Welding and Metalworking - How to bevel / smooth the edge on 22 Guage 304 Stainless Steel?

Working with a stainless steel that comes in a 4x8 sheet with what they call a #8 Mirror Polished Finish on one side. Using a WaterJet to cut out a product used as an accessory in the automotive field. The edges on the finished product are flat. We are trying to bevel or smooth the edge without ruining the Polished finish on top. The sheets also come with a white protective covering over the polish which may assist in the protection of the finish. Any advice on beveling or smoothing the edges??

Thanks!

try the flapper sanding wheels for a die grinder if memory serves they are available in various grits so you could use a fine grit to preserve the surface.

if we're not supposed to eat animals why are they made out of meat?

The water jet is going to leave some sort of edge and 3M makes some great quick lock abrasive pads 3 1/2". We take it down to a blue pad or a very fine, then you can get a cloth type flapper and you'll need some rogue. There are different grades of rouge as well when trying to attain the mirror finish. It sounds like a lot but if you take it in stages you can bring out the mirror. Try though to limit the area that you affect because it is very hard to blend it perfectly into the factory finish. I work in a sheet metal shop lots of use for pharmaceutical industry.

As a distributor of 304 Super #8 Non-Directional Mirrored Stainless I agree that water jet cutting will leave a slight wavy edge. Although I do not have a water jet I have had to fill orders that had to be water jetted. To smooth the edge they used a pneumatic sander. the belt was about 1" wide and 6" long. It went around like a belt sander.
I am new to this site however I will try to follow th ethreads.
Paul

Thanks! I will do some more researching based off your answers. I couldn't find this forum again which is why it took me awhile to respond back.

At this point in time we're doing around 7 sheets of the products per week which is approximately 672 individual pieces.

What ever we figure out will need to be fast and each kit done within minutes.

Again thanks

With that volume of parts a pedestal or bench mounted buffer/sander might be better than an hand held tool. The worker would then have both hands free to quickly handle the part.

if you actually want a beveled edge, cut it that way to begin with if your machine allows this axis to be controlled. It will not improve the quality of the cut but it will already have the bevel on it.

Leave the white plastic coating on the piece while you repair the edge. You may need to blend the finish once you have repaired the edge but it will prevent damage away from the edge.

I have no idea what the radii involved are so it is difficult to recommend anything specific but one thing you want to avoid is any process that imparts heat to the piece. It will discolor the metal.

For most edges, although these particular machines are listed as glass finishers,

Belt Sanders (http://www.covington-engineering.com/belt_sanders.htm)

something along these lines would tend to work well if the piece allowed it. There are wet belt sanders made with quite narrow belts and the fact they are wet would reduce any heat build up. I would use a quite fine grit belt.

If there are small radii involved, I would use a die grinder with an abrasive roll but operator competence is important.