Polishing metal surfaces - Stone?

[Gobi King]

I bought a SIG P516, this has the most gritty trigger I have encountered in a while.

I want to lightly polish the some of the metal surfaces. Youtube says use 3000 or 5000 grit stone.

How do I go about polishing the metal surfaces, they are probably sintered.

Can I use the sharpening stones I have?

[Donnyboat]

What are  you trying to polish, chrome over brass or Stainless steel, with chrome you may polish it away & only have brass left, stailess steel, you can uses plenty of compounds such as, brasso, mothers polish, turtle wax, all with a soft light buff, have a read through the forum here, general procedures, maybe covered there, good luck cheers Don.

[Donnyboat]

Go to, General questions & trouble shooters, Sandbar 33, 2011, read through that post, some good ideas there, cheers Don.

[Keta]

I had a set of small stones for trigger work but they are long gone.   Be careful.

[Tiddlerbasher]

I use similar to these from fleabay:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Abrasive-Rubber-Polishing-Burr-Point-Grinding-Head-For-Metal-Dremel-Rotary-Tools/222761658128?hash=item33dda12710:m:muf7Ap4X5V_UAXLvd9LLFDQ

They are also useful for a 'jewelled' finish

[Gobi King]

I am polishing  a AR trigger sear just a hair to mirror finish.

Right now imagine a chalk board and run your nails through it, that is how I feel when I engage the 1st stage of this trigger.  

How do I know the grit of the stone?  here is my confusion, I have a few of those dremel stones that I can put on my drill but don't want to make rougher than it is now.

I will look for the Sandbar  post.

Yeap, done a few trigger jobs, mostly single stage ones, my bench guns have 1oz to 2oz triggers, yeap nothing to sneeze about.

[Keta]

I would do it by hand, a Dremmel can take off too much and cup the contact surfaces.

[Donnyboat]

wet & dry cloth should be okay, start with 600 then 1200 then 2000 then 3000, good luck, but that set that  Chris rush posted, do a nice smooth job, with a drill or a dremel, cheers Don.

[Rivverrat]

I am polishing  a AR trigger sear just a hair to mirror finish.

Right now imagine a chalk board and run your nails through it, that is how I feel when I engage the 1st stage of this trigger.  

How do I know the grit of the stone?  here is my confusion, I have a few of those dremel stones that I can put on my drill but don't want to make rougher than it is now.

I will look for the Sandbar  post.

Yeap, done a few trigger jobs, mostly single stage ones, my bench guns have 1oz to 2oz triggers, yeap nothing to sneeze about.

   Lacking regular tools for this job I would suggest Crocus Cloth laid on a piece of glass. You will first take a black marker across the sear to track your strokes on the Crocus Cloth.  Or the best is to clamp assembly in vise at the right angle & using a flat glass peace with Crocus cloth on it like a file. You push to hard, removing to much material the glass breaks. This is the safest,  easiest way with out proper tools I have found

Is this part cast ? Have you looked at the sear under magnification ? ... Jeff

[Gobi King]

Gentlemen,

Here is that I take from the input:

1. Look at the surface closely
2. First, I will buff/polish the engagement surfaces with a dremel and cloth buffing wheel and some buffing/polishing compound
3. If above fails to improve, and light wet polishing with 2000 grit cloth (meant for vehicle paint finish wet sanding) and then buff again with cloth wheel and buffing compound.

[Keta]

Again, I would avoid using a dremel or any other power tool on a trigger job.   You are not removing material as much as polishing the contact surfaces.

[Gobi King]

gotcha, no dremel,
how do I go about just buffing the surfaces to polish them?

[Ron Jones]

gotcha, no dremel,
how do I go about just buffing the surfaces to polish them?

My GranDad called it Elbow Grease

I agree with the flat surface. I like moving the part over a large surface but the pros do it as Jeff describes.

Only thing I know, when you start rubbing and your arm gets tired and you haven't seen any progress, you haven't started even a warm up yet. To do this right takes lots of time and lots of sweat; I was taught in airframe and powerplant school by an old man named George. George did not believe in undersized parts and he'd give you hell if you made one.

The Man

[Keta]

gotcha, no dremel,
how do I go about just buffing the surfaces to polish them?

Without stones a hard flat surface, glass works, and various grits of emery cloth.  Take off the bumps  if any,  with courser cloth and work down to supper fine to polish the contact surfaces. Most likely you will only have to polish the contact surfaces.  Don't take off too much metal, change the angle of contact or round of angles.  If you mess up get new parts and start over, you do not want to make a unsafe trigger.

High quality AR triggers are not cheep but I have considered buying one for the lower I have the .243 WSSM barrel on, the lowers I have the 5.56 uppers on work well with the sears I polished.  I wish I could get a better trigger for my AR-180.

[PacRat]

Do you have any India stones? These are very important for maintaining surface angles and flatness. You want a 'crisp' trigger so the angles and engagement surface geometry are critical. Tow or three strokes with a stone then reassemble and try it. Remember that it will smooth out further with use. When removing metal from trigger surfaces; always remember that less is more. A very wise machinist once taught me that it's always easier to remove a little more metal than to put some back on.
-Mike