Custom Aluminum Steering Damper for 70-73 XS1 XS1B XS2 TX650

[DrewMartin]

2M, that looks great!

One suggestion is to spend a little more time on the nubs, 100% by hand. I didn't want to scare you off with my process but it's very similar to NONClow's. The intermittent polishing on the lathe of the nubs will cause your abrasives to bounce off the surface and lead to a lower luster in this area.

My final cream polish of choice is Mother's Mag and Aluminum. I even use this stuff to do a final polish on plastics with great results.

The return of cloudiness is definitely a sign that the Blue Magic has coarser abrasives than your autosols.

If it wasn't suspected to be a fairly hard, high silicon alloy I would suggest using a hardwood to burnish the surface to see if you could push the material around enough to fill the voids.

*edit*

If we're bragging on our own polishing and sharing results...

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

This is Mother's Mag polish.
It also removed a lot of the milky/cloudiness.
A little bit better mirror.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

... I find the blue magic is fast and effective but; it is a bit coarse, about like white buffing bar. If I go to blue or green buff, blue magic is a step backwards. It also needs to dry, then a final buff with a dry cloth. It seems to have some wax in the formula. ...

The labeling on the Blue Magic mentions having silicone as a protectant. Maybe that's one cause of the cloudiness.

I've been digging thru my collection of polishing bars, acquired long ago, for polishing small firearms parts, hardened and steel alloys. Among others, found White Diamond, White Rouge, and Grey Rouge. Experimenting on aluminum, they seem to cloud like you mentioned.

... Car paint POLISH after Blue Magic works well. Especially something like this knob which stares up at you. Engine cases, wheels not so much, blue magic is fine (final polish) on bikes that get ridden. ...

Okay, I have some paint compounding pastes to play with. They use a 3M compound in those headlight lense polishing kits.

... This TX750 brake plate was from Florida. I did a quick clean up. 180 wheel, 320 wheel, black on sisal wheel, white on cotton wheel. total time about an hour. Kinda pointless to go much further, I think I would run out of brake plate before I got a flawless surface. ...

That brake plate looks very presentable. I wonder which White you're using.

... I really like these wheels, I bought a second one now but have done first clean up on a LOT of parts with the first one I bought and it is still going. This ebayer is good also. I also have a gray 320 wheel it works well but I have just started using it and it seems a bit hard which isn't as useful on more complex parts. The wheels like to spin rather slow, about 800 to 1000 RPM ish. I also have a variety of nylox brush wheels to get into hard to reach spots. The red 180 wheel IS aggressive, you can easily round off sharp edges...

That's a BIG Scotchbrite wheel. Good to know about the Nylox brush, I recently picked up a Red and a Blue.

This surface prep and polishing business is massive. A world unto itself.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

2M, you could go for a brushed finish, might not look too bad but it would need to be clear-coated...

Long ago, my favorite finish on aluminum was the satin from fine glass bead. That, your 'brushed' finish, and the plain ol' machined surface would probably be better choices for this project, keeps the sunlight glare to a minimum. Plus, as I'm polishing these things, I believe I'm enhancing the defects and microvoids more than achieving a 'chrome' look...

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

...how could my alter ego Mr. Bodger possibly help ...
...Adjust the damper's friction plate thickness as required to set the sweet spot to be when the logo is lined up properly.

Fred! There you go!
There's a thin steel washer that fits between the damper base and a rubber compression washer. Selecting a washer thickness of some 0.004" variation would do the deed. Kinda like indexing washers used for sparkplugs...

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

2M, that looks great!

One suggestion is to spend a little more time on the nubs, 100% by hand. I didn't want to scare you off with my process but it's very similar to NONClow's. The intermittent polishing on the lathe of the nubs will cause your abrasives to bounce off the surface and lead to a lower luster in this area...

Hey, Drew! Thanx! I hear you on those nubs. On the next knob, I focused on the nubs individually, like you suggested. Then, ran the lathe at low speed, back gear, and the jitterbug caught those nubs just fine.

My final cream polish of choice is Mother's Mag and Aluminum. I even use this stuff to do a final polish on plastics with great results.

The return of cloudiness is definitely a sign that the Blue Magic has coarser abrasives than your autosols...

My last pic is of the Mother's, and it does seem to give the best/clear mirror.

If it wasn't suspected to be a fairly hard, high silicon alloy I would suggest using a hardwood to burnish the surface to see if you could push the material around enough to fill the voids.

