# Mirror finish HA



## jhanko (Sep 5, 2008)

I never heard of anyone trying this, so I thought I'd try it. Pretty impressed with the results. Buffing HA takes forever. I tried tripoli, jewelers rouge and plastic compound. Surprisingly, the plastic compound worked the fastest. I was able to get a mirror-like finish. It is hard to catch in a picture, but it really is like a mirror. Anything that looks like surface imperfections are reflections. I like it alot. Should keep it's shine A LONG time. Sorry if this has been done before and is old news...


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## DaFABRICATA (Sep 5, 2008)

That looks pretty darn cool!!!

Good job!:thumbsup:


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## ICUDoc (Sep 7, 2008)

Never seen that before. Kinda funky- hardwearing milspec bling???


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## lumafist (Sep 7, 2008)

Very cool job.....!

Did it take forever....?


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## jhanko (Sep 7, 2008)

Yeah, it did take a long time. The finish has some very unique characteristics. It looks wet all the time, as if it has many layers of clearcoat on it and it doesn't show fingerprints at all.


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## DM51 (Sep 8, 2008)

That's a great idea, and a very good-looking result. 

From the microscope pics I've seen of the HA structure, it is like a lot of tiny closely-packed rods sticking up out of the surface of the metal. By using the plastic compound, you are probably filling in the gaps between these rods to make a more solid structure, which may be why it takes such a good shine. 

It may even make the surface stronger and harder too - but I'm just guessing. Whatever the case, it is a nice effect!


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## greenLED (Sep 8, 2008)

I wonder what would be the difference if you mirror-polished a light and then HA's it...

...would that be how they made the original Arc LS? It's got kind of a unique shine to it that I haven't seen in any other HA lights.


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## ambientmind (Sep 8, 2008)

great job and looks great! can you give me some more details on what compound you used and what buffing materials were used? thanks!


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## Stillphoto (Sep 9, 2008)

Yeah, I'm planning on going out to buy some "plastic compound" and it would be nifty to know what kind. The big question being, is it made to polish plastic, or is it mainly made of plastic?


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## jhanko (Sep 9, 2008)

The buffer I used is a 3/4 hp. Baldor. I use cotton flannel wheels. This buffer is definitely overkill for the job. Any small buffer would do. The compounds I tried were tripoli, jewelers rouge and plastic compound for polishing acrylic, polycarbonate, etc. Any buffing compound will get the job done, but I noticed that the plastic compound seemed to work a little faster than the other two. The plastic compound is the white one on the left. Tripoli is the red one on the right. You don't have to buy big bricks like these. Hardware stores sell small tubes.


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## Cuso (Sep 9, 2008)

Are you telling me I can polish HA??!!! O crap there goes the weekend:devil:... How does it stands to fingerprints???


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## Sgt. LED (Sep 16, 2008)

Yeah that's pretty awesome!

Ever thought about offering this as a service to CPF'ers? For a fee naturally.


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## Bullet Bob (Sep 16, 2008)

A friend of mine just showed me lights that were called LongBows that are no longer made. It has that highly polished look to the anodizing and I fell in love with the look. Now if I can duplicate it it great. I got to give this a try.


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## DUQ (Sep 16, 2008)

Wow that's cool. Gotta try that out for sure.


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## Mostlarge (Sep 16, 2008)

Great work and thanks for showing that! Great light pron!
Looks like I need to invest in another power tool.:twothumbs

What's the grip feel like now?


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## ambientmind (Sep 16, 2008)

has anyone tried this on a novatac? i'm just thinking about my black one being all shiny....


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## jhanko (Sep 16, 2008)

Sgt. LED said:


> Ever thought about offering this as a service to CPF'ers? For a fee naturally.



As much as I'd like to and need the money, my health just isn't up to it right now. I'm in physical therapy 5 hours a day, every day. When I get home, the only thing I have energy for is the recliner.



Mostlarge said:


> What's the grip feel like now?



It has a very "sticky" feel to it. Definitely not slippery as you would think.



ambientmind said:


> has anyone tried this on a novatac? i'm just thinking about my black one being all shiny....



