Topic: Whats everyones secret to polishing their motorcycle parts?!?!?!?!

[rocs]

I have polished a few sets of engine covers and various sets of forks. It is very slow and tedious work. My hands hurt from wet sanding.

Is there an easier way LOL? Anyone have some secrets they want to share?

I see a lot of polishing going on in the Project shop section. Front and rear hubs seem to be getting more popular. I can't imagine sanding them by hand. Is there an other way??

[DH]

Bench grinder with cloth wheels and different grades of jewelers rouge. I'm looking for an ez way to get into the nooks. Dremel tools pretty much suck in my limited experience. I'm subscribed.

[chewbacca5000]

Get a buffer like this one.

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=143199.msg1626822#msg1626822

[przjohn]

I use a 3/4 hp buffer from Southwest Metal Products and 8" wheels. One wheel is a tighter wound with a Tripoli compound and the other is an open wheel with a Jewlers Rouge. I use to go through all the work of wet sanding and then polishing. Now I use a fine glass bead, Tripoli polish, then Jewlers Rouge. It is quicker and easier and comes out very nice. Here is a set of Kawasaki cases done that way.

[rocs]

Can you aware me on glass beading? I am not familiar with this.

[Stev-o]

Those Kaw covers are beautiful!  Early H1?

[greenjeans]

glass beads are rounded vs the crushed glass variety.  The round edges give more of a fine peen to the surface vs the rougher surfaces that more aggressive media give you.  Means - easier to polish afterward.  No need to sand.

If your parts have scratches, you'll have to sand them out.  If they don't you can go straight to buffing.  I have anold sears/craftsman 1.5 hp buffer I picked up several years ago.  While I'd like one with a bit more horsepower, this one does just fine.  I use the stiffer wheels and put 2 of them on so it goes a bit faster.   I can do all the aluminum parts off a 750 pretty easily in a day.  It's work, but worth it.   Lately, I've just been going with the brown tripoly followed by the extra fine scotchbrite. 

[edwardmorris]

Glass bead seems an interesting idea, not sure if I'll find someone who will do it right locally. I did mine the hard way, took months to get through them all. Sanding 500->1000->1200, lower where there were scratches, then Tripoli->Stainless->White rouges. And now, I'm gonna be showing off 

[70CB750]

Wow^^^^

[evanphi]

HOLY MOLY. That's some shine!

[koendd]

someone likes cleaning 

I usually paint/powder everthing that's chrome/alu black, more time to ride 

[przjohn]

Those Kaw covers are beautiful!  Early H1?

72 H1B I did last year, here's a pic;



Funny, nobody spoke up about how fun and clean polishing is. 

[greenjeans]

Dang Edward, those look fantastic.

[Stev-o]

Those Kaw covers are beautiful!  Early H1?

72 H1B I did last year, here's a pic;



Funny, nobody spoke up about how fun and clean polishing is. 

Beautiful.  I'm restoring a H1E, in the midst of a complete motor rebuild....

[Restoration Fan]

Edwardmorris,
No showing off allowed.  As penance, I'm going to send you a front fender for you to polish. 

Seriously though.  Outstanding work!

[Lostboy Steve]

I sandblast, wet sand, and then finish on my baldor buffer. Honestly though, I'm over polished aluminum. Way to much upkeep imo.

[Muckinfuss]

The simple math on polishing is that the lower the horsepower of your buffing station, the more sanding you have to do.  Bigger wheels work faster and need more power to operate without bogging down.  There's an additional compound available called emery... it's black just like the emery cloth and contains aluminum oxide crystals.  Makes really short work of getting the plastic skin off metal parts!!   For me, the hot set up is a 3hp high torque Baldor that feeds 8 inch wheels.  Hard felt does the most early polishing and then soft unstiched flap wheels to finish using grey or white rouge.  Green isn't good for Al and neither is red/pink.....both will accelerate the blush of corrosion after you're all done.    Here's a resource for what to use on what.........    http://www.pjtool.com/jewelers-rouge-chart.aspx

[edwardmorris]

Thank you fellas, you're all very kind. And I agree with finding more time to ride, so my K3 will have virtually nothing polished or chromed (minimal at best). I admit I have a bit of OCD when it comes to having my stuff clean  . I'm really fond of my early K2, so I did the very best I could.

