NO, an orbital sander is not the right tool for polishing. You need a real buffer, also called a buffing lathe. I'd suggest one at least one horsepower, capable of running 8" diameter buffing wheels.
You also need real buffing wheels if you're going to do serious buffing, particularly on stainless steel. Stainless is notably abrasion-resistant, which makes it hard to polish. So you need very aggressive buffing compound made especially for stainless steel, and you need a wheel that will hold plenty of compound. I like the hard Airway pleated wheels. Stitched muslin also works fine.
Brass is musch easier to polish than stainless, so you can get where you're going a lot quicker, and get a higher polish, too. With brass, after you finish with the sandpaper, you can to Tripoli, then White Diamond, then rouge and have a very high finish. On stainless steel, those buffing compounds will hardly cut the metal at all, so you need to start with emery, then go to a special stainless steel compound that contains microfine alumina abrasive.
If you need your buffer to be manipulated by hand, then you'll want to get a high-powered flexible shaft buffing head like aout body shops use. The kind that has a one HP motor on the floor or bench and a four foot flexible shaft to the wheel. These get a bit expensive compared to a stationary buffing lathe, but they allow you to work on pieces that are too large to handle on a stationary machine.
NO, an orbital sander is not
NO, an orbital sander is not the right tool for polishing. You need a real buffer, also called a buffing lathe. I'd suggest one at least one horsepower, capable of running 8" diameter buffing wheels.
You also need real buffing wheels if you're going to do serious buffing, particularly on stainless steel. Stainless is notably abrasion-resistant, which makes it hard to polish. So you need very aggressive buffing compound made especially for stainless steel, and you need a wheel that will hold plenty of compound. I like the hard Airway pleated wheels. Stitched muslin also works fine.
Brass is musch easier to polish than stainless, so you can get where you're going a lot quicker, and get a higher polish, too. With brass, after you finish with the sandpaper, you can to Tripoli, then White Diamond, then rouge and have a very high finish. On stainless steel, those buffing compounds will hardly cut the metal at all, so you need to start with emery, then go to a special stainless steel compound that contains microfine alumina abrasive.
If you need your buffer to be manipulated by hand, then you'll want to get a high-powered flexible shaft buffing head like aout body shops use. The kind that has a one HP motor on the floor or bench and a four foot flexible shaft to the wheel. These get a bit expensive compared to a stationary buffing lathe, but they allow you to work on pieces that are too large to handle on a stationary machine.