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[DIY] Polishing iPhone 4 Stainless Steel Band

Jimbo.k said:
Looking good, did you gold plate your original surround that you polished or did you replace the surround completely with an new gold plated one ?

I used autosol metal polish which I've found to be one of the best metal polishes going.
Image
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Thanks i polish the bezel then gold plated it.
i have order some zeppelin metal polish, when that turns up i will try that.
i did try to buy some autosol from the local halfords this morning but didn't have
any, so i opt for the autoglym.
the next one i think i will sand a bit more and use some rubbing compound and see what the result are like then. try and error:rolleyes:
 
Sorry to bump this topic, however I am trying this as well. I am using #0000 Steel Wool as well as Turtle Wax Rubbing Compound and Mother's PowerMetal finish - it's just not working. No matter how much pressure I put on it or anything, the result is only slightly better than what it originally is. Any help?
 
SL4VE said:
i really want to do my 4s but my apples are not sufficient
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Your apples are not sufficient?

Also, I've noticed that I did however, make the small bevel on the edge of the band very polished, do I simply need to apply more pressure and time with the Steel Wool?
 
I wish i had the stones to do this to my 4S lol. It looks fantastic..

I had plans to mod my iP4, but then a family member said ai could use their upgrade to get the 4S if I gave them my 4.

I was going to talk to some friends with a paint shop to see about doing a black chrome for my antenna band, then I'd replace my front and back prices with either white, a blue color, or aluminum set. I'm sure I'd end up swapping stuff out like once a week lol

That white/gold looks fantastic!
 
Xalten said:
Sorry for bumping an older post, its the only one that I could find with this info in it

I think I'm in need of a little help. I'm not getting anywhere close to the desired results and I'm not sure why. I've looked for more in depth guides and such around but I've been coming up with nothing. My before and afters are looking pretty much the same and I'm sure I'm screwing up one if not all of the steps. If anyone could let me know if you see something I'm doing wrong it would be a huge help!

I have the exact sand paper as stated, 2500 and 3000. I just kept a bowl of water and dabbed the paper in it and lightly sanded around the edges of the phone (I took it apart to not damage anything else). I went back over it with 3000. My end product looked like
Image

Then tonight I went to use the rubbing compound and polish stuff. I went around the phone at least 4 times with the rubbing compound and a microfiber cloth, doing little circles with a little bit of compound cleaning up excess and adding more if needed

With the polish I tried to do as per instructions but it said to apply to metal until black residue then spread the residue around then clean off with a clean cloth. I never could get black residue to produce :confused: anyhow my end product for the same portion of the phone looks as follows
Image

So as can be seen not much of a difference at all. Any suggestions or hints as to what I may be doing wrong?

Thanks!
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yeah not really sure what you are doing wrong... seems like others are getting pretty good results

man its very cool to see that others have been doing this :) keep them picture coming
 
Christopher387A said:
This looks fantastic! How did you keep from getting stuff down in the headphone jack, speaker grills, etc?
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Sure but just make sure that anything you stick down into your openings will come out easily so be careful

Step 3: Cover openings

Before you start polishing make sure you cover up your headphone port, volume buttons, vibrate button and 30 pin dock with sticky tack (that blue stuff). You can cover the camera glass, but the polishing compounds are not abrasiveness enough to scratch it (unlike the sandpaper). Sticky tack is easy to apply, and come off in one piece. Tape will probably work too but I found that the tape kept lifting off when I was buffing. Refer to the #2 in the following picture (the gray stuff)

800grit.jpg


You guys can refer to my Iphone restore DIY if you guys need any other help on how to wetsand/etc
 
Shenaniganz08 said:
And that's pretty much it. But I decided to see if this would also work on Anodized Aluminum ( Ipod Nano 6th Generation)

Image

Unlike the Stainless the Ipod Nano 6th gen is anodized = A B*#& to sand off. Only thing that worked was using a dremel + a sanding disk
Image

Next 300 Grit Sandpaper
Image

Then 800 Grit
Image

Then the 3M rubbing compound
Image

Finish with Power Metal
Image

Unlike the iphone however, since I had to use a dremel to sand off the anodized coating, the finish is not perfectly flat vs the iPhone 4 finish that was already 100% flat and just needed to be brought up to a shiny finish.

Enjoy Macrumors !

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LOL its the iPhone5 in 2012
 
Wow .. looks nice ... real nice!! I hope Apple do it as a standard issue, well maybe for next gen iPhone.
But tell me, does that glossy steel band prone to scratch? You know .. like iPod chrome rear body?

And since you can create a mirror surface on iPhone steel band, do you also have some ideas how to remove scratches from iPod touch's rear body?
 
I just used 3M 800 grit ClearCoat sandpaper and literally worked one side for ~ 1 hour. Got this.
R4xIs.png

It's definitely a bit of a plunge, but holy **** it's so rewarding the first glimpse you get of the shine under that anodized steel. ****.
 
Wow. I'm seriously tempted to do this. It looks great, but knowing me I'll get water in the headphone jack and the connector, thus voiding my warranty. I'm also concerned about how slippery it may get. I hold my phone on its side all the time and a I need a good grip. I debated getting a bumper for the extra grip, but didn't like the look or bulk of it it.

It looks like its been "modified" but maybe I'm just thinking too much. But, modification invalidates the AppleCare+ contract. To see if it is still valid; Someone with a polished phone should go in and make a Genius appt. Just let them know you're having some sort of problem. They'll take a look at it but insist on getting your phone back. I think this may be the only way. Or call ApplCare.
 
thatoneguy82 said:
Wow. I'm seriously tempted to do this. It looks great, but knowing me I'll get water in the headphone jack and the connector, thus voiding my warranty. I'm also concerned about how slippery it may get. I hold my phone on its side all the time and a I need a good grip. I debated getting a bumper for the extra grip, but didn't like the look or bulk of it it.

It looks like its been "modified" but maybe I'm just thinking too much. But, modification invalidates the AppleCare+ contract. To see if it is still valid; Someone with a polished phone should go in and make a Genius appt. Just let them know you're having some sort of problem. They'll take a look at it but insist on getting your phone back. I think this may be the only way. Or call ApplCare.
Click to expand...
A few people in this thread have already gotten them replaced no questions asked. This can't really be counted as a modification - you can achieve the same effect by having greasy-ass hands.
 
Nice!

I'm SO totally doing this to my 4S once the 90 day warranty runs out :D
I HAVE TO cause I dropped the damn thing and scratched the rim a bit. Hopefully doing this will remove the scratches as well.

hYu
 
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