"polishing your keg" is more than a clever euphemism

ron said:

I have been to 2 different Lowes in the Little Rock area looking for those polishing compound sticks. No luck under Task Force or Porter Cable. I had 3 people looking in North Little Rock Lowes, I think I'll just get mad and paint em black!!!

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They move them around the tool area constantly because I suspect the guys don't even know what they are. Last week I saw them on hooks next to the wood chisels nowhere near polishing pads, buffing machines or anything having to do with surface finishing.

Exactly they put them in places that make no sense at all

Not sure if this question has been asked or not yet, but what about a brass wire brush attachment for a drill?
Wouldn't that be fine for polishing a keggle as brass is softer than steel and doesn't (to my knowledge) corrode/rust?

Nick

akthor said:

My 2 cents:

Wear hearing protection! I didn't think it was too loud but now after an hour of grinding I have a ringing in my ears like when I get home from a rock concert.

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I don't think this can be emphasized enough. People typically are smart enough to protect their eyes but are often very cavalier about their hearing.

Lemme tell ya, after having a Mauser K98 go off 3 feet from my hear twice in rapid succession before I decided to move, tinnitus ain't a fun thing.
I got used to the ringing after about a year, and I hardly notice it now, but that was a year of hell teetering on the brink of depression the whole time.

No joke, protect your ears with all the vigilance you do your eyes.

Bobby_M said:

They move them around the tool area constantly because I suspect the guys don't even know what they are. Last week I saw them on hooks next to the wood chisels nowhere near polishing pads, buffing machines or anything having to do with surface finishing.

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Harbor Freight always has em. All different colors. Black, White, green, gray etc. The local AirGas where I fill my C02 for keggerator near my house in TX has them. They also have the most robust welding slection ever and maybe that's why.

Another option is to find a place that sells automotive paint supplies. My neighbor used to shoot cars for a living and I noticed polishing compounds at the store he took me too on another errand.

Don't want to fill Bobby's box with too many PMs, so I'll ask here:

I cannot find Gator Fine (or Medium) Finishing Pads on either the Home Depot or Lowes websites. I presume my search string is flawed. What is the actual name for the fine and medium pads? Are they a certain grit? Do you wet or dry sand?

Thanks all!

I believe I could not find them when I initially searched, as well. They are in store at Lowe's, though, despite the website omission.

Yeah. You'll. Find them in the store.

Bobby, in your Youtube channel you have a video showing the use of a twine-ish wheel from Caswell. Did you prefer those over Gator?

[edit] Never mind. Just searched this thread and saw you said not to bother with Caswell.

Lowe's has them in the store, not so much online. If you don't see then in the tools section ask someone about them.

One more: about 20 pages into this thread someone mentioned something about chromium gas/particles and to take precautions. I realize chromium is a part of the amalgam of metals in stainless steel, but can someone provide more details, and give a recommendation for a mask?

EH? A dust mask will be nice for not having black snots after but as far as harmful fumes???

Didn't notice any at all plus you are gonna wanna be doing this outside (trust me) even in a garage the mess is not worth it so you should have plenty of fresh air

Finally finished my last keg I needed for my E-Herms build. I posted pic's of the first two a little over a year ago. I forgot or maybe blocked it out of my memory of how much work this was. I don't think I will be doing this again in the near future. Thanks again Bobby for the original post and instructions.

Im_Lars said:

Finally finished my last keg I needed for my E-Herb build.

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E-Herb, think you have the wrong forum. Not sure herb production talk is allowed here

LOL I can make good beer but I can't type worth a sh**

I can't seem to get the backer pad to work on my Skil grinder. The nut that came with the backer pad is not long enough. Any suggestions?

And yes, I took the back nut off.

Edit: Nevermind, I got a different back up pad.

I just polished my keg with Gator Grit type pads made for drills. It's not a mirror finish, but I was just looking to clean it up and it looks great, until....