I was curious how black would look also, but didn't have any black HA lights. I just remembered I have a Nitecore EX10 body that I have no use for, so I tried it. I didn't finish it, just tried it out. The best way to describe the look is "black glass". I'd be careful with the Novatac. I remember when I had my 120P (natural HA, not black), the anodising appeared to be very thin. Sorry for the crappy pics.


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## Patriot (Sep 22, 2008)

Well now...that's very original and I must say an amazing result!

Appearently it doesn't effect the lettering if you're careful? Can you give us an idea of approximately how much time you have in that little light. 

:thanks:


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## Sgt. LED (Sep 22, 2008)

Kinda like waxing a surfboard?

Except with pastic compound and a buffer.....:thumbsup:


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## Thujone (Sep 22, 2008)

Looks like the finish on the Liteflux LF5XT.


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## precisionworks (Sep 24, 2008)

Very Nice:thumbsup:

You might want to order a stick of Brownells 555 White Polish - it is their finest polish for mirror finishes. Does a great job on any surface that's already very smooth, like the HA on a Surefire.


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## Edwood (Sep 26, 2008)

HA Anno on a KL4 head always seemed pretty thin to me. So the polishing didn't exposed any metal? That's impressive. Did you disassemble the light for polishing? The KL4 head is apparently quite difficult to disassemble.


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## mitch79 (Sep 26, 2008)

That's very impressive. :thumbsup:
Any special technique used to avoid breaking through the anno on the sharp corners?
I'd love to try this myself but I'm worried about polishing through the coating on the edges.


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## jhanko (Sep 27, 2008)

Patriot36 said:


> Appearently it doesn't effect the lettering if you're careful? Can you give us an idea of approximately how much time you have in that little light.:thanks:



It does effect the lettering. Seeing how the letters are bare aluminum, the buffer polishes them to a chrome finish which is beautiful. Very hard to catch in a picture though. Buffing the Surefire L4 in the first pictures took about an hour. Doesn't seem like a long time, but I could have completely polished a bare aluminum light in less that 5 minutes...



Sgt. LED said:


> Kinda like waxing a surfboard?
> 
> Except with pastic compound and a buffer.....:thumbsup:



No, the actual oxide layer is being polished That's why it takes so long. None of the polishing compound remains on the surface.



Edwood said:


> HA Anno on a KL4 head always seemed pretty thin to me. So the polishing didn't exposed any metal? That's impressive. Did you disassemble the light for polishing? The KL4 head is apparently quite difficult to disassemble.



Yes the anodizing is pretty thin, but keep in mind how hard it is. To get completely through it down to the bare metal, it would take ALOT longer than one hour. This head was disassembled, but it doesn't need to be. Just stay away from the lens.



mitch79 said:


> Any special technique used to avoid breaking through the anno on the sharp corners?
> I'd love to try this myself but I'm worried about polishing through the coating on the edges.



Good point.. I concentrate on the flats and limit contact with the sharp corners by keeping the work perpendicular with the wheel to avoid hitting the edges with excessive pressure. Keep in mind that it's an extremely hard surface and very hard to remove with a buffer. There is plenty of time to get the finish even. Buffing through a sharp edge will still take several minutes concentrating on just that one area.


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## kanarie (Sep 28, 2008)

I use the same equipment for polishing (from silver jewelery to badly scratched cd's or to renew the blade of an knife). I use the finessed diamond based polish for it.

tip for the protection of sharp corners and painted parts,engraved text ect. use some duct tape (one or more layers) to mask it, It help you to polish without accidentally ruining your flashlight (or any other item) and it will hold just long enough


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## divine (Sep 29, 2008)

JHanko, are you using Macro Mode on your camera? (Symbolized by a flower on your camera... is the mode made for very close focus like this.)

Looks like nice work.


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## lightmyway (Oct 5, 2008)

Thanks JHanko, great Tip,i just polished my Tiablo A9 Natural It made a immense difference to this light,I have my doubts as to whether this light has the HA 111 anodizing as i only spent 15 minutes on polishing .I started with white and finished with plastic polish.Before polishing it looked like every component had been done by different manufactures,Now it looks quite nice,thanks again for the advice. I have the same buffer as JHanko.


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## Stillphoto (Oct 5, 2008)

All I know is, this takes for EVER to do with a dremel and little felt wheels haha...should be done one of these years.


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