a little patience, you'll be more than satisfied with the results. Good luck. | ||
| Richard Treacy Grand Master Username: richard_treacy Post Number: 998 Registered: 4-2003 |
Thanks, David and John, For quite some years at BHP (BHP Billiton nowadays), I went alone or took another electrical engineer with me to Unanderra to tune the stainless mills' control systems to maintain the output quality, sheen and gauge included. We were Sydney-based too, and did the job every six months. A significant customer and exporter was Trico for windscreen wiper arms. It may surprise some, but the death knell of the Unanderra mills was the introduction of the requirement that windscreen wiper arms be matt black in most markets. Still, we kept the Comsteel mills going on a shoestring for quite some years despite the problems cited by David. I am certainly no metallurgist, but the warnings given on polishing stainless alloys were obvious from the knowledge of the experts at that site. Reading R-R articles have left no doubt, but others may learn the hard way. I think that they liked me at Unanderra, as they made me a set of these for my R-Type when I finished my last job for them. Beats a gold watch when you are just 29.  | ||
| Patrick Lockyer. Grand Master Username: pat_lockyer Post Number: 561 Registered: 9-2004 |
Well you all have me thinking am i wrong to have carried out polishing the grill case with a soft cloth with the use of Autosol polish. Have not had probs so far! If any deep scratches or dents through stones etc then it is a new case [shell] as the inperfections will always be seen unless a new section is soldered in. Not easy with the milled sections to hide the joints. | ||
| David Gore Moderator Username: david_gore Post Number: 566 Registered: 4-2003 |
Hi Pat, You might have misconstrued my advice as I was referring to mechanical/machine polishing only and not to hand polishing. It is highly improbable you would generate enough heat to cause distortion by hand polishing. Ordinary detergent and plenty of rinse-off water should keep the shell in pristine condition - just make sure any grit/dirt on the surface is removed with a minimum of pressure to avoid scratching. As a sidelight to this topic; the shells were hand-soldered and not brazed despite the extreme difficulties involved in fluxing the joint to get the solder to "wet" the stainless steel surfaces. This was entirely due to the fact that hand-soldering kept heat input to a minimum thus avoiding distortion. This is a classic case of the work being a craft and not a job. Richard, Comsteel was always renowned as being the best source for "foreign orders" [i.e. private work done on Company time with Company materials] due to the wide range of materials and facilities available on the plants. I must admit I was not aware of your wheel trims being made at Unanderra or did they come from the customer in Sydney [forgotten the name but they were in Gardeners Road Alexandria] who used to make hubcaps and wheeltrims for BMC [later Leyland Australia]. They were very helpful whenever we lost hubcaps from our cars. | ||
| Richard Treacy Grand Master Username: richard_treacy Post Number: 999 Registered: 4-2003 |
David, I do share your implied contempt for foreign orders as we called them. However, the rings were more of a reward in this case, and I have a clear conscience on this one. To explain, we only ever had access to tune and modify the Comsteel mills on weekends, Christmas shutdowns and during some evenings on the graveyard shift We always stayed on until the next working shift was running smoothly, usually Monday at 7am for a few hours, to be sure that a mill was working properly. The mills usually worked around the clock. There was no additional payment made to us for this work as it was all part of the job: we were not paid by the hour and not eligible for overtime or the like. As a result, when in passing I asked the Comsteel manager where I could buy a few offcuts, he insisted that I bring the car in and have the rings made up on the spot for me on-site at Unanderra. Parking the R-Type in the Comsteel carpark caused quite a stir in around 1982. The rims themselves were made by Clarke's Wheels in Sydney, still in business: they will repair or remanufacture any steel rim, and will make specials like the 15" rims on the R-Type. On hand polishing, maybe a very mild Autosol/Solvol/Brasso would indeed be OK, but bear in mind that the surface hardness of these grades of rolled stainless does make it a little futile. Furthermore, polishing the surface too much seems to dull the sheen as the surface hardness deminishes and the alloy pits. |
