1972 Yamaha XS650 project

I bought a couple of Dico wheels. Sort of work, hoping they would do better. In any event, I'm getting closer to satisfying my perfectionist tendencies. I do however need to get the nooks and crannies. Any suggestions for getting the areas as seen on the attached pics?
 

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Yes, Roloc discs work pretty well. Don't use anything above the mediums though, it can remove too much material. I'd start with the fines. But, even with all these work saving power attachments, some hand sanding may still be needed. The amount needed will be greatly reduced, but you may still need some.
 
Thanks guys. I have been hand sanding and using the Roloc brushes for several days now. It's coming along but my perfectionist mania keeps me at it, hopefully I'll figure out when to stop. I'll post before and after pics when done. Thanks again.
 
Total restorations are nice, but I'm partial to the "leave some patina and a few minor scratches" look. I don't want it to look new. I want the ridden with street cred look. Nice, but not perfect. However thanks for the tip.
 
Don't forget, there's buffing involved here after you do the basic clean-up with the Roloc discs and a little sanding. It's a process for sure, and sometimes once you get started, it's hard to stop, lol. I started out with this pretty decrepit '78 Standard. It had been ridden hard and put away wet many a time, used as basic transpo by some guy. If it broke down, he took it somewhere and had it fixed. Other than that, he did little in the way of upkeep or maintenance .....

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Over the course of a few years, I got her looking pretty good .....

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Now I'm in the process of doing it all again on another, lol .....

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I just ordered a set looks like when all the supplies get here I can get side covers and rims shined up
I have never owned a bench grinder to use with a polish wheel
I would imagine that you would use separate wheels for each color of buffing compound but when do you replace the wheels or just use em forever until they get ragged ?
Like I said I'm totally new to this
 
I have never owned a bench grinder to use with a polish wheel
I would imagine that you would use separate wheels for each color of buffing compound but when do you replace the wheels or just use em forever until they get ragged ?
Like I said I'm totally new to this
So far I found in forums " you are supposed to use a different wheel for every compound"
so far so good
 
I used wet/dry sandpaper. Started with 400, then 800, 1,000, and 1,500. Then I used #0000 fine steel wool with WD40. I finished with Blue Magic metal polish cream. Labor intensive but came out nice.
 

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So far I found in forums " you are supposed to use a different wheel for every compound"
so far so good
My usual progression goes something like this, if it’s got a lot of corrosion like this,
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I start off with a blue Dico wheel and that’ll result in this,
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Then progressive wet sand paper from 400 grit up until, 1500 grit gets to this point,
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Then hit the buffing wheels,
Some guys like 5T have really nice permanent buffing stations set up. I have a really old Craftsman two wheel bench grinder that pulls double duty as my buffer. It’s not bolted down , I store it in a cabinet and drag it out when needed. My whole buffing set up is just two wheels , a stitched cotton wheel which is very firm that I use a black compound on to make the initial buff, then a soft cotton flap wheel for doing the final buff with, using a white compound.
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Then everything gets a hand polish with Blue Magic. Note the fork leg on the left has not been buffed yet.
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