Finishing Pewter

Pewter is a soft, malleable metal consisting primarily of tin. Decorative plates, jewelry, figurines and even keys (see picture below) can ... Read More

Thermoplastic Polishing

Before This small polyamide, thermoplastic resin, hardened part had a rough surface finish as well as flashing that needed to be ... Read More

Quick Polish on Aluminum

Aluminum cast parts typically have a dull, matte finish after coming out of the casting process. The part on the right ... Read More

Dry Tumbling Plastic

Tumbling nylon plastic parts to produce a polished finish can be difficult since the tumbling process itself often leads to small ... Read More

Finishing Aluminum Parts

Deburred Deburring and polishing aluminum is almost always a multi-step process. The aluminum part pictured above was deburred using an aggressive ... Read More

Polishing Silver Plate

Plating involves the deposition of thin films of metal onto other surfaces. Tumbling plated products can be a challenge to achieve ... Read More

Polishing Acrylic

Unlike polishing metal using ceramic or porcelain media, water and soapy compounds, plastic often requires a different process. The pictures show ... Read More

Motorcylce Parts Restoration

Question: I’m restoring my ’78 Honda. The frame has some small areas of rust that need to be cleaned and ... Read More

Choosing Tumbling Media for Deburring, Deflashing or Polishing

Choosing the proper tumbling media (vibratory tumbling or barrel tumbling) for any deburring, deflashing or polishing application requires balancing the aggressiveness ... Read More

Powder Aluminum Polishing

Aluminum powder products offer many advantages over other metal powders due to aluminum’s inherent corrosion resistance, lightweight density, machinability and ... Read More

Polishing Aluminum Parts

Polishing aluminum parts to a very high, near mirror finish in a mass finishing process is very challenging. The relative ... Read More

Stainless Steel Deburring and Polishing

Question: I modify stainless steel flatware and dinner service pieces for other uses. In the process of modifying I use heat ... Read More

Tumbling with Abrasive Grit

Tumbling parts to achieve a deburred, deflashed or rounded edge is a common process. Both vibratory and barrel tumblers are used ... Read More

Body Jewelry Tumbling

We received a post a couple of years ago about polishing body jewelry in a vibratory tumbler. While very similar to ... Read More

Polishing Aluminum

Bringing machined aluminum into a highly polished finish is a multi-step and sometimes challenging process. The first step is to tumble ... Read More

Abrasive Blast Polishing?

I wish there was a way to polish metal, plastic and wood surfaces using abrasive blasting. Unfortunately, using abrasive media (no ... Read More

Polishing Eyes

An interesting thread (edited slightly) on the ShopTalk Forum: Question: We are looking to for a way to polish parts made ... Read More

Tumbling with Steel Media

Polishing all types of metal with steel media is an established procedure for many industries. As the price of steel increases ... Read More

Mass Finishing Basics (Part 1)

There are two basic types of mass finishing – barrel tumbling and vibratory tumbling. Each of these mass finishing methods have ... Read More

polishing

When a project needs finishing, start here. The last stop for all your surface finishing needs.