Polished Mags

[born-in-45]

Has anyone used the electropolishing technique to have mags polished? I have a number of STI/SVI mags that I would like to get polished and ran across Electropolishing in my searching. Any experience/help would be appreciated.

[Front Man]

Sounds like it might be a good idea, but I throw my mags (tube only) in my Dillon vibratory case cleaner a couple of times a year to keep them clean. And polished?

FM

[kgunz11]

To get the scratches out left behind from the welding and the removing of the slag you're best bet is using an orbital polisher and sand paper. I start with 220 if the scratches are deep and go to 340, 400, 500, 600, 800, 1000, and 1500. If you only want to remove dinge and oxidation then a polishing wheel with some buffing compound can work, as will a tumbler.

[belus]

I've used electropolishing at work and I'm struggling to see how it would have any advantage over mechanical polishing on a magazine.

It's typically used after a piece of metal has been polished smooth to get rid of scratches smaller than our eyes can resolve. It works by oxidizing and recovering the metal, which allows the atoms to run around and reorganize on the surface (very small scales involved here!). To that extent, how well something electropolishes depends on the alloy it's made of and I'd expect stainless steels to be extra difficult because they're corrosion resistant.

The work I've done is very orientation dependent too. It would only polish one face of the magazine at a time and it'd be a challenge to get the inside.

I don't mean to be negative, but I wouldn't let someone pay me to electropolish my mags. Perhaps there are people who have refined the technique into an art though.

[born-in-45]

I've used electropolishing at work and I'm struggling to see how it would have any advantage over mechanical polishing on a magazine.

It's typically used after a piece of metal has been polished smooth to get rid of scratches smaller than our eyes can resolve. It works by oxidizing and recovering the metal, which allows the atoms to run around and reorganize on the surface (very small scales involved here!). To that extent, how well something electropolishes depends on the alloy it's made of and I'd expect stainless steels to be extra difficult because they're corrosion resistant.

The work I've done is very orientation dependent too. It would only polish one face of the magazine at a time and it'd be a challenge to get the inside.

I don't mean to be negative, but I wouldn't let someone pay me to electropolish my mags. Perhaps there are people who have refined the technique into an art though.

Thanks for the insight. That is why I was asking the question. Didn't want to spend the money if not worth it. I was hoping it might be a way to get the inside of the mag polished as well as the outside. I have been working on polishing a mag using the old hand method with various grits of paper - lot of work and I have 16 of them I want to do.

[open17]

Electro-polishing does work on stainless. Used quite a bit on medical devices.

It will not remove bumps or visible scratches, the material must be smooth to

start with. Stuff I saw was before/after on some investment cast fixtures.

Before looked smooth but dull. After looked like chrome, and was VERY smooth.

[kgunz11]

If the electropolishing could do this with less labor and less time I'd be all over it. For now, I think I have a system that works. Next step is etching.

[blaster113]

If the electropolishing could do this with less labor and less time I'd be all over it. For now, I think I have a system that works. Next step is etching.

Those mags are almost too pretty to use! good job

[jasmap]

If the electropolishing could do this with less labor and less time I'd be all over it. For now, I think I have a system that works. Next step is etching.

Wow! That's all I have to say.....WOW!

[sperman]

Has anyone ever tried REM polishing on mags? We use it at work and it leaves a mirror like finish. I was thinking about trying to get my mags in there at some point, but was curious if anyone else had tried it.