Got some fittings in the mail today for a rolling ladder. A Putnam ladder to be exact, and I am underwhelmed with the quality of the rail mounting brackets. In fact, my whole opinion of the company is not real good.
Anyway, the brackets are some kind of cast metal, and they have a rough surface. Some rougher than others, but none are very good. How can I polish or even smooth the metal? A fine file and some elbow grease would work, but there has to be a tool I need to buy. A wire brush in a side grinder? A benchtop grinder with a fine stone?
I’m sorry, I thought you wanted it done the right way.
Replies
A small die grinder might be the ticket....air tool type would be least expensive.
I have an older small I-R die grinder, about the size of a dremel tool and with a similar collet set up, and an industrial supply or good Auto supply that handles body work equipment can probably provide you with a whole assortment of grinding profiles if you were to give in and purchase such a tool. :-)
Please don't grind non-ferrous metals with a stone wheel... the wheel loads up, gets hot, then explodes (cracks then centrifugal force provides the excitement).
You can buy 1" Norton cloth backed abrasive on a roll and fix it to dowels and blocks to fit the contours you require. Check MSC, Grainger, MacMaster Carr, etc. or buy 1" belts and cut as needed.
Degrease and lacquer when you are done.
The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man.
- Fyodor Dostoyevski
GO here
http://dalmarplating.com/polishin.htm
Ok, thanks for the advice so far.
Here's a pic of a typical one. I don't necessarily want to polish the surface, but I do want it smooth. And it is magnetic ... well, a magnetic sticks to it. A painted finish will be fine.
View Image
I'm sorry, I thought you wanted it done the right way.
Edited 7/8/2005 10:09 am ET by Ed Hilton
Looks like a really rough galvy job. I use sandpaper "flapwheels" on a 4.5 in grinder, then a random orbit sander to blend.try not to breath that dust.-steve
You're right, that's what it looks like, but it's not supposed to be galvanized, just painted.
I'm sorry, I thought you wanted it done the right way.
Ok.... maybe this........3m makes something called "ROLOC" http://www.hillas.com/Froogle.asp?ID=78"
Use the 3M discs and a die grinder.
Mark
those discs look like they thread onto an adapter first, yes?"
emery cloth, vise, and elbow grease.
send it back and tell'em to send you a finished casting. Looks as though they pulled it out of the sand and spray painted it. where did you get it from?
That's my take exactly.
I bought a used rolling library ladder on ebay, but it did not have the track or track mounting brackets. There was a label on the ladder showing that it was made by Putnam Rolling Ladder of NYC, so I contacted them to buy the parts. The pictures on the web site and the color brochure looked sharp. I called one Monday and talked with a guy, and we discussed what I needed. I gave him my name & addrress, and credit card number ... he said it would ship "next week". I thought that was a bit slow, but what the hey, it didn't bother my schedule. Wednesday or Thursday of the next week I emailed them to see what was happening. No answer. Friday I called ... no record of my order says the woman. We talk a while, she's trying to search for the order ... I tell her what the parts were, the address, etc ... no order. Then she starts to ask some informed questions ... things are picking up a bit ... and she says "is your credit card number 123---". Dang ... if she has the card number, she must be looking at the order. So she transfers the call to the same guy I placed the order with, and we go through it again. The parts finally arrived a week later.
Sorry about the long story, I'm still a little peeved aboput the lost order, and the poor quality parts.
I'm sorry, I thought you wanted it done the right way.
Good news Ed,
There are plenty of toys,errr---tools you can buy for this.
In a previous life I was an industrial hard chrome plater-----and we had to do all sorts of metal finishing and polishing of unusual shapes and parts in preparetion for plating.
what you want is a air powered die grinder( it will take A LOT of air)
and a couple of small cloth wheels, plus an asortment of polishing compounds---(say grey and red)---and maybe some jewlers rouge for a really bright polish
In the mold and machine shops---this was work for " Benchmen"---who were absolute wizards at this type of thing------they could polish that part to a perfect mirror finish without a single pit, scrath or imperfection of any kind
In the mid 80's when I got out of that work the old guys were all European immigrants---Germans, Hungarians etc.----all with tremendous self respect and a professorial air about them
the next wave of Benchman were also immigrants-----Hmong ( a cambodian tribe I think)
we primarily worked on molds that made the front end of cars, also trash can molds, shower stall molds, fiberglass entry door molds, basketballs, golf balls, tennis balls, hard hats----you name it.
the europeans, in their lab coats ,would set the work up on metal horses( some of this stuff weighed over 10 tons-----so they could work standing up with their dignity intact( actually painfull hunched over---but standing)
The hmong had a different approach and would crawl over, inside, on top of or squat next to the work----very fluid and nimble, athletic and hard working.
stephen