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C-Los SD
XS650 Addict
Harbor freight has this cheap kit. I use it all the time, works great for under $20
http://www.harborfreight.com/14-piece-aluminum-polishing-kit-98707.html
http://www.harborfreight.com/14-piece-aluminum-polishing-kit-98707.html
This makes a good read.
http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/buffman.htm
My local fleet store sells buffing wheels and compound. I normally start with paint stripper and then sand paper if the cover is corroded. Just work your way down to as shiny as you are willing to spend the time to make it. Wear safety glasses, breathing mask and gloves. the cloth wheels give off very fine dust as the cloth abrades. The parts get quite hot and the smaller stuff can really get flung if the wheel catches it.
http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/buffman.htm
My local fleet store sells buffing wheels and compound. I normally start with paint stripper and then sand paper if the cover is corroded. Just work your way down to as shiny as you are willing to spend the time to make it. Wear safety glasses, breathing mask and gloves. the cloth wheels give off very fine dust as the cloth abrades. The parts get quite hot and the smaller stuff can really get flung if the wheel catches it.
Ahh a Blue magic fan, I love that stuff, I have three jars of it one at every shop area. And yes I use it as a final polish for aluminum buffing.
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cooltouch
XS650 Addict
I bought a kit similar to this made by Ryobi from a box store.
Any kit like this works okay, but it still requires a lot of work to get your aluminum to shine.
I have a buffing wheel that I attached to my bench grinder that I prefer using. Only thing to watch out for is to make sure you have a firm grip on the part, cuz if you don't it could go flying. The part will also get really hot when you start bearing into the wheel, so having a set of heavy leather gloves is pretty much a requirement.
For aluminum with heavy oxidation, I have a few different approaches, depending on what it is. The other wheel on my bench grinder is a stout fiber brush that I use just for this purpose -- or for removing rust from iron or steel. It is stiff enough where it will make light abrasion marks in the aluminum if one bears into it hard enough, but this may or may not matter, and the marks can be removed later using sandpaper and polish.
Recently, I restored the aluminum front wheel for my '78 XS, and because of its shape, I couldn't really get into some of the areas that needed oxidation removal with the wheel on my grinder. So I chucked up a small steel wire brush wheel into an electric drill and removed the rest of the oxidation with it. The wire wheel did leave brush marks, but I was able to remove most of them with sandpaper and polish.
For areas where I can't (or don't want to) use the fiber wheel, and don't want to have brush marks caused by the wire wheel, I use sandpaper. I will usually start with a medium grit wet/dry sandpaper, working up to 600 grit. Then I'll do the polishing with one of the buffer wheels in the above mentioned Ryobi kit with the appropriate compound.
To keep things shiny, I find that Mothers works well as does 0000 steel wool that I'll use with PB Blaster or WD40 as a lubricant.
As I mentioned at the outset, it always seems to be a lot of work. Haven't figured out a quicker or easier way to do it yet.
TwoJugs
Excess XS
I had my polishing experiences and feel it is one of the tougher jobs of the build. A lot depends on how bad the part is to start and what your final goal is. On very bad parts I start off with a trip to the glass bead tank. That can help to even the playing field. LOTS of wet sanding is the next step. Start with an aggresive cut of 180 or so after the paper has soaked in water a while. Use lots of water and sand in one direction. A reflection off the right light will tell you when to move to the next paper 220-320-400-600-1000... By changing sanding direction 90 degrees each paper change you can see when the old scratches are gone and finer ones are there. Now move up to the next paper.
I set up a bench grinder with 2 wheels. One is for cutting, pre polish removing more metal then the other wheel is for final polish. Use the red rouge for cutting and the white for final polish. I tend to wear out and get to the "good enough" point on this job. If you have time and skill you can make the aluminum look like chrome but it does need regualr repolish to stay that way. Considering my bikes are riders good enough is always good enough. I am probably going to use polishing companies when I get into mass builds because they have commercial gear and know the tricks to getting pro results quick.
Be careful to check your water tub regulary for visitors and change the water!
I set up a bench grinder with 2 wheels. One is for cutting, pre polish removing more metal then the other wheel is for final polish. Use the red rouge for cutting and the white for final polish. I tend to wear out and get to the "good enough" point on this job. If you have time and skill you can make the aluminum look like chrome but it does need regualr repolish to stay that way. Considering my bikes are riders good enough is always good enough. I am probably going to use polishing companies when I get into mass builds because they have commercial gear and know the tricks to getting pro results quick.
Be careful to check your water tub regulary for visitors and change the water!
Ebola Monkey
XS650 Enthusiast
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I've polished a lot of aluminum stuff over the years, from rc car parts to diamondplate.
In the past month I've polished my wife's front hub/brake on her xs400, and the clutch cover on my xs650.
I didn't use any sand paper coarser than 1000 grit. I could have used some 800 for some items, but didn't have any on hand.
I started with 1,000 to cut through whatever clear coat is on the parts. Is it clear coat or clear anodizing? Anyway, after the 1000 grit took care of the clear, and any rough stuff I went to 2,000 grit. The 2K without even polishing it gets it really close. For the final polish I have been using mothers aluminum and mag polish along with a 4" polishing wheel on a 4" angle grinder.
The angle grinder is rated WAY above the wheels limit. I wipe some polish on the part, then take the grinder to it lightly. Brings up the shine in seconds. Could a pro do it better? Yeah. I think the end results are pretty good though. It wouldn't hurt for me to spend a little more time with the 1000 grit, but I'm happy with the results.