Hardwood burnishing? Now, there's a new direction.

An old sanding/compounding/polishing book I read long ago talked about the difference between buffing and polishing, saying that buffing was an abrasive process, and polishing was a 'surface remelt' process, hence the importance of heat and the choice of cotton wheels for polishing, since cotton has a higher melting point than many metals. Oversimplified here, but that book dove deep into this 'surface remelt' theory. Working on the next knob, looking to see if that 'remelt' would help fill the voids.

I wonder if that old theory still stands?

... If we're bragging on our own polishing and sharing results...

Oh, you guyz win! I'm a newb at this...

 

[cycleranger]

I've been digging thru my collection of polishing bars, acquired long ago, for polishing small firearms parts, hardened and steel alloys. Among others, found White Diamond, White Rouge, and Grey Rouge. Experimenting on aluminum, they seem to cloud like you mentioned.
This surface prep and polishing business is massive. A world unto itself.

Yep, seems to take more time than anything else.
I spent what seemed like several hours in the last week or so just wet sanding my engine covers before they got the wheel.
I sanded them up to 800-1000 grit and then I buffed with a white compound followed by the blue compound that HF sells.
The grand finale is Mothers Mag polish.
I had a much tougher time with these Yamaha cases than I had with my Honda cases.
I don't think the Yamaha cases were as highly polished from the factory as the Honda cases or perhaps the alloy is different. Spent a lot of time on the fork lowers too and I'm still not happy with them. I'll have some pix soon in my build thread.

 

[DrewMartin]

Hey, Drew! Thanx! I hear you on those nubs. On the next knob, I focused on the nubs individually, like you suggested. Then, ran the lathe at low speed, back gear, and the jitterbug caught those nubs just fine.

My last pic is of the Mother's, and it does seem to give the best/clear mirror.

Hardwood burnishing? Now, there's a new direction.

An old sanding/compounding/polishing book I read long ago talked about the difference between buffing and polishing, saying that buffing was an abrasive process, and polishing was a 'surface remelt' process, hence the importance of heat and the choice of cotton wheels for polishing, since cotton has a higher melting point than many metals. Oversimplified here, but that book dove deep into this 'surface remelt' theory. Working on the next knob, looking to see if that 'remelt' would help fill the voids.

I wonder if that old theory still stands?

Oh, you guyz win! I'm a newb at this...

Bah, we're just having fun and sharing experiences. Thanks for taking the time to post this all up, it's awesome to see the comparisons of the polishes. It's cool to see this coming together too. Now if I just had a use for one I'd ask you to do another!

If you do decide to try the burnishing, be stupid careful around the nubs. If there's a chance there's any Texas Ebony growing around you I'd probably try that. It's probably too dry where you are for persimmon. If I still lived in Dallas I'd send you some bois d'arc. I'm thinking oak probably isn't hard enough to work.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Just about spent all day on this 3rd knob, with a flat top.
Meticulously going after it like polishing precision optics.

A little different polishing method this time, used jitterbug and papers from #320, #400, #600, #800, #1000, to #1500, working the nubs first, then moving inboard. Had a frosted mirror finish when done, then went to the wheel with Brown Tripoli. That really shined it up. Then, back to the lathe for final polishing with Mother's first, followed by Autosol.

The mirror finish really brings out the imperfections.
Lookit how them voids just *pop* with excitement!



Different lighting.



If I had to give a name to this finish, I'd probably call it:

"Sandstorm Mirror"

Or

"Aluminum Acne"

All three knobs for comparison. This 3rd knob is on the right.



I'm beat. Time for a long nap...

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

...Thanks for taking the time to post this all up, it's awesome to see the comparisons of the polishes. It's cool to see this coming together too.

You bet! There's several threads in here on polishing aluminum, great info.

... Now if I just had a use for one I'd ask you to do another!

I don't think I'd survive another. This project is wearing me out.

... If you do decide to try the burnishing, be stupid careful around the nubs. If there's a chance there's any Texas Ebony growing around you I'd probably try that. It's probably too dry where you are for persimmon. If I still lived in Dallas I'd send you some bois d'arc. I'm thinking oak probably isn't hard enough to work.

Haven't seen any Ebony, but do have some persimmon, trunks no bigger than 1-1/2".
Have live oak, some blackjack, postoak and white oak (scrub oak). Nowhere near as hard as ebony. Had to cut down a black cherry couple years ago. It dulled three chainsaw blade sharpenings. Maybe it's hard enuff...

