Highly Polished PL-C "Smooth and Sexy"

Hey All,



Here is another addition to my Polish Collection that i recently did.:san:


I have been Looking to get a PLG-III "dead" for forever but the last 2 times dint play out right. So Until I find a PLG-III to buy and Polish up for my collection i picked up a PL-C to do in the meantime.


Took me a total of ~2 days Not straight to finish just for the polish. Which is one of the things that i Enjoy doing on some down time.


Here are the...

Pictures:







































Video:





As You can see there is Just Slight modification to the the host. In a Normal PL-C the Front "Cap" Area Has the same Grip as the tail Cap. I dint like how it looked when it finished so i put it on my lathe and removed the knurling and made it smooth. I think this gives it a Much better slick Look to it. I left the Grip round the Tail cap because i fell its more comfortable to unscrew.

I still have a few pass to go but its pretty much done Now.:wave:

I have not yet decide what i am going to rebuild in here but just an Idea is either a High power 635nm laser or try to rebuild the dead Green that came with the laser. The Driver still works.




Hope you guys liked this one.:beer:




PS. If anyone has a PGL-III-C that is dead PM me and i will take it, if its at a fair price. Even if your thinking about selling a working Unit send me a PM and we can talk.


:thanks: For Looking.!!!

Yummy!

Thats seriously one of the coolest PL- series hosts i've ever seen! +1!

Looks fantastic!:drool:

One of these days you really must post the whole "polished" collection.

That's pretty cool looking. Nice job.

LaZeRz said:

Yummy!

Thats seriously one of the coolest PL- series hosts i've ever seen! +1!

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Thank you.

InfinitusEquitas said:

Looks fantastic!:drool:

One of these days you really must post the whole "polished" collection.

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When its complete i will for sure show it. I Promise.:beer:

Ghostchrome said:

That's pretty cool looking. Nice job.

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THanks. Now i got to decide what to put in it.

That's the most beautiful laser I've ever seen.. for one which had no beam!

^ Thank You. Hopefully i can get a Beam out of it for you guess soon.

I made a Video:

Now that, my friend, is purdy. Just had one with a bad switch. I sent it back to Jet... I thought about keeping it and custom painting it, but they more than made up for it. Next time, I think I may contact you! Very beautiful. -CDHDC-

Wow that is awesome! I love how the polish looks and I've tried my hand at polishing and know how time consuming it is!

Amazing host, that must have been incredibly tough to get such a consistent polish all around. Great work.

That's beautiful sir

And I feel bad - because that's exactly what I've been doing with the PGL that.. *didn't work out* last time around Well that, and I'm trying to transplant in a 532nm crystal set.

Amazing work - that's just a beauty!

Can you explain your method of polishing? It looks just a little too good to be polished by hand. Do you have an attachment for your lathe or something?

Also did you sand blast it or use an acid wash to remove the coating.

Lastly, if it was done by hand, any tips to get a better finish? What compound are you using? I have a retrofitted bench grinder/polishing wheel which I use, but I cant seem to get the same results as you.

I can tell you the approach that has worked well for me:

1) I strip with oven cleaner. Nasty stuff though. Wear gloves, and get it off the aluminum AS SOON as the colour is stripped. You don't want it sitting on the aluminum for longer than necessary.

2) Sand it lightly with sandpaper.

3) Sand it lightly with finer sandpaper.

4) Hop on the buffing wheel, and buff the entire surface with successively smaller grits of diamond paste. Starting with: 20 micron, 10 micron, 3.5 micron, 1.5 micron, 0.5 micron.

Works great for me.

This is beautiful :drool: it would make a cool green. +1 for this work of art.

Thanks Everyone. Mens lot to me that you all like it.:wave:

bobhaha said:

Can you explain your method of polishing? It looks just a little too good to be polished by hand. Do you have an attachment for your lathe or something?

Also did you sand blast it or use an acid wash to remove the coating.

Lastly, if it was done by hand, any tips to get a better finish? What compound are you using? I have a retrofitted bench grinder/polishing wheel which I use, but I cant seem to get the same results as you.

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WOW Glad you think it looks machined done. Its all done by hand on a converted bench grinder my friend.

I first use Special Chemicals specifically for de anodizing that i bought from a Local paint and Restore car body shop. Its not a Store but a car shop and i walked in and asked them for advice and they sold me some stuff that they say they have been using for years. It was about $150 for 2 gallons and is re usable many many times. Its None Hazardous too.:wave: If you warm it up wail doing it the results re a much cleaner aluminum. However I do not know the name of their stuff. They would not tell me. As if they did then i would not need them anymore. Ive tried to look up key words but nothing.

Unlike Of the self stuff this stuff does not eat away the aluminum and removed its protected coating and is why i can get such a nice finish to it. "The Protective coating on aluminum is very important Especial to hold the shine" There is also other thing that i dont like about off the shelf stuff that you can find at your local super market is that the stuff not only eats away at the aluminum and removed its protected coating and corrodes the metal, it also makes the aluminum a darker gray color.


After de anodizing i go straight to my polish wheel. NO Sand Paper. I have a compounds that i use instead of sanding that gives smoother finish then sanding. Its made by ryobi and its Letter C first really quick a couple pases then i go to letter E which is what makes it Nice and smooth without rounding off the edges. <<< These are not to polish. Only prep. I probebly hit it 20 times with Letter E Compound. before moving to the next step/Letter compound.

Then I move to F Compound for about 10 times, by this point everything should be Nice and Shine but not brilliant.

Then Finial I finish with White compound that i also got from the guys at my local shop that I swear is the best white compound i have ever tried.! Reduces the amount of passes that i would have to take with another brand or kind of white polish. In this step i much do at least 30 passes. But any white will do. Stick to Ryobi. I had good results from them and is what all my stuff is branded down to the wheels and grinder/ Polisher now.

When you know that your piece that you are working on is done is even if you add compound to your wheel and you go to polish your piece your working on NO compound will stick to the work piece other then a very thin dust layer. That is when you know you cant get it anymore brilliant then what you have it.

Also I would like to mention that your wheels and How New and Old they are makes a HUGE HUGE DIFFERENCE.!!!! The older the wheel is and the more black it is the faster and better the polish Piece comes out. I have done over 10 hosts on these wheels so they are pretty broken in. This IMO is the Main key to getting such a Nice Polish.

Then Final the other key is Patients. when I say it takes me 10 hours to do the job iam not Exaggerating. I really mean it. I can do it in 2 hours but it would not come out anywhere close to what you see int eh Pictures and even better in the video. SO Take your time nd dont rush.


I will take some pictures for you to see my polishing set up in a little bit.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you need more help or advise.

rhd said:

I can tell you the approach that has worked well for me:

1) I strip with oven cleaner. Nasty stuff though. Wear gloves, and get it off the aluminum AS SOON as the colour is stripped. You don't want it sitting on the aluminum for longer than necessary.

2) Sand it lightly with sandpaper.

3) Sand it lightly with finer sandpaper.

4) Hop on the buffing wheel, and buff the entire surface with successively smaller grits of diamond paste. Starting with: 20 micron, 10 micron, 3.5 micron, 1.5 micron, 0.5 micron.

Works great for me.

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What type of buffing wheel do you have?

This type...



Or this type...



Also do you apply the paste to the metal or to the pad?

Lastly what brand/type of diamond paste do you use? Is Silvero too abrasive? Should I use finer grate stuff?

Sorry for the thread jack.... I just love the outcome of this host and I would really like to replicate it.