I have a real interesting dillema here for anyone who has dealt with stainless steel polishing on a large scale. We are currently fabrication some elevator hoistways for an elevated train system in Puerto Rico. The hoistway is made out of 4x4x1/4 tube verticals that are put together in an L shape(basically 3 to a corner) with 10x4x1/4 and 12x4x1/4 horizonals spaced out along the length of the verticals. The hoistways dimensions are 40' length by 9-8 wide by 9-1 deep. The unit all said and done weighs close to 8 tons. This is all made out of 316L stainless, we have no problem with the welding but the polishing of the stainless is killing us, we are making the units in four sides, polishing then putting them together. We are using dynashears with tracks to get our 180 grit directional polish. We sand it with sandpaper and then finish it with scotchbrite. But it seems that once we got the unit together welded it and now we have some areas that look like they are scratched up. If we try to fix these areas we will have to repolish the whole unit over again. If you were in my shoes would you wait to put your final polish on the units until you got them together and welded out or is there something we can do to protect the stainless while we are putting the sides together. We have 18 more of these to build and if we do not figure something out we are going to lose our butts on this job, any wisdom from you fellas is greatly appreciated.
Lonnie