Stainless Steel Polishing

Currently, we finish our metal product using a vibrating polishing process. This means we put the stainless steel models into a tub of media and the media grinds and vibrates against the parts, thus polishing them down.

See below for a comparison of polished (left) vs. unpolished (right) piece:



We use three types of media to grind the stainless steel models:
  • a fine corn media (about 2 mm large)--this gives the parts a rough finish, because of its size it also has a higher likelyhood of getting wedged into engravings and holes
  • a plastic media (about 13-15mm in size)--this gives the parts a better, smoother shine, but due to the size it will not work for more fragile pieces
  • a ceramic media (about 13-15mm in size)--this is similar to the plastic media in size and restrictions
corn 2mm (rough polish, used for thin structures) plastic 13-15mm (better polish, only for stronger structures) ceramics 13-15mm (better polish, only for stronger structures)

Embossed details (min 0.8 mm)

Embossed details should be thick enough to withstand the media. We recommend to make embossed details at least 0.8 mm. Otherwise, you risk your details being worn away by the media.

Letters not thick enough, worn away Letters thick enough and polished well

Engraved details (min 0.5 mm wide, 1.5 mm deep)

Engraved details (or holes) in the surface should be wide enough to prevent trapped media. We recommend details minimum of .5 mm wide (size 10 Arial bold), and of 1.5mm deep. Details under these measurements might get corn cob media stuck in them. Also, you might loose part of the text if it the text isn't big enough.

Engraving were too thin of font Engravings were thick enough

Wire structures (min 4 mm)

Fine Wires may snap if they are too thin. We recommended minimum 4-5 mm to ensure good polish.

Too thin of a wire, rough polish Wire thick enough to be polished

Difficult to reach places will not be polished

The media we use to get a really good polish is roughly 13-15 mm in size, any area that is smaller than that will not get a good polish.

First, if you have protruding structures and crevices, the crevices might not get a good polish. In these examples, the tips of the structure gets a good shine, but the parts underneath do not. This is because the media we use do not reach the crevices in these structures.


Second, insides of mesh or wirey structures will also not be polished because the media simply cannot reach inside. Also, the wires might be too thin for us to throw these in with the heavier media (the plastic and ceramics). 

Polishing tips in short

Recommended settings to ensure a good polish:
  • Embossed details: min 0.8 mm
  • Engraved details: min 0.5 mm wide, 1.5mm deep
  • Wires: min 4 mm
  • Difficult to reach areas will not be polished

Keep in mind the grinding/polishing media we use are
  • For rough polish, we use a media that's 2mm
  • For smoother polish, we use media that's 13-15mm