I know about black aluminium lights changing colour to orange-brown when applying some heat and I did this to a Sipik SK68 and it worked fine…
Now, I wonder what happens to a silver light? Does it change coliur/tone, too or does it only work with a special anodizing? Some silver lghts are anodized as well, right?
I´ve received a silver L2m (-fake from Dinodirect) and I can´t tell if its plain aluminium or somehow anodized.
Plus, hooooow can I get a nice polishing to lights? What works best? Getting rid of anodizing of black lights + polish or polishing silver lights (what about anodizing here)
and what do I need for it? I´ve searched/googled so many times on this topic and I´ve seen Old Lumens achieving some nice finish with some cloth + polish paste and I´ve seen some other techniques on youtube.
I´ve got dremel but I´m not sure what kind of tip I need fo it. Do I need aspecial polishing tip? And I have some polishing paste for… everything (it says it is for aluminium and other metals)
I´d love to get a nice glossy silver light, so teach me, teach me!
to get rid of anodising, use sodium hydroxide (or Drano, which is a bit easier to find) in a well ventilated place. For polishing, I usually start off with 800 or 1000 grit wet’n’dry, then work up to 2500 grit in small steps, after which I use some Mothers Mag polish with a tissue or a rag. Any metal polish should do the job though. A dremel polishing wheel will make the last step much quicker and easier!
I can usually get decent results doing it that way, although I’m still able to see very fine scratches and the alloy will oxidise and discolour over time. If you want permanently mirror shiny, I think you’d have to go with chrome anodising
yep, it is really hard Either use a thin flat piece of wood to get between the fins or a cloth and some of the polishing paste (forgot what it’s called) that Old Lumens uses.
thankfully anything I’ve had to polish has been mostly flat surfaces, so it’s not a problem I’ve encountered before.
To really polish any metal, a buffer is needed. A buffing wheel, with buffing compounds will make as close to a mirror finish as you can get. For areas like inside the fins, leave them rough. That way, you can call it artistic and say you planned it that way.
I do it by hand, but it's very time consuming. I use all cotton rags and I use MAAS polish with buffing compounds.
I bought the 6 piece small set. It's hard compound. It's meant for buffing wheels, but I just take a razor blade and shave off little chips. Then I take some MAAS and put it on a rag, use it to pick up some compound on the MAAS and start buffing. Blue works for final finish on Aluminum. Usually I can sand with 2000 grit (wet sand) and then use the blue and it polishes as good as it gets. Any polish for aluminum will work. I just perfer MAAS.
1. Remove any existing anodizing. I use Greased Lightning from the hardware store. It’s weaker than Drano so less likely to burn you. Immerse the part in it for 45 minutes or so. When done, rinse it in water and dry it.
2. The surface will now be quite rough. I smooth it out with fine steel wool, then with a succession of finer and finer grit sandpaper. Very fine sandpaper in a variety of grits should be available at your local automotive supply store.
3. Once I’ve got it as smooth as possible with the sandpaper, I polish it with metal polish (also from the automotive supply store). I use blue magic. Use a paper towel or cloth to rub it in, then use a very soft cloth to buff it out. I use a soft dusting cloth from the grocery store for buffing. Works great. Reapply and rebuff the polish coat to get it extra smooth… just like waxing a car.
Note that if you’re polishing a cheap Chinese light you won’t be able to get it as pretty as Old Lumen’s maglites though due to the Chinese lights using an inferior grade of aluminum alloy. But even then, the polished aluminum should still look very nice.
The advantage of polishing:
looks great
bling factor
nice change from having an all black light
scratches are the same color as the light so aren’t easily visible.
scratches can be removed by simply re-polishing the light periodically.
Better thermal conductivity for parts touching each other.
Disadvantages:
lower thermal emissivity. Doesn’t radiate heat to atmosphere as well as a black anodized light.
removes lockout ability on some lights which depend on anodizing as part of the lockout mechanism.
softer than anodizing. Will scratch more easily. But on the other hand, scratches are less visible and easy to repair.
I have 3 modded lights which I removed the anodizing and polished up. These started as cheap Chinese lights with very thin type II anodizing. Due to sitting in my pocket with my keys and due to bodywork I did on the outside of the lights, they looked absolutely terrible with the anodizing still on. Removing the anodizing fixed that and made them look great.
Anodizing is an excellent barrier, as Aluminum oxidizes almost instantly when exposed to air. If left exposed for a while it turns white, so some kind of coating is helpful, even a light clear coat if you want a silver light, to replace the anodizing.
Most of the metal polishes, like Blue Magic, leave a thin protective layer behind to protect the metal.
This layer is not nearly as strong as anodizing though. If your light is getting heavy use, you may need to occasionally need to re-polish the light to get rid of any scratches and restore the shine.