Bear in mind, I was utterly clueless about any of this in the beginning, bulk of the credit goes to our in house expert Ryan/73Nancy. He was incredibly helpful with all the questions I had and gave me excellent pointers to achieve the "chrome like" finish without pushing it over the edge (to full mirror).

[mystic_1]

If you want to be a barbarian, you can do this:



Note: I do not recommend that anyone do this.  It's horribly unsafe and not the "right" way at all.  It'll put a shine on your parts, but not anything like the quality of  edwardmorris' parts.

That said, sometimes it's easier for Mohammad to go to the mountain, than the other way around.

[grepper]

If you want to be a barbarian, you can do this:



Note: I do not recommend that anyone do this.  It's horribly unsafe and not the "right" way at all.  It'll put a shine on your parts, but not anything like the quality of  edwardmorris' parts.

That said, sometimes it's easier for Mohammad to go to the mountain, than the other way around.

Did this for years till I put buffing wheels on a bench grinder.  One side I use course, one side fine compound.

[chewbacca5000]

The simple math on polishing is that the lower the horsepower of your buffing station, the more sanding you have to do.  Bigger wheels work faster and need more power to operate without bogging down.  There's an additional compound available called emery... it's black just like the emery cloth and contains aluminum oxide crystals.  Makes really short work of getting the plastic skin off metal parts!!   For me, the hot set up is a 3hp high torque Baldor that feeds 8 inch wheels.  Hard felt does the most early polishing and then soft unstiched flap wheels to finish using grey or white rouge.  Green isn't good for Al and neither is red/pink.....both will accelerate the blush of corrosion after you're all done.    Here's a resource for what to use on what.........    http://www.pjtool.com/jewelers-rouge-chart.aspx

Can you post a pic of your setup?  I want to upgrade to a 3hp or 5hp setup with pillow blocks.

[Johnie]

To be honest I have never used any sandpaper. First I used a stripper to get off the Honda clearcoat that yellows after a period of years. Then I bought a 6 inch buffing wheel and 3 cotton wheels.  I got red, green and white rouge. First I used the red rouge as it has more grit, then used the green and then finished with the fine white rouge. You have to take your time.  Be sure to wear a dust mask or you will be coughing that crap up for a while. I also wore safety glasses for the dust it generates. You will need some gloves as the parts get hot. Also, take a marker and write on the side of the wheel what color rouge it is for as you do not want to contaminate the wheels with different color rouge. Use only a dedicated cotton wheel for each color. It will take a bit for you to get the hang of it. If I was not satisfied I did it over to get what I wanted. I was lucky my covers and forks did not have any deep scratches. For the nooks and crannys I use the Dremel with Semi Chrome on it. Works good for me. The secret is to take your time and let the product do the work. Good luck with your project.

[01Thomas]

I cheat!
I deliver my parts to my chrome-plate shop and tell them to buff them for me. It costs a bit more than doing it myself, but I can live with that.

[MickB]

Wet and dry 200, 400, 1000, 1200 and 1500, the polish I used is called Purple, then wiped on the cover, then I use a Dremel at a speed of 3000 with a soft tip on it and run it over the cover till the shine comes through.
If still not happy start again and do it again.

[Airborne 82nd]

Wet and dry 200, 400, 1000, 1200 and 1500, the polish I used is called Purple, then wiped on the cover, then I use a Dremel at a speed of 3000 with a soft tip on it and run it over the cover till the shine comes through.
If still not happy start again and do it again.

Wait a minute are you saying you did your stuff with those small little buffs for a dremel. It would take me a week to do one cover with that tool and a s**t load of those little buffs. Am I missing something here? 