In the past month I've polished my wife's front hub/brake on her xs400, and the clutch cover on my xs650.
I didn't use any sand paper coarser than 1000 grit. I could have used some 800 for some items, but didn't have any on hand.
I started with 1,000 to cut through whatever clear coat is on the parts. Is it clear coat or clear anodizing? Anyway, after the 1000 grit took care of the clear, and any rough stuff I went to 2,000 grit. The 2K without even polishing it gets it really close. For the final polish I have been using mothers aluminum and mag polish along with a 4" polishing wheel on a 4" angle grinder.
The angle grinder is rated WAY above the wheels limit. I wipe some polish on the part, then take the grinder to it lightly. Brings up the shine in seconds. Could a pro do it better? Yeah. I think the end results are pretty good though. It wouldn't hurt for me to spend a little more time with the 1000 grit, but I'm happy with the results.
angus67
Welder's penetrate deeper!!
is that considered counterfeiting? haha. nice clutch cover.
Here's a clutch perch I recently did with a wire brush in a drill press to take the paint off, then used the 'brown' polishing compound I got from harbor freight, on a 6" wheel ona harbor freight 1/3 horse polisher(the orange one).
by the way, thats not the same pertch, its just one to show condition the new one was in. I dont know why the new one looks distorted at the mirror hole, its not.
Here's a clutch perch I recently did with a wire brush in a drill press to take the paint off, then used the 'brown' polishing compound I got from harbor freight, on a 6" wheel ona harbor freight 1/3 horse polisher(the orange one).
by the way, thats not the same pertch, its just one to show condition the new one was in. I dont know why the new one looks distorted at the mirror hole, its not.
Maclyn Monroe
XS650 Member
Does anyone know of a aluminum polishing company? By the time I bought the equipment, I could have someone do it.
Elbow grease.............Cheap and good for the health
The cost of paying someone to do the job will pay for any tools and materials needed. Still have some money left over to spend on other things, maybe more tools or parts.
No idea what guys in the states will charge..........A link to a polishing service over here and what it costs to get the chrome done on the bike, Close to $500A for all the main parts.
http://www.xs650.org.au/Traders/index.htm
A few sheets of graded Wet and dry sandpaper, from 400, 600, 800, and 10000, 15000. I used wd 40 as a lubricant as i was polishing. Depending in the condition of the alloy to be polished depends on what grade of sandpaper to start. I had some gouge's on some parts and started with 250 grit and slowly worked out the gouge. Anything less than 400 grit will leave deep scratches and it is important to cross rub with every size the sandpaper to get any scratches out
Finish off with Autosole Metal polish. May take 2 or 3 polishes before the black comes out.
People are more often to use polishing wheels and then graded rouge. Again depending on the quality of the parts before polishing. Hand held drills with polishing wheels can be used. Do a search and include 5twins and gggGary in a search. Separately or together for some of the different wheels and methods they have used.
The cost of paying someone to do the job will pay for any tools and materials needed. Still have some money left over to spend on other things, maybe more tools or parts.
No idea what guys in the states will charge..........A link to a polishing service over here and what it costs to get the chrome done on the bike, Close to $500A for all the main parts.
http://www.xs650.org.au/Traders/index.htm
A few sheets of graded Wet and dry sandpaper, from 400, 600, 800, and 10000, 15000. I used wd 40 as a lubricant as i was polishing. Depending in the condition of the alloy to be polished depends on what grade of sandpaper to start. I had some gouge's on some parts and started with 250 grit and slowly worked out the gouge. Anything less than 400 grit will leave deep scratches and it is important to cross rub with every size the sandpaper to get any scratches out
Finish off with Autosole Metal polish. May take 2 or 3 polishes before the black comes out.
People are more often to use polishing wheels and then graded rouge. Again depending on the quality of the parts before polishing. Hand held drills with polishing wheels can be used. Do a search and include 5twins and gggGary in a search. Separately or together for some of the different wheels and methods they have used.
Elbow grease.............Cheap and good for the health
Yup, Skull is right on. You can do this yourself very inexpensively with a little elbow grease.
Some of my albums polishing some parts with finishing schedules included.
http://www.xs650.com/media/albums/78e-black-betty-right-side-cover-on-the-bike.3057/
http://www.xs650.com/media/albums/polish-cam-chain-adjuster-housing.3048/
http://www.xs650.com/media/albums/polish-forks.3045/
EDIT: Just discovered I hadn't finished and shared this album on polishing a front wheel.....maybe some more ideas?
http://www.xs650.com/media/albums/polish-front-wheel.3047/
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Maclyn Monroe
XS650 Member
I found a company in Missouri who will polish the covers for $150.00 each.
brianmac
XS650 Enthusiast
0000 steel wool and Turtle Wax chrome polish can't beat the price or the effect works on aluminum or Chrome
Hell if i lived in the States i would polish those case for you for $140.00 each and save you $20.00
Maclyn Monroe
XS650 Member
Thanks.
Cold and damp weather for the past week or two. I inspected my XS and noticed white powder in places on the polished aluminum. This did not happen over the past two winters, but then I had been wiping the aluminum and chrome on the XS with WD-40 religiously every 2 weeks. So on went the WD-40. Any other recipes out there for preserving the shiny bits in the damp?
Move christmas tree to shed Put XS in living room
