How To Satin Finish Outer Stainless Tube Joints

Unsure of the most efficient way to achieve a brush finish on outer tube joints?

Alongside Cibo’s Time Saving Kit 03, this simple guide is all you need.

We have every essential abrasive product to perfect this quick and easy process… all in one box.

What are Time Saving Kits?

A Cibo Time Saving Kit contains all the products and information you need to complete your desired process. There are 3 kits for satin finishing and 3 for mirror polishing. See all kits here.

Process Overview

Sand down the welded joint using Cibo’s Rapid Combi Disc.

Refine with the grade 5 unitised grinding disc.

Smooth the Tex belt over the tube to restore the brushed finish

Clean up using Inoxiclean spray.

Our detailed step-by-step guide continues below…

Step 1: Preparation

Firstly, attach the RCD/ME/125 flap disc on to your variable speed angle grinder. The best machine for this process is the Finipower Plus – you can take a look at this here.

Abrasive Tip: Set your machine speed between 3,000 and 4,500 RPM – this will avoid burn marks and maximise disc life.

Dress the grit of your new disc by gently grinding a test piece of metal. This will reduce the initial aggression of the disc when using it on your workpiece.

Step 2: Sanding The Weld

Move the RCD back and forth lengthways along the tube, ensuring that the sanding lines follow the original brush finish pattern of the stainless steel tube.

Abrasive Tip: Sand at an angle of 10 to 15 degrees using light pressure – this is very important when producing a high quality brushed finish.

Continue using the disc up to the area in which the rounded outside corner meets the hollow inside corner. Continue until the corner where the tubes meet is sharp and round, and the outside corner is blended into the inside corner.

You can then repeat this step with the SAG/5/125 unitised disc if needed.

Step 3: Restoring The Brushed Finish

Simply cut a 10cm section from the FMGRT/AF/60040 Tex belt and manually smooth over the section between the inner and outer corner of the tube joint.

Then, using the remaining longer section of belt, manoeuvre this backwards and forwards over the length of the tube as far as the corner. This final step will easily blend the rest of the stainless steel with the corner you are focusing on.

Repeat this step on the other side.

Abrasive Tip: You can easily make the finish more coarse or fine by using a different grit belt; we have a selection here.

Step 4: Cleaning Up

To protect the tube from grease and fingermarks, you will need our Inoxiclean spray.

Spray this over your workpiece and remove with a soft microfibre cloth to reveal the clean, brushed finish.

How To Brush Finish Outer Tube Joints with Cibo's Time Saving Kit 03 - Step 4

What is Included in Time Saving Kit 03?

All of the essential products you need to brush finish outer tube joints are inside the box;

RCD/ME/125 (x2 Discs) Medium Rapid Combi flap discs for weld removal. (125mm Ø with a 22cm Ø centre hole.)
SAG/5/125 (x1 Disc) Unitised polishing disc in grade 5 for further weld removal and blending. (125mm Ø with a 22cm Ø centre hole.)
FMGRT/AF/60040 (x2 Belts) Fine grade Tex/Scotchbrite belts for producing the final satin/brushed finish.
The following extras are not in the kit, but we do recommend them in order to take the quality of the finish a step further;
SPIC – Inoxiclean Spray 400ml. Stainless steel spray to protect your workpiece from fingermarks.
Finipower – The only variable speed grinder we recommend.