Was it all by hand or there was machines used? all polished using a sandpaper?

 

I used a combination of things. For knocking the rough cast down, I used tapered sanding cones ranging from 80-320 grit. Tapered cones leave high and low spots due to the "stepped" shape of the cone so to wipe those down to a clean, totally even surface I used 220-600 aluminum oxide wet/dry by hand.

For the next stage which is actually overkill for sanding any part being polished I used a special kind've sandpaper called "Micromesh." It ranges in grit from 1,500 to 12,000. The reason I didn't just stop at the regular 600 grit wet/dry and go straight to buffing is because these water pumps have alot of corners, edges, and nooks & crannies that can hide lower grit scratches until the buffing exposes them, upon which you're forced to take a surface that has been brought to a mirror back to the drawing board for more sanding until all the scratches are gone. Rather than making things more difficult for myself by potentially having to buff and sand the part multiple times, I went with the Micromesh, which if you exhaust the entire range of grits (there are 9 total), by the time you're at 12,000 you'll be at a somewhat cloudy mirror finish. You can see what you've missed as you go along and take care of it by backing up a grit or two. Something else about Micromesh that is an advantage is that it's technically not sandpaper, because the backing on this stuff is actually a finely woven cloth that has a feel similar to silk. Unlike stiff sandpaper, it conforms to corners and odd shapes very easily, which allows for more thorough surface coverage. It's ALOT easier on the fingertips too.

I finished the part out with a combination of sisal, spiral sewn, and loose cotton buffing wheels with emery, tripoli, and white rouge on my 2hp buffing machine.

 

what materials did you use to do that?

 

He said Micromesh...

Very nice... where did you get them? I have to check if they have them locally.. Now i want to do this.. would you exchange my pump + cash for yours???

 

Checked 3 plus Ace Hardware and Home Depot. No luck.