[cadman]

First buy commercial compound from someone like Caswell.  I have found these products to be far better than what you can buy at any store.  I use a 1/4 sheet sander and a "mouse" sander.  #320 grit is about the finest you can find for the mouse (also steel Wool) - you can put any grit in a 1/4 sheet sander.  I also use a Dremel type tool but it is 1/4Hp motor with a flexible shaft - it will take Dremel pieces.  Also have a 1 1/2 horse buffer.

Generally the coarsest sanding I do is with #400grit I will drop down to #320 on particularly bad parts. Usually never sand with anything finer than #600 or #800 prior to buffing. Going #1000, #1500, #2000 is a waste of time.  I always wet sand.

You can use a 3/8 inch drill with a smaller wheel.  I use a corded drill because it will turn faster than a battery powered one.  Fast is good.  Use a black compound for "bad" pieces - it will leave fine scratches that are easily removed.  Caswell sells a compound for aluminum that works very well.  Keep the buffing wheel clean - run a screwdriver or ? across it ever couple of minutes then apply a "small" amount of compound and start buffing again. I use a separate wheel for each compound.  Your final buff should be with a wheel that is only used for that.

You will find out that nonstructural parts (Side cases, etc) wont buff as well (cheaper aluminum) and structural parts (forks, brakes) will buff out much shinier (much better aluminum and casting).

Some old aluminum has discoloration that will not come out. I will be shiny but the discoloration is still seen. Note that British bikes and Harley's have terrible aluminum.

I have a small retirement business (Nochrome) polishing parts mostly for those restoring.

The pics are the before and after of a  particularly bad rear brake - early Honda

[socal1200r]

My hat's off to you guys that do all this polishing.  To me, it's just more stuff to keep shiny.  I had a 2005 Harley Sportster 1200R, and I did my best to "de-chrome" the thing, replacing most of the shiny hardware with grade 8 allen heads, black mirrors, black handlebars, black exhaust, etc.  My days of spending hours polishing up a bike are over, thus my preference for black powdercoat.  It's not a showbike, but a daily driver, and if it looks good in the process, so be it, but at least all it takes is a quick wipedown and she's good to go.  But there's definitely something to be said for a nicely polished older bike...

[Garage_guy_chris]

Ive been using one of these oscillating multi tools and something home made similar to cartridge rolls to do the rough sanding, then i switch to a 3/4 horsepower treadmill motor i scrounged up with 8" wheels. i start with black emery and a sewn wheel then go black emery with a loose wheel and stopped there as it looks good enough to me at this point. I also REALLY hate polishing so that factors in too. After reading this i think i might try to find a proper buffer or a bigger motor...


the sander works remarkably good and gets into all the small spots pretty good,


something like these work surprisingly good to get around rounded corners

[chewbacca5000]

If you want to be a barbarian, you can do this:



Note: I do not recommend that anyone do this.  It's horribly unsafe and not the "right" way at all.  It'll put a shine on your parts, but not anything like the quality of  edwardmorris' parts.

That said, sometimes it's easier for Mohammad to go to the mountain, than the other way around.

Is this you in the youtube video

[mystic_1]

Nope 

mystic_1

[chewbacca5000]

Nope 

mystic_1

Any idea how many hp that buffer is?  He is attacking that aluminium.

[mystic_1]

I'm not sure about the one in the video.  The one in the picture I posted is a crappy Harbor Freight angle grinder that I don't mind thrashing on, maybe 1/3 or so at a guess. 

mystic_1

[Cqyqte]

I believe the real secret to be years of polishing practice during puberty.... 

[rocs]

I believe the real secret to be years of polishing practice during puberty.... 

Shop class??

[chewbacca5000]

I believe the real secret to be years of polishing practice during puberty.... 

Shop class??

That is just wrong!

[flatlander]

If you want to be a barbarian, you can do this:



Note: I do not recommend that anyone do this.  It's horribly unsafe and not the "right" way at all.  It'll put a shine on your parts, but not anything like the quality of  edwardmorris' parts.

That said, sometimes it's easier for Mohammad to go to the mountain, than the other way around.

fellow barbarian here.
all that fine print above applies here as well.

[Deltarider]

As long as it doesn't rust, why bother?