...I noticed in a few small areas what looks like rust. All in areas with scratches that were in the keg long before I got it. I'm not sure if they were there before or not, maybe they are just more noticeable now that the rest of the keg is spiffy clean, but what are the chances there were bits of steel/iron in the pads that are now imbedded in those areas? The pads I used look just like Gator Grit pads, only made for drills.

So the Lowe's by me stopped carrying Gator Grit, does anyone have suggestions of some other product to use, and if I could find it at Home Depot, that would be great since I have a gift card.

I keep trying to bring the Gator products into my store but their credit app suggests a $10k annual minimum.

Just some practicing on an extra keg thought I'd post

I did one of my three. I did coarse, medium, and then fine. Hit it with #2 and then #5 sticks. It is still scratched up from the gator pads. Dunno what the deal is. I think I am going to get a 120 grit flap disc and go after it again then the fine pad. I kinda like the swirly brushed finish on them.

So I am having insane troubles with this stuff. The gator pads immediately start leaving black marks, especially the fine grit one. No matter if its a brand new one or not. Wtf? I was going to stop at fine grit as I like the brushed finish. Any ideas?

A 40 grit diablo flap disc makes short work of the raised lettering as well. I followed it up with a 60, 80, 120, then the fine grit gator pad.

milesvdustin said:

So I am having insane troubles with this stuff. The gator pads immediately start leaving black marks, especially the fine grit one. No matter if its a brand new one or not. Wtf? I was going to stop at fine grit as I like the brushed finish. Any ideas?

A 40 grit diablo flap disc makes short work of the raised lettering as well. I followed it up with a 60, 80, 120, then the fine grit gator pad.

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Use paint thinner and a rag to remove the black stuff.

milesvdustin said:

So I am having insane troubles with this stuff. The gator pads immediately start leaving black marks, especially the fine grit one. No matter if its a brand new one or not. Wtf? I was going to stop at fine grit as I like the brushed finish. Any ideas?

A 40 grit diablo flap disc makes short work of the raised lettering as well. I followed it up with a 60, 80, 120, then the fine grit gator pad.

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Never had that happen with mine. Maybe you're pushing them into the steel too hard.

I've had some build-up when using the buffing pads. Easy to remove once you apply more compound to the pad and go over that area again lightly.

IMO, proper tool use resolves 99% of the issues.

Whether I barely apply any pressure or apply a decent amount it still makes marks. Paint thinner, adhesive remover and brake cleaner won't touch em. Trust me, I know my way around a grinder! I'll try and post up some pictures tomorrow.

milesvdustin said:

Whether I barely apply any pressure or apply a decent amount it still makes marks. Paint thinner, adhesive remover and brake cleaner won't touch em. Trust me, I know my way around a grinder! I'll try and post up some pictures tomorrow.

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If the marks are like that, then there's something else going on. I didn't have that issue with either of the kegs I've polished up. I am thinking about doing a brushed finish on the next one though.

I wonder if its not bluing from heat or something like that.... But I constantly move the pad around to prevent heat build up.

milesvdustin said:

I wonder if its not bluing from heat or something like that.... But I constantly move the pad around to prevent heat build up.

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It would take a LOT of heat to cause that. Which would mean you're pressing far too hard on the keg with the disc. Without knowing how you're placing the pad against the keg side, it could be the center ring (securing the pad to the backing) that's hitting the keg causing the marks. Although I tend to think it's not.

Definitely not the center ring. And it is black marking with just the weight of the grinder and no input from me. I usually do the pressure so the grinder slows down a tiny bit, no more. I am resigned to just finishing the other kegs with the flap disc and trying this some other time with stuff from caswell plating. I'm not throwing any more money at gator grits.

milesvdustin said:

Definitely not the center ring. And it is black marking with just the weight of the grinder and no input from me. I usually do the pressure so the grinder slows down a tiny bit, no more. I am resigned to just finishing the other kegs with the flap disc and trying this some other time with stuff from caswell plating. I'm not throwing any more money at gator grits.

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Are these sandpaper type pads to the nylon type pads? I've used the nylon pads followed by buffing pads. If these are grit based (sandpaper) then that could be at least part of the issue.

