Polishing reflector (helios)

[Catharsis70]

I have a couple Helios T5 reflectors and while the shape is good the material doesnt seem so great. Its aluminum so is there a way to polish them to make them reflect better? A guy at a lighting store (not lfs) suggested painting them flat white as an improvement over the current finish. Any ideas or input?

[snulma1]

metal polish can help bring some luster back!

[Catharsis70]

I will try that. They havent lost much since new, they just werent great from the beginning. Not even as nice a finish as the AGA twin tube fixture I have. I am hpoing there is a way to polish the aluminum up to near that.

[RV8tor]

Hey Cath

I have a little experiance polishing stuff, take a look at my avitar, the best polish out there, I have tried most if not all of them, is nuvite http://www.nuvitechemical.com/onlinestore.asp If the aluminum is fairly good, maybe clouding up a little then the S compond is what you need, id it is corroding than go with C compound then S. You will need a buffing pad, there is a ball shaped one you can buy that works in a drill woiuld probably work out for this. Aluminum should be "touched up" one a year to keep it from pitting. The site also has instruction on how to do everything you need. Hope this helps.

[Catharsis70]

RV8tor...thanks! Great link and great info.