How to remove small scratches

[cralx2000]

What you do to polish a chrome top/bottom plate. I want to take light scratches off.

Thanks
cralx

 

[dmr]

What you do to polish a chrome top/bottom plate. I want to take light scratches off.

I've never polished a camera plate, but this comes from the perspective of somebody who polishes coins and such for making jewelry.

I'm a bit hesitant to answer this, since I know you can ruin plated thing very easily when you try to get scratches out. also, when you say "chrome", I'm thinking of the polished mirror-like chrome finish, and not the more matte finish that's on the Pentax or the GIII. When you
polish scratches out, you end up with a very high shine whether you want it or not. Please take what I say from that perspective, as I would hate for you to make things worse with my "advice". 🙂 I have, however, removed a lot of scratches over the years. 🙂

If you want something that you can get readily, get a polish with a mild abrasive such as Brasso or Simichrome. (Simichrome is far more abrasive than Brasso but will get scratches out of a coin quite well.) Brasso you can get anywhere. For Simichrome, phone the motorcycle shops in your area, that's who uses that most. A jewelers wheel is best, but a buff wheel on a Dremel will also work. Some people do a good job on coins with only Simichrome and a soft cloth.

If you wanna get very fancy and/or have some rather deep scratches, a jewelers wheel with a Tripoli stick or even a carborundum stick if you have a rough surface, will give you a very brilliant finish. If it's plated, carborundum will actually take the plating surface off quite easily, so watch it! 🙂 For a real high shine, finish it off with white rouge and wipe clean with a soft cloth.

Hope this helps.

 

[Azinko]

dmr436 has given you some great and expert advice,....I would just add a couple of points; If the camera parts are frosted chrome, like those on Kiev cameras then you will not be able to polish out small scratches without losing the 'frosted' finish so beware! If you still want to try to reproduce/renew the frosted chrome then carefully use a well used pot scouring cloth such as the green 'Scotchbrite' pads which are available here in the UK,...the pad MUST be well used and should be wet to aid teh task. Work the pad on a finger in tiny circular pattern and you will be able to get an aproximation of frosted chrome but you will have to go over the complete surface ehich has the marks/scratches to get everything matching and even........Proceed with caution!! The 'Scotchbrite' cloths and pads can be 'aged' to a degree by gently hammering them all over while placed on a hard surface.

Finally,.....the finest cutting compound to give the finest finish, and which is readilly availabe is a good quality car body compound such as 'T-Cut' paste. This probably IS a fine jewllers rouge typw product as mentioned by dmr436 but is easy to get in any high street or village shop which has motoring sundries.

Good Luck, Bob.

 

[Fedzilla_Bob]

dmr436, you go girl! Let her loose with that Dremel! I dig Simichrome as well.

To cralx2000-
On satin chrome you need to be careful as mentioned before. I have a 1st version of the Canon QL17, which has a nice subdued satin chrome. I removed one of those silly "Passed" stickers you see on cameras and followed with Flitz polish. It polished out the satin finish leaving a bright fog in place of the sticker. I know better now.

 

[Fedzilla_Bob]

Fedzilla,

Use toothpaste next time. 🙂

You know, toothpaste is good on fine scrathes on electric guitars too! Thanks for reminding me!

 

[dmr]

dmr436 has given you some great and expert advice,....

Thanks. 🙂 I'm glad it applies to this as well ... 🙂

If the camera parts are frosted chrome,

"Frosted Chrome", huh? I haven't heard that one. I would have called it "matte" or maybe "satin", but I guess that does make sense. I'm not a machinist, but I would assume it's made by sand-blasting and then doing a chrome plate over that. Is that correct?

 

[dmr]

dmr436, you go girl! Let her loose with that Dremel! I dig Simichrome as well.

Thanks {blush} The Dremel is one of the handiest things ever invented! Even somebody who is not very handy can learn to use one to drill a hole in a coin or even a (non precious) stone with just a little practice. Also very handy for polishing or cleaning small stuff.

Sometimes I think I'm the only non-biker who knows about Simichrome. A friend of mine turned me on to it a while back and I'm sold on it for cleaning and polishing stuff that doesn't want to polish, if you know what I mean. 🙂 It's like Brasso on steroids. A little goes a long way and you want to watch it, because it will literally grind down the metal if you get too ambitious! 🙂

And to Fedzilla and Greyhound, Simichrome is kinda like toothpaste, except I doubt if any dentist would recommend it. 🙂

 

[cralx2000]

Thanks All, you're rocks.

 

[Terence T]

I've been looking at the Dremel for a while, think it's high time I picked one up. Which attachment is best to tackle light scratches on chrome?

 

[Alex Shishin]

Gentle Writer:

Please, please, please do not attempt to take the scratches of the bottom plate! It will only make bad thing worse. And I speak from experience. Mia culpa. Mia maxima culpa.

 

[dmr]

I've been looking at the Dremel for a while, think it's high time I picked one up. Which attachment is best to tackle light scratches on chrome?

Ok, i don't know the real names of some of these things, and certainly not the part numbers for most of them, but I'll do my best to explain.

The Dremel tool I have is the MiniMite Cordless Rotary Tool, model 750. This is several years old, so I don't know if the model is still current. It runs on a rechargeable battery.

The attachment that I use for polishing is, and I know this description is gonna sound funny, but the best way to describe it is to say it's like a wood screw on a metal post. The post goes in the tool and the buffing pads kinda screw into the end of it.

The buffing pads I use most of the time are part # 414. They get very grody quickly, and are disposable. Just change it when it gets too yucky for your taste. That's really the best way to explain it.

Now, for scratch removal, there's another kind of buffing thing, kind of a pointed tip thing of a VERY stiff felt. These are MUCH stiffer than the regular buffing pad. You can really zero in on a ding or a scratch with this.

The way I remove scratches is this ... take a q-tip and put some Simichrome or Brasso on it (try Brasso first, Simichrome can really wear down the metal and I would be afraid of using it on plated stuff) and rub it into the scratched area. The q-tip will start turning black, that means it's working. 🙂 Then with the Dremel on lo, buff the scratch and when most of the Simichrome or Brasso is absorbed or splattered around the room 🙂 wipe off with a clean soft cloth. Rinse, repeat! 🙂 Well, you don't actually rinse, but I think you get the reference. (I semi-take-that-back. Sometimes I do rinse off the Simichrome or Brasso goo with alcohol on a q-tip or cloth.)

Don't go too fast. And "feather" your work so it's not like the scratch is replaced by a wider impression. Simichrome and even Brasso will remove some metal. That's really why I'm leery of suggesting you use it on a chrome plate object.

Also, if you use this method on a scratch on matte/satin/frosted chrome, I'm sure you will end up with smooth shiny metal, with or without any chrome plate left. 🙂 🙁

Please be very careful. If you take off too much, it's impossible to put it back! Please do this at your own risk and only if you're comfortable doing it. You might wanna try on a coin or some other object first. I don't wanna see you wreck your limited-edition postwar Lieca doing what I told you to do. 🙂

Hope this helps.

 

[Terence T]

Hey thanks for the detailed advice, it certainly helps.

I'll be sure to practice on my FED-2 or Zorki first before tackling the Leicas.

Attached 2 images below of what I believe you were referring to. The first attachment is part #401 for use with the #414 pads. The second I think is the pointy tip for scratch removal you were talking about. Part #422.

Thanks again!

 

[dmr]

Attached 2 images below of what I believe you were referring to. The first attachment is part #401 for use with the #414 pads. The second I think is the pointy tip for scratch removal you were talking about. Part #422.

Uh-huh, those are exactly what I was talking about. 🙂 Have fun! 🙂