Polishing my stacks - advice?

[ClassG]

Hey, anyone have a good technique for removing the caked-on carbon and tarnish from Pratt&Whitney exhaust stacks (like on King Airs) that haven't been polished in years?

Thanks.

 

[bart]

Mother's Metal Polish

 

[Kill Bob]

polishing your stack - use KY and your left hand for a change - K

 

[avbug]

What you're going to run into with those stacks is that you can get them clean and polished (there is NO substitute for elbow grease, and it takes a LOT), but after running that powerplant for an hour or two, they'll take on the same burnished golden brown again. If you polish them, they'll be silver, but it will go back to the way it was after only an hour or two.

Mothers isn't bad for a final polish, but not enough to work through the initial stages of a neglected stack. A really good polish, and I don't remember the name off the top of my head, is available for blued stacks on Harleys, and it's for sale at Harley dealerships.

Pigspit is another, but probably best reserved for final stages of polish.

You can start with a very fine (1000 grit or higher) paper or crocus cloth. You can also use a rotarry buffer with jewlers rouge; be sure to pick the right rouge for the job at hand. For stainless stacks, use stainless polish.

Scotchbrite on steel is also effective, combined with a polishing and conversion agent such as mothers. Mothers is primarily for aluminum. You can also try Brasso. Be sure to leave no material on the stack when you're done; clean it thoroughly. If you scotchbrite it, don't push or use pressure; use it lightly and let the repetative action clean up the metal. It takes time; don't try to rush it.

Once you have the metal prepared, you need to keep after it. This means a lot of work for you; you need to go over the entire stack and repolish it every few flights. Don't let it get wet when you wash the airplane; dry it and polish it immediately.

Keeping it bright and beautiful can be done, but you need to be ready to commit a lot of small circles and rubbing, and time and energy to doing it. Or hire a high school kid to come do it for you. Either way, it's going to take a lot of work. Good luck!

 

[Diesel]

Carbon-x. It does unreal stuff

 

[Typhoon1244]

Polishing your stack...use KY and your left hand for a change...

(Dang, somebody beat me to it...)

 

[F70pilot]

polishing your stack - use KY and your left hand for a change - K

If you do you'll go blind. So make sure you stop when you need corrective lenses.

 

[FN FAL]

What you're going to run into with those stacks is that you can get them clean and polished (there is NO substitute for elbow grease, and it takes a LOT), but after running that powerplant for an hour or two, they'll take on the same burnished golden brown again.

I don't see a problem with that...it would give the FO something to do on every trip, especially for that long boring time left over after he got done detailing the cabin and updating the jepps.

 

[Bluestreak]

polishing your stack - use KY and your left hand for a change - K

Naw-that's for for "polishing the bishop"-and KY is so last week.Try Astroglide-it's approved by airline management worldwide! The stuff for Harley exhausts (as opposed to just polishing yer "hog") is Simichrome polish.Here is a link:

http://www.motorcycle-accessories-wiseguy.com/simichrome.html