More Brass Plaquery

[Wal]

Hello all.

Just finished up this project I've been working on (and off) for a bit.

My usual CZ120 / black resin combo. Imagine a world where every piece of signage was brass / black resin. Expensive? Yes. Highly impractical? Maybe. Making the world a better place? Absolutely - especially with the antibacterial qualities brass possesses... Topical.

Anyway, some pics and some vids:

27568 27569 27570 27571


https://youtu.be/XVJ3_wEfx18


https://youtu.be/qGL14Z7328I


https://youtu.be/YtDE58GesSE

Wal.

[JAZZCNC]

Looking Bling Bling Mate good job as always..:thumsup: (Which machine Wal.?)

[Nealieboyee]

That looks amazing. May you share your process for sanding/polishing/buffing please?

[Wal]

Cheers Dean. Your gantry router, mate. Solid machine. Still planning to fit a second Y screw and have all the gear ready to go, just need to get a few things out of the way. Not entirely sure it needs it, but I'm heading that way now. New control box built, with very generous help from Clive (as ever) just need to get the Mesa card set up and talking to the PC.

Quality machine, though..!

Wal.

[AndyUK]

Stunning work as ever - the tag in the bottom helped me stumble upon your instagram... wow thats a treasure-trove.

[Wal]

After cutting I relax the sharp edges with steel wool and then use Brasso before de-greasing and washing off residues. Then the resin gets added. In an ideal situation that would be that, but often you get a bit of over-spill and you need to sand off the excess and re-polish. If you want the resin to be flush with the metal then you'll need to overfill the pockets and sand back anyway, so don't bother with the pre-polish. Resin, by and large, polishes up well with Brasso, but micro scratches are your enemy. Work through the grades of paper - there's no way around it, a lot of elbow grease needed for a decent job. Finish with Brasso and then to remove the micro scratches use a polishing compound, like 310, and buff buff buff..!

[Wal]

Cheers Andy - thanks for taking a look..!

[mekanik]

Thanks for sharing Wal
Excellent craftsmanship as usual

[the great waldo]

After cutting I relax the sharp edges with steel wool and then use Brasso before de-greasing and washing off residues. Then the resin gets added. In an ideal situation that would be that, but often you get a bit of over-spill and you need to sand off the excess and re-polish. If you want the resin to be flush with the metal then you'll need to overfill the pockets and sand back anyway, so don't bother with the pre-polish. Resin, by and large, polishes up well with Brasso, but micro scratches are your enemy. Work through the grades of paper - there's no way around it, a lot of elbow grease needed for a decent job. Finish with Brasso and then to remove the micro scratches use a polishing compound, like 310, and buff buff buff..!

Hi Wal
If you want to make your life easier get yourself a cotton polishing mop
https://www.cromwell.co.uk/shop/abrasives/polishing-mops/climax-quality-polishing-mops/f/1605?query=canning%20polishing%20mop

and some of this stuff https://www.menzerna.com/products/solid-compounds/polishing-steps/super-finish/m5/
to finish with it's the dogs b+ll+cks the cream menzena pastes are a little more agressive but still give a great finish also Matador brand 7000 grit wet and dry gives a good shine on it's own.
Cheers
Andrew

[Wal]

Cheers Andrew,

Yeah, I'm sure that I'm not quite there yet with my approach to polishing. I get decent enough results, but always thinking in the back of my mind it could be that bit better (and perhaps a bit quicker)...

The compound you're suggesting - is it much different from what I'm using at the moment?

https://roar-polishing.com/product/310-speed-cut-compound/

You're right, I could do with getting myself a polishing machine and some larger hoops - certainly useful for the smaller items I currently polish on my drill press - I've got an irrational fear of getting a patchy finish using hoops on large flat areas - would I be better off with a lambswool bonnet (or equivalent sponge or something) on an orbital for flat stuff like this..? Another friend swears by micro-meshes - I'm talking about the super fine stuff... I guess that's a similar approach to using the Matador 7000 papers.

Therein lies the problem - all of this is done from a place of experimentation - someone ought to establish a twice yearly craft metal polishing course covering metals and paints/resins.

Clearly, it's not rocket science, but like anything - there's a way of doing things properly and it's often the difference between what the layman considers 'good enough' and what you or I, having invested time and effort into a piece of work, consider perfect.

As a related side note - this resin work was done 'out of house' - I don't bother with the larger stuff nowadays - the half hour pot life of my resin is too short to get a decent pour on a large surface with lettering details that need attention. Whilst I'm happy with the resin work that was done, they'd somehow managed to miss a couple of patches of over-spill onto the border and also introduced/omitted to buff out some pretty bad micro-scratches into the metalwork. Whilst they considered it to 'look great' - I had to re-polish the lot before I was happy enough to consider it worthy of passing on to the guy I made it for. Here's a pic of how it came back from the shop, judge for yourself...

27573

Anyway, I'm rambling - but my point is that to a certain extent quality takes time and effort.

Did I complain about the scratches? Did I b*llocks - people just look at you like you're bonkers nowadays. :whistle:

[the great waldo]

Hi Wal
I haven't tried that stuff of yours but the Menzena stuff is the best i've used so far with a mop, a real glass like finish. The main thing is that the resin is really hard otherwise it wont polish as well as possible.

Cheers
Andrew

[JAZZCNC]

Whilst they considered it to 'look great' - I had to re-polish the lot before I was happy enough to consider it worthy of passing on to the guy I made it for. Here's a pic of how it came back from the shop, judge for yourself...

27573



Nope, I'd have been saying something about that.! . . . Unacceptable returning a polished piece in that state.

[Wal]

Nope, I'd have been saying something about that.! . . . Unacceptable returning a polished piece in that state.

I don't disagree with you Dean - they'd probably argue that they're a coating service not a metal polisher, I could probably argue back that I supplied the metalwork already polished (as requested) and would expect to have it returned in that condition.

Obviously something's gone wrong here, but my not saying anything - other than pointing it out in a friendly manner and letting them know that I re-polished the whole thing, boils down to a couple of things:

a. Little faith that a re-polish would be much better (perhaps a little unfair - they've done excellent work for me in the past, but the fact they're saying it looks great when clearly it isn't is enough to make me think twice..)

b. I don't want to be 'that customer' - I really value the fact they get the resin bit right (and that's not guaranteed, due to dust specks etc.) and I can't find anyone else that offers this service, short of doing it myself or going for a more antique feel. I've had the guy walk away from work in the past where I've asked for a specific approach where he probably thought it was more ball-ache than it was worth...

Bit of a rock and a hard place, this one!