 

[gggGary]

Any osage orange? Ahh, that's AKA Bois d'arc AKA Bow wood as in Archery bows

 

[gggGary]

Hint once you get to the buffing bars a bit of mineral spirits on paper towel between grades removes the old coarse abrasive and excess wax quickly. I mainly use the Caswells because it's what I bought and got a bunch more with a used buffer I but then got a huge selection of buffs polishes and wheels with the variable speed buffer from a knife maker.


A well used 8" 180 next to a new one



The 1/2 HP 3 phase buffer controlled by a 1 phase 220 VSD and the next buffer sitting on the stand a 1.5 HP 3 Phase 3600 RPM Baldor



I'm waiting on a 4HP VSD to drive it. There is also a small one speed belt drive butffer grinder and a 3/4 HP (probably 1/2 HP real world) Harbor Freight buffer on a stand that is NLA it has done a lot of parts and just keeps going. I have several 14" 320 nylox wheels now. been running them on the drill press til the big buffer comes on line. Gotta watch the nylox it tends to make a wavy almost pebble grain surface. IE It's a good corrosion remover or final sanding step especially on complex parts but don't try to do TOO much removal with it. The "scotchbrite like" wheels are better at even metal removal.

 

[DrofBBQ]

Just about spent all day on this 3rd knob, with a flat top.The mirror finish really brings out the imperfections. Lookit how them voids just *pop* with excitement!

View attachment 63949

Different lighting.

View attachment 63950

If I had to give a name to this finish, I'd probably call it: "Sandstorm Mirror" Or
"Aluminum Acne"

Well I think the problem is with the original casting. I don't think they were cooled properly and they have tiny bubbles throughout the entire knob. ( I have run into this before on flat top grills) I can get it sanded down to perfectly clean no imperfections at all. But as soon as I start to buff it,..... boom up the come. So what is happening is you sand it smooth then while polishing it your taking off just enough metal to show more imperfections. And when your buffing it with the imperfections in it your taking metal off the flat surface and out of the tiny holes that your trying to get rid of. I have been through that cycle 3 times in the last 24 hours. LOL So I guess you have two choices 1st end up with a semi polished knob or 2nd chrome plate it. But with the way it is now I'm happy. It doesn't need to have a mirror finish as far as I'm concerned. It looks 100% better than a stock new unit.

 

[fredintoon]

Well, if the job was for Mr. Bodger, he'd be happy with those knobs in their "as cast" finish.
That said, perhaps at this stage of the process even Mr. Perfectionist could be tempted to think:-
"Eff it with any more polishing, I'll get them anodized matte black!"

 

[DrofBBQ]

If I thought I could get it anodized to match exactly the color I'm going to paint my tank I'd like that. But I'd guess (and I don't know) it would be hard to get them to match. Anyone have any thoughts on that ?
Jack

 

[fredintoon]

If I thought I could get it anodized to match exactly the color I'm going to paint my tank I'd like that. But I'd guess (and I don't know) it would be hard to get them to match. Anyone have any thoughts on that ?
Jack

Hi Jack,
the stock knobs are a semi-matte black plastic that never matched nothin', eh?
You were thinking of color-anodizing the refuse-to-be polished-up-nice cast knobs to match the tank paint rather than plain black?
Even if they get the color match perfect anodized finishes tend to be translucent and let the aluminum shine through so it won't be the same look even if it's the same color.
OK then! If they won't polish up nice or anodize the right color, vapor-blast the bastards to a matte finish and seal 'em with clearcoat?
That or paint 'em to match the tank?

 

[DrofBBQ]

Fred, I have one more trick I'm going to try in the polishing category, before I make a call on anything else.
Jack

 

[fredintoon]

Fred, I have one more trick I'm going to try in the polishing category, before I make a call on anything else.
Jack

Hi Jack,
I swear that if I'd gone through all this hassle and frustration I'd have decided to cut my losses and have knobs turned up from 6061T6 aluminum bar stock.
Then sought out a "Bro with computer mill" to have the triple tuning fork logo cut into them.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Well I think the problem is with the original casting...

Yes, and I'm so sorry about that. Definitely wasn't expecting this kind of flaw.
I'm not sure if even the chrome platers could fill in those voids.
All I can come up with at this point is the chrome paint from Alsacorp...

 

[angus67]

I think the as cast would look great on a daily, not perfect bike. (Wink wink..nudge nudge) pm me with a price .