Silicone Polishing Wheels for Rotary tools

The silicone polishing wheels are designed to be used with a mandrel. The mandrel size you need will depend on the rotary tool, flex shaft or micro motor that you are using. To mount the wheels on the mandrel the tiny screw is screwed into the silicone wheel, with a little red washer on either side of the wheel, and then into the bottom of the mandrel. Lightly tighten with a flat edged screwdriver.

These silicone polishing wheels come in 4 grits and each grit is a different color. Coarse = White. Medium = Black. Fine = Blue. Extra Fine = Pink. They also come in 2 different profiles with a square edge wheel and a knife edge wheel. To get a piece ready to polish you start with coarse and move through the wheels to extra fine. For best results don't move on to the next grit until you have an even surface. Make sure you clean off any dust on the piece from the previous grit before you move to the next grit.

Square edge wheels are great for smoothing flat edges. Getting an even surface on a flat edge with a round moving tool is a skill that takes a bit of time to master. I find running the wheel faster and using a feather light touch gives a smoother finish. You want to lightly brush the wheel across the surface in an even sweep, if it is bumping across the surface you are probably running it a bit too fast. Also make sure that the square edge of the wheel is perpendicular to the flat edge you are working on and not at an angle. If the wheel moves slowly or stays still on the metal it can produce an unwanted wavy finish. These wheels are also great for curved surfaces and can quickly clean up tool marks in hard to reach areas. These wheels aren't designed to finish large flat areas, a sanding stick is a great tool for that, but they are really good at finishing small flat areas and hard to reach flat areas

Knife edge wheels are good to get into hard to reach areas or small areas where you want maximum control of where the abrasive is contacting the metal. Knife edge wheels are very good at creating an attractive bevelled finish on the edge of metal pieces and can round off square edges. Knife edge wheels remove metal quickly so they are good for smoothing unwanted solder blobs but be careful when using them around your designs as it only takes a short time to remove a lot of metal.

The wheels are worn down as you use them and they do lose the definition of the knife and square edge. You can run the wheels against an old file to re-do the edge to the angle you want.

The wheels give off a thick dust and any airborne dust should not be inhaled. I prefer to use them in a polishing tent because it stops the dust from going all over my work area as well as keeping me safe from breathing in the dust. See my tool tip on making a DIY dustproof polishing tent.