Parts polishing on the cheap!!

[PenR]

Afternoon all
Bloody raining again so in the garage.
I was doing a bit of foreward planning and realised that I needed quite a few parts in the engine bay and all of the chrome trim needed refurbing.
As luck would have it I was watching the Wheeler Dealers episode in which Edd restores a Frogye. In it Wide Boy Mike takes some alloy parts to a metal refinishing expert who uses a technique called Linishing to refurb the parts at a cost of £100 for 6 pieces of metal. I vaguely knew of this technique but never investigated. Solvol has always served me well.
I was skulking about on ebay and put in metal polishing and came across a dirt cheap kit for £7 plus postage. I bought one more as an experiment than anything else.
It uses the same technique as the bloke on the telly except that you mount the wheel(s) on an elctric drill and clamp that in a vice.
Imagine my surprise when I saw results!
The tired number plate took me half an hour and then only cos I wanted to do the edges. Amazing dinish and thats just the coarse compound (there are two finer ones in the kit)
My carbs were very dull and I'd had a go with Solvol - not really an improvement though. I am not looking for a chrome type finish just clean and a little bit shiny - I am not building a show pony type of car, just nice. Half an hour each pot and I was well satisfied.
Bonnet trim was next and I am going to town on this as its scratched and pitted but they are coming out.
So for seven quid I am that far in front I am amazed and I don't amaze easily.
Here are some pics inc one of the kit
Cheers for now
PenR

[pookie]

Can't P.M. you. How can I get in touch?

Salut!

Pookie

[PenR]

Pookie
I'm on pen.roberts@ntlworld.com

[marct1980]

wow!!

that might be the best £7 ever spent!

[saintcar]

Very useful information. Does it create much mess? Is there a lot of muck flying around as you polish the items?

[Tail]

Originally Posted by saintcar

Very useful information. Does it create much mess? Is there a lot of muck flying around as you polish the items?

Don't have the small kit but i got a bench mounted one some years ago for polishing motorbike casings and it does fling a bit of the compound around, enough to get you a nice crusty stripe up the front of your overalls.

[PenR]

Well actually no - not in my case anyway. I used the technique that the bloke on the telly used. What I do is set the wheel running and hold the compound to it for about 2 seconds. This is what the bloke did and he had no mess either. Any excess you just wipe off as its a sort of waxy residue. The secret of success appears to be to do a bit at a time and you can see when the compound is not cutting/polishing and then its another 2 seconds worth of application.
I have done some further investigation and I'm actually making work for myself as what I need is a more abrasive wheel (sisal) for about four quid and a bar of black or brown compound both off ebay which is apparently the gear to shift deeper scratches and stuff. It seems to cut a lot quicker so I can save some time which is not terrifically important but you see results a lot quicker.
More experimentation to follow
Cheers all
PenR