Aftermarket metal smoothing/polishing in the US?

Hello from a "neighbor" just south of you in central Va.

I've never heard of any such business. And any who do would charge a lot. Much more than you probably paid for the cage.

Have you thought about doing it yourself?
YouTube has many videos on stuff like this. And Lowes, Home Depot and even Walmart carry Dremels and the bits, pads, and compounds needed to do it. Oh and the SAFTY GLASSES you should always were when using a rotary tool!

Just start slow and take your time. Polishing isn't hard but takes time. Hence why it'll be expensive. The more time you put into it the better the result.

As you can probably tell, I love projects like this. Well I'm not big on polishing as I don't have the patience needed to do it right. But I enjoy making stuff, fixing stuff, etc.

 

You just need a tumbler with some walnut shells or soda. Here's a cheap one but I'm sure you can go cheaper

https://www.harborfreight.com/5-lb-metal-vibrator-tumbler-67617.html

 

That thing is smaller than a blender and makes less noise, you'll be fine. Any softer medium is fine, it just takes more time depending on what you use. Most folks universally use walnut

 

The media will polish any surface it contacts

 

Not really.
It depends on what you need to do.
The process is grind smooth, then use a buffing pad with course polish. Repeat with finer and finer polish until you get the finish you like.

As someone else mentioned a tumbler can also be used to smooth things out. Then you could use the Dremel to really finish it nice.

It all just depends on how bad things are and how nice you want it. It really is just a process. And I'm sure you can find lots of videos on YouTube. Again it's more patience and willingness to spend the time than anything. To me it's tedious and boring so I haven't done polishing in a long long time. And like you when I did my results were ok.

lf I was you, I'd determine how much you want this and how, much effort and money you're willing to spend. Dremels aren't expensive, bits and accessories aren't expensive, tumblers aren't too expensive, polish isn't expensive, tumbler media isn't expensive, but all at once it adds up fast. So keep that in mind. Over time it's not bad though.

 

Congrats. Sounds like you're on the right track.

That said,
80 grit is a pretty course grit.
Now use finer and finer (120, 180, 220, 300, etc)
The finer you use the smoother it'll be

After that you can use compounds, polishes, jewelers rouge, etc. Again go from courser to finer. Again how much time and how nice a finish you want is only limited by your patience.

Of course some things don't need a mirror finish. Some like aluminum on car engines can be made to look like chrome. Find a happy place and now you know how to do this, you can always do more if you want a nicer finish.