15 gallon nano build - light fixture

[schroeder]

Originally Posted by scherzo

Great start! What did you use to polish the aluminum? Did you wet sand at all or just use a polishing compound?

I had a block of jewellers rouge at work.

I started by taking a scotchbrite pad to the aluminum to remove the bulk of the oxide.

I shaved some of the jewellers rough into a cup and added thinners to produce a slurry. I folded a cotton cloth and put in on the bottom of my palm sander and soaked the cloth in rouge slurry, and used the palm sander back and forth for several minutes.

I was concerned about the aluminum corroding as well, so I spoke to a buddy who is very talented with building RC aircraft, and he recomended buffing with Mothers carnauba wax (and I just happened to have some). The car wax also has high resistance to UV degradation. I'll have to wait and see how well it works.

I considered getting the aluminum polishing kit from Princess Auto for $30, but the route I chose cost me $0 for materials, $0 for tools and supplies.