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Post by milkman on Apr 25, 2007 6:31:19 GMT -5
Greetings all,
Well, I am staring down an obsessive road. I acquired a nice new drum for my SR and am thinking of polishing it up.
I realise this is like painting the house - once you do one room you notice how dull the others are, and you have to do the lot.
Anyway, I've seen a few snippets through the posts about polishing various items, so I though I'd start a definitive guide here - I want to hear your stories, particularly what went wrong ie sand blasted something you shouldn't have, or buggered a seal rubbing around it etc etc.
At the moment I'm armed with a power drill, a wire brush wheel and a buffing a wheel, my elbow grease and what ever products I decide to use (autosol and simichrome seem to be popular).
I don't want a Harley softtail (actually, I wouldn't mind one) level of shine, I like to ride, but I think I might go down this road.
I blame Hopwheels and his newly "finished" Thunder Road (as I like to call it).
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Post by hopwheels on Apr 25, 2007 9:27:42 GMT -5
Hey now... no one told me that obsessive compulsive disorder was contagious! ;D Not a definitive guide, but here's what I'tve learned by trial and error: 1) If you can swing it, a motorized buffing wheel will help immensely. You can sit at it, hold the part to it, and even manage a beer in one hand... 2) Wear eye protection or a visor/mask. I've had wire from my small (cheapo) wire wheels come off at speed, and they make nasty little projectiles. 3) Wear gloves, I've taken the backs of my knuckles off with wire wheels also... not fun. 4) Use polishing compound sparingly, it gets everywhere if you don't. 5) Clean you polishig wheel or it gets useless pretty quick. (I have a wheel comb, but something else might work) 6) Aim the direction of rotation away from important stuff like windows, cars,  , so your little parts, when they become airborne missiles, do as little damage as possible. 7) I started using a backstop of sorts, a pad to help stop the mini missile o' death. That's a start... As for the obsessive compulsive thing, can't really help you there ;D I used to try having a few beers, then a couple more, with my projects like this, because it does help you get to a, "hey that looks pretty good," point. But when you look at the part the next time, you'll just redo the sloppy work anyway  |
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Post by thumperbill on Apr 25, 2007 12:11:37 GMT -5
Oh no!!!!! Polishing is highly addictive and once you start you will never stop. Sure can make some nice parts though. I keep my polish addiction in check by not buying a polishing wheel and knowing someone who has one. If there was one in my shop it would be well used.
Just started down the same polishing road with my XT500. Changed the rear brake stay to the TT aluminum one, stripped the paint off of some power levers and polished by hand, changing the brake drum levers to the TT aluminum ones so they can be polished, now looking at the forks and tripple trees. Have thought about a polished head and cyl for later projects but looks like a ton of work.
Its obvious Hopwheels has the addiction bad!
Bill
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Post by StewRoss on Apr 26, 2007 3:08:05 GMT -5
Hi, Yes I seem to be aflicted as well...as for the hub...if you carefully polished around the spokes by hand you'd be OK. What you want to avoid is removing the plating from the spokes so they start rusting. SR  |
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Post by milkman on Apr 26, 2007 4:44:08 GMT -5
Good tip Stew, thanks.
I haven't installed the front hub yet, so that why I'm considerig it. My front spokes are rusty so I'm giong to replace them with stainless.
My frame has some character marks. If I polish, I might "have" to powder coat it. Please talk me out of it....
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Post by miker on Apr 26, 2007 12:56:07 GMT -5
An experienced guy told me last weekend that he heats the part, to the point where it would be hard to hold, before polishing. He uses welding gloves while working... says the heat makes the metal more "active" and makes it come out better. He actually had a hot plate next to the buffer. I will say his parts looked nice.
miker
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, so your little parts, when they become airborne missiles, do as little damage as possible.