No it's the gator grit pads from lowes, they use the backing pad on my grinder. They aren't the sandpaper type ones. I may just take them to my buddies shop and soda blast them or glass bead them for the satin effect.

However I do appreciate the replies and advice, I think I have a fresh fine grit pad in the garage to give it a go with again. If not, at least they aren't covered in glue and stuff anymore.

Are you holding the pad at a sharp angle? Try running it flatter so that the center ring IS almost hitting your work. I think the edge of the pad is melting.

I hold it flat to where it won't let the center nut touch. The outer edge barely has any wear on it.

I definitely had a lot of the black marks, and I definitely removed it with paint thinner.

Did 3 of them. Man, it's a lot of work but worth it.

The only other thing I can think of is that the keg has a lot of old sticker adhesive residue that is building up on the pad. When I did two kegs, I razor blade scraped the stickers off with some wd40 as lubricant, wiped them down with acetone and a stainless chore boy to get all that crap off. I didn't get a single black mark on the kegs.

I had some black marking when I did mine but I would work from the left to the right . So I would be cleaning it off as I went. At the end I went over it with some mag wheel cleaner and it cleaned right up. You can see the black stuff in the picture below.

Im_Lars said:

I had some black marking when I did mine but I would work from the left to the right . So I would be cleaning it off as I went. At the end I went over it with some mag wheel cleaner and it cleaned right up. You can see the black stuff in the picture below.

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I had marks in mine also found out if you heat it up too much it birnishes and makes the marks. I found that if you keep it moving and don't dwell on a spot too long even if spot isn't finished move on and come back to it in a few minutes to give it a chance to cool and you will keep the spots to a minimum. I found that if you leave spot there until finished with keg then you can take a clean pad apply light polishing compound on it and just light hit the spot it will vanish fast then wipe it with some xylene to get rid of residual burnished spot. I did all three of my kegs that way. I found the speed of the die grinder too quick to avoid them unless you push hard to slow it down then you burn out the grinder (I did that).

I've looked through every page and didn't see this, so I have a great alternative to the gator stuff.

3M abrasive pads. Mostly used for cleaning up metals for welding. It works great when I am aluminum welding.

Link to pad holder:
https://weldingsupply.com/cgi-bin/einstein.pl?PNUM::1:UNDEF:X:048011-05674

Pads come in 3 or 4 different compounds. One of them is very fine. You can buy in bulk for cheap.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_s...brasive+,aps,131&rh=i:aps,k:3m+abrasive+discs

Check it out.

LittleCajunBrewery said:

I've looked through every page and didn't see this, so I have a great alternative to the gator stuff.

3M abrasive pads. Mostly used for cleaning up metals for welding. It works great when I am aluminum welding.

Link to pad holder:
https://weldingsupply.com/cgi-bin/einstein.pl?PNUM::1:UNDEF:X:048011-05674

Pads come in 3 or 4 different compounds. One of them is very fine. You can buy in bulk for cheap.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_s...brasive+,aps,131&rh=i:aps,k:3m+abrasive+discs

Check it out.

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IME, you don't want to grind the keg, which will remove material. The Gator pads are [essentially] Scotch Brite pads that are disc shaped, with holes in the middle to mount to the backing pad. That will polish the keg, provided it's not marked to hell and back, getting the surface ready for buffing (if you go with that step). I've used the pads (regular Scotch Brite pads) to give a keg a brushed finish before. It's not super easy, since you have to press down on it rather hard, but it does give a nice finish to them.

Im_Lars said:

I had some black marking when I did mine but I would work from the left to the right . So I would be cleaning it off as I went. At the end I went over it with some mag wheel cleaner and it cleaned right up. You can see the black stuff in the picture below.

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Man that looks awesome!

I cleaned all the crap (sticker residue, etc) by spraying the keg with WD40 and letting it sit for an hour or so. I then hit it with a scour pad that was wet and just worked my way around. I did have to redo some heavy sticker residue parts but eventually it all came off. Then I wet sanded the kegs with 220 grit to get all the marks off.

I need to polish them now.