Which polishing mop should I use on my Dremel?

[DemonSlayer]

Hey guys, I'm going to use a Dremel/rotary tool for the first time. I picked up a pretty decent one off the bay, and it came with two polishing heads, I have no idea what the quality of these are like, I don't know much about polishing with a dremel or benchtop grinder fitted with polishing mop. I am looking for a high quality mirror finish.

I've noticed that whenever I polish by hand, whether it's Brasso, Silvo, Mothers Mag & Alu, or Cape cod, I never get a finish quite like a factory finish. It always has tiny hairline marks which is visible under strong light and looks 'hazy'.

I plan to use this as my 'rouge':

Which of these two polishing mops should I use, and anyone have any decent tips on how to get that perfect mirror finish

Thanks guys.

[FxrAndy]

The fluffyer one on the right would be good for finishing as it is softer and less lightly to leave lines but to get the end mirror finish is also escaping me also. I have found the hard felt ones a bit too hard unless you want to remove a scratch.

[DemonSlayer]

Thanks Andy. Hmm, so the harder felt ones I guess are the "cutting" ones to even out the metal and get rid of surface scratches, and those light ones with circle cloths sandwiched together are best for finishing.

I bought 12 cape cod cloths off the bay, a bit too much probably, but I was thinking of cutting pieces of them, and tying them to the hard felt one on the left, and then subsequently polish with that. I've heard this is very good for achieving a mirror finish, but I'm not sure if that would leave hazy lines or not.

Well, theres only one way to find out

[FxrAndy]

Did you get a good deal on the cape cods as i ahve been looking where to get a bulk order at a good price and the bay was better than direct from the manufacture but was still quite expencive.

I would use the slowest speed possible if you make a mop with cape cod, it may be possible to just leave the soft one you have ther inside a cape cod pouch over night to soak up the polish from the cape cod and then try that, just be aware that when it spins you will get a nice shoer of polish. Let me know what the deal was on the 12 packs you bought.

[kbh]

I've had pretty good results using white rouge powder with the one one right and then using another clean one after polishing.

[Ztech]

I would second the advice on using the slowest speed. Using high speed with any poslishing compound can quickly lead to taking off material unintentionally. Good luck.

[Rolexman]

THIS is how I did it. You will get a perfect result, guaranteed. Just make sure the dremel is set on a low RPM.

[DemonSlayer]

Thanks for the suggestion Rolexman, I had actually studied your guide in detail.

I just tried that fluffy wheel on the right, with Silvo first and then Mothers Mag & Alu, neither resulted in a perfect mirror finish. I tried lowest setting on the dremel first, polishing against the grain, and then with. It did look better than the scratches left by polishing by hand, but it was still hazy and the tiny scratches were there. I then proceeded to polish on level 7 on my dremel, thinking that higher RPM would make a difference but it didn't.

I believe it does take a lot of skill and knowledge of varios compounds and polishing techniques to achieve that factory mirror finish.

I will try out the Cape cod with the dremel later on tonight, and will report the results soon.

[Rolexman]

In my experience only Cape Cod can give you that mirror like finish. I do it the same way you did but always finish with Cape Cod. Sometimes I use the CC by hand sometimes I use it in combination with my Dremel. The thing you have to look out for is polishing too long with the CC attached to the Dremel. You can use it for a couple of seconds max as the cloth will loose it's solution and absorb metal parts, ergo making scratches again. My Dremel can only be set on 2000 RPM at it's lowest which is still too fast. So if you use the Dremel in combination with the CC move it over the area quickly before the cloth becomes dry and dark black. For large areas you have to refresh the cloth often which can be a pain in the ass. For the Breitling Prof II bracelet I had to use 4 small CC pieces (+ Dremel), not including the claps.

[Francisco]

This thread is very interesting.

Thanks for the contributions.

Francisco.

[DemonSlayer]

After some extensive research, I am in the process of learning new information on how to achieve a super mirror finish. If my attempts are successful, I will post a guide. However, none of the sites I came across mention how to properly clean wheels that are designed for rotary tools (you can't take a wheel rake to them as they're too small).

Is it advisable to clean wheels using soap and water, or just water?

[Rolexman]

After some extensive research, I am in the process of learning new information on how to achieve a super mirror finish. If my attempts are successful, I will post a guide. However, none of the sites I came across mention how to properly clean wheels that are designed for rotary tools (you can't take a wheel rake to them as they're too small).

Is it advisable to clean wheels using soap and water, or just water?

Why would you want to clean the wheel? You can also buy and exchange different cloths for rotary tools.

Buy a Dremel. The cotton polishing wheels for a Dremel are cheap as hell.

I use 4 wheels:

- A piece of 200 grid grinding paper wrapped around a rubber Dremel wheel for the deep scratches.

- A cotton wheel for polishing with a rough finish (it has fine sand in but is less abressive that the 200 grid grinding paper).

- A cotton wheel with jewelers rouge for the fine finish.

- A coton wheel with a Cape Cod wrapped around it for the mirror finish.

... simple as that

[DemonSlayer]

Interesting method you have there rolexman. After you have finished with cape cod, and you take the watch under strong light, can you see any tiny scratches or is it a deep mirror finish with no marks visible at all? You have to look very carefully at certain angles to see these scratches.

The reason why I want to clean the wheel is because after I have finished polishing with the Mothers Mag & Aluminium paste with cotton wheel, it has lots of black sludge on the wheel from the polish, and this hardens and it becomes dusty. I would also suspect that it has many tiny fragments of steel particles stuck in the wheel from polishing, and this can lead to more scratches.

If it is best to not clean the wheel with soapy water, then I will stop doing so from now on.