Polishing steel engine parts

This may sound like it is worded a bit odd, but I am going to copy and paste it in several places, so that I can save on typing. Here goes:

We are soon going to start in restoring a corliss steam engine that once had a lot of it's parts polished bright. Those parts are, of course, rusty now but they are not pitted much, and I would have expected them to be. The engine will live in an unheated building and run 3 or 4 days a year. We would like to polish the valve linkage, the rods and the sort, because it is very impressive to see an engine with brightwork on it, and that is how it left the factory. The question I put to you is: "What is the quickest and easiest way to do it and how would you preserve it between shows?" I am not expecting that it will be anything less than a tremendous amount of work. We are not afraid of work but we do not go out of our way to find it, either! I am uncertain if electrolysis would be of use to us, I am uncertain if chemicals like naval jelly would be a good thing or a bad thing, I am uncertain if scotch brite wheels are the way to go, or strips of abrasive paper used to "shoe shine" are the way to go, either. I am not even sure how fine of grit the abrasive paper should be. What I do know, is that there are folks who have done exactly what we are going to do, and I am trying to be totally open minded about the right way to go at it, forgetting everything I knew or thought I knew about it. I am ready to learn, now who is willing to teach me? Thanks, Joe Prindle


Recovering the Reynolds Corliss

Once cleaned & dried ,boiled linseedoil will preserve

This may be totally impractical but what about chrome or nickel plating?

A bit off topic, but your post reminded me of a story....My Grandfather worked for the Pullman Standard Car Co. in Chicago in the 1920's and related this story. The plant was powered by a large Corliss engine. Mr. Pullman was very protective of the engine. He would stop by and make surprise inspections of the engine. He wore white gloves, and if when he got done with the inspection the gloves were dirty, the entire engine crew was fired.

i dont know but you might want to try sos pads. they work well on chrome but dont press too hard or it will scratch. it does work though.--kyle

The first question is, does any plating remain? Chances are, the original plating is all gone, and has been replaced by a coating of rust. If you use electrolosys, the rust coating will be gone, and you will be left with bare iron, and a pitted surphace. At that point, refinishing will be a problem. Naval Jelly, or any Phosphoric acid process, will convert the rust to Iron Phosphate. The Iron Phosphate coating might be the best way to go in your application, since it will be a protective coating, and rust should not reappear, even in an unheated building. The IP coating could then be 'scuffed down' to a smooth layer with scotchbrite, and covered with "chrome paint' which would at least look like the original britework. That might well be the most cost effective way to accomplish your goal. Depending on the depth of pitting, replating might be possible, but the amount of time to polish would be horrendous.

Hi Joe, I have did this on several engine parts including turned and polished vertical governor tops & links,trip rods,push rods even the turned part of the head on my 4.5 hp Badger. What worked very well for me were 3-M scotchbrite wheels in medium grit 8"X 1" with a .500 or ? hole to fit on a heavy duty bench grinder.I was amazed that small pits below the surface just went away,due to the flexibility of the wheel.I have gotten wheels from Kitt Industrial(not always available from them)Check on line they may be on line.Also mcMaster-Carr has had them in the past.They put out a huge catalog with many hard to find items.They Too should be on line.Wheels aren't cheap $30.00 +.

Hi Joe, A couple added notes,The wheels I used Were Quite aggressive and could be used to de-burr and polish stainless steel.After that I used Semi-Chrome polish and a rag wheel if I wanted a mirror finish.I then de-greased the parts and coated with two or more coats of clear laquer or Krylon clear.Good luck!

Jim

Joe--I would pass on to you that I rebuilt an airplanr a while ago. At that time I had parts of the engine needed cleaning and polishing. The engine mechanic used a sand blaster but instead of abrasive used ground walnut shell. Bright finished parts needed final buffing but all rust and crud was gone with the walnut shell blasting. Just a thought--Ted

I have seen another Corliss protected in the off-season by applying a thin coat of grease on the polished surfaces and then covering that with a piece of plastic wrap like Saran wrap, the kind you cover the leftovers with. Just a quick wipedown in the spring and its ready to go.

Find a machine shop with a vibratory deburing machine. They are a urethane lined tub that is filled with (media) small iregular shaped ceramic wet stones. Some of these machines are very large. I use a small one for grease cups and aluminum or pot metal parts. Most die cast shops use them to debur everything they make. They will duplicate the finish. Oil cups come out looking like they were just stamped out, and I am sure many were finished this way when new. To try it out you can find someone with a rifle shell polisher, and use the stones. Al