engine turning on aluminum

[Jacin]

I am sure this is old hat to alot a fellas but I am sorta happy to have found a better method to do this on soft aluminum. In the past I tried many things and they all worked to a point but the results were at times un - predictable - inconsistant.

What I did here was to use several small diameter craytex sticks embedded into an arbor, but the KEY (for me) was to use a spritz of wd40 on the panel. The lube kept the swirls extremely consistent (no gouging or streaks at all) - my previous experiences included swirls that looked good at many angles but looked like crap at other angles - the lube lets you dwell long enough to be consistent.

Again - this is for ALUMINUM - steel's are a breeze!

BTW it looks WAY BETTER in person!!!!

[Ralph_Monroe_Mi]

BTW it looks WAY BETTER in person!!!!

Looks great in the pic! Your panels also look great and the fit looks perfect. Did you ever come up with a solution for attaching the side panels?
Ralph

[Jacin]

Hi Ralph, I have an idea for all the attaching points (at least I did) but have yet to attach them all. I will be working on that this holiday season <grin> - The only one really left undecided was the last one on the cowl - I was vasilating between a inside acess point and a outside one - outside being preferred I think.

Did you get that Email I sent you the other day???? About the Nibblers??? just curious.

I was pretty happy with this engine turning especially at the diameter -which for me is on the larger side of what I have previously done. In the past I had problems getting full contact consistently - especially if the part wasn't perfectly flat and "charged" just right. The craytex is forgiving in terms of panel shape (relatively forgiving) and you don't "charge" anything - just lube and go!!!

I woulda had even more progress last night if I didn't end up flat on my back in the middle of the driveway!!! But in my defense I never did let go of the snowblower!!!!!! Go ahead and picture THAT in your head <grin>

How about you Ralph - are you getting up to full speed yet??
I hope so.


Jacin

[oldgoaly]

Jacin,
here is another way(the Dutch way) Ben from the Netherlands showed me how
to do this.
wire cup wheel, soft one not the hollow center, they come many sizes,
no lube required, so easy He (or someone) told me they saw it on a Lindburgh
history/discovery channel, you can see them with grinders/polisher doing his plane
with wire wheels.
Helps if you have a kid to pull on the quill lever all you have to do is move the peice.

Happy Holidays!

tt

[MikeC]

Hey guys, I'm not a regular here, but this caught my eye. IF YOU ARE GOING TO USE A WIRE BRUSH FOR ALUMINUM, IT MUST BE STAINLESS. They have them and they aren't but a buck or so more than the carbon steel ones, but carbon steel will embed in the aluminum and cause galvanic corrosion.

I like the cratex idea! I have also used an extremely fine scotchbrite pad made by Continental Abrasives. This is not like the stick on velcro pads, it's about 3/8" thick and gives, to follow contours easily. Watch it, though. It'll take off more metal than you expect in a really short time.

[pgrey]

I just spent part of my evening doing some engine turning on 6061 aluminum parts I'm making. I too used Cratex cylinders on arbors combined with WD40. They work better than everything else I've tried. I wanted to add that the results were improved if I polished the surface before hand. That way any small part of the surface that gets missed still looks shiny and reflects light.

Regards,

Peter