Polishing side covers

The DicoWheel #120, followed by #240, did a pretty good job of cleaning up the nooks and crannies on my right cover. Not so well on the flat surfaces. It just wouldn't get rid of all the grey stains, especially the nicks and scratches.

So, decided to try my jitterbug (orbital sander). Starting with #320 wet-or-dry was too fine, so went with #220. The first passes reveal the high/low spots, nicks, gouges, scratches. This'll take awhile.
XS1B-Rcover-Jitterbug-220-01.jpg

I told myself to just remove the staining and smooth it over. Then, the OCD thing took over. Spent what felt like 2 years and 3 hospital stays grinding on this thing. I must be out of my mind. My hat's off to you folks that do these polishing chores.

There's about a pound of aluminum dust all over my feet.
XS1B-Rcover-Jitterbug-220-02.jpg

It really took only about an hour.

Next, work it down thru the finer grits...
 
As I mentioned, I don't sand much anymore. Most of my cleaning is done with power stuff, roloc discs in a die grinder and the Dico wheels in a drill. Afterwards I will give the part a once over with some 400 wet, then it's on to the buffing wheels. I find that coarse Black Emery compound will remove the scratches from 400 paper.
 
Well, I'm chalking this up as a "rite of passage". Don't have a bigwheel Baldor, nor the room for one. So, mushing on with the jitterbug. Keep telling myself to not get too carried away, but apparently I'm not listening.

Orbital sander, #320 wet-or-dry...
XS1B-Rcover-Jitterbug-320-01.jpg
 
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You don't really need a bench mounted buffer. This little HF kit will do the trick quite nicely when used with a die grinder. Although it's probably made for use in a drill, they don't really spin fast enough .....

http://www.harborfreight.com/power-...ng-accessories/4-piece-buffing-kit-43657.html

You will need to get the Black Emery compound separate. The kit only has finer ones. Honestly, I don't buff much beyond the Black Emery. It does a nice and quick job. I sometimes go a step finer to the brown Tripoli but it doesn't seem to improve the shine much. I rarely, if ever, go all the way to the fine, fine white compound.

My space is limited as well so I built a little mobile table for my buffers .....

Xv4D5KL.jpg
 
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...My space is limited as well so I built a little mobile table for my buffers ....

That's a nice setup you've got there. I'm half tempted to just pack everything up and come over to your place.

This right side cover is probably the last aluminum cover I'll be polishing for the foreseeable future. So, mushing on with the more primitive sandpaper method.

Orbital sander, #400 wet-or-dry:
XS1B-Rcover-Jitterbug-400.jpg

Orbital sander, #800 wet-or-dry:
XS1B-Rcover-Jitterbug-800.jpg
Looks bad, but the surface is straight and feels glass smooth.

Wet hand sanding, #800 wet-or-dry:
XS1B-Rcover-WetSand-800.jpg

Wet hand sanding, #1500 wet-or-dry:
XS1B-Rcover-WetSand1500.jpg

Wet hand sanding, #2000 wet-or-dry:
XS1B-Rcover-WetSand2000.jpg

It's really smooth and starting to show reflectivity.
The picture doesn't do it justice, my smartphone camera doesn't have a "flattery" feature.

Thisa lotsa work. Time for a long nap...

Edit: A different view of the same wet hand sanding, #2000 wet-or-dry.
Shows the reflectivity.
XS1B-Rcover-WetSand2000b.jpg
 
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2000 paper, wow, I don't even own anything more than 600, lol. I'd say you're done with sanding. Hand polishing now with Mothers or Blue Magic should finish the job up nicely. I have them both but prefer the Blue Magic.
 
I clear powder coated some polished alum. parts on for a buick engine i was building. never had to use anything more than soap and water on them and they looked new for as long as I had the engine. might be worth a try on side covers
 
2000 paper, wow, I don't even own anything more than 600, lol. I'd say you're done with sanding. Hand polishing now with Mothers or Blue Magic should finish the job up nicely. I have them both but prefer the Blue Magic.

Oh, yeah 5T, up until these polishing projects, all I've ever had was just up to #400. And, yes, I've had enuff of the sanding. I will be using your tip on using a buffing wheel for at least the precarious nook-and-crannies. If those go well, I'll probably go over the rest of the cover thataway.

Thinking ahead, I'm in the planning stages for painting the recessed lettering, and have to think-out some polishing/painting sequence issues, and started a separate thread for that:

http://www.xs650.com/threads/painting-recessed-lettering-on-side-covers.47439/
 
Polishing 008.JPG Polish-cats 004.JPG Polish-cats 001.JPG Today the doctor said to go out to the garage and do something. (Best medical advice I`ve ever had) So I got back on what I was polishing in Aug. Prepped with 400 grit on a soft pad backing then Dico Black on a cotton buff. Not satisfied with the brake backing plate so far. Tomorrow I`ll Dremel the hard to get to places then repolish with Tripoli then Jeweler`s Rouge. Should be good enough for a dirt bike?? Not being able to use my right arm much is awkward to say the least. Going to start on the side cases next.
 
Hey, halfmile. Sounds like a good idea, my right arm needs the exercise too.

Nice day out, took a cheep grinder, bolted it to a bench seat, do it outdoors. Soft cotton wheel, going to try white rouge. Working slowly, let the wheel do the work, the rouge seems to have removed the #2000 scratches. What a mess.
XS1B-Rcover-WhiteRouge01.jpg

The Foredom polishing sticks instructions say to cleanup with a water and ammonia mix. Used Windex instead. It tries to clean, but not very well. Used mineral spirits, MUCH better. Then cleaned with the Windex.
XS1B-Rcover-WhiteRouge02.jpg

It's milky. Tomorrow I'll have a go at it with Autosol...
 
LOL I had to jump on the boat too, just using what I had on hand. I started with 220 w/d with soapy water. That got all the black spots and overall gray off real easy, but left pretty bad scratches. Next I used Scotch brand Scotch Brite kitchen pad and it got rid of the scratches but left it ugly matte. Next, Brillo brand steel wool soap pads which brought out good reflectivity; not like a mirror but what I imagine it was like new.
 
Red rouge brings up the luster after the white. White is for removing those last scratches and Autosol will do finish it off instead of the red.......................But be warned there is a lot of black going to come off that cover..
 
Good thread going here. When you guys use the cloth wheels and dry buffing compound, do you wet the wheel/part while buffing, or use the wheel and compound dry?

Scott
Use dry. Just "charge" the buffing wheel with whatever compound stick you are using. Different wheel for each grade of compound. As has been suggested, you can start with black emery if really rough, then white diamond, red rouge and if you want to go one more step, fine green polishing compound. I use Veritas polishing compound on plane blades and chisels for a mirror finish. Here's before and after on valve covers.
WP_20160722_012.jpg
WP_20160722_015.jpg


Edit

Apologies for further hijacking your thread. Realized I attached wrong second pic. It was prior to final polish. Here is finished.
WP_20160722_022.jpg
 
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White spirits will clean the covers after polishing. But you also lose some of the shine. I assume the spirits removes wax left behind from the polish, hence the slight drop in shine.
 
...I started with 220 w/d with soapy water...
Next I used Scotch brand Scotch Brite kitchen pad...
Next, Brillo brand steel wool soap pads ...

Hey, xjwmx. Now that's a simple recipe, no exotic tooling requirements.

...you are wearing a white shirt with black stripes and holding the phone sideways with both hands. No jewelry.

Haha WER. OK, a "Name that reflection" game. Try this next one.

...Autosol .................But be warned there is a lot of black going to come off that cover..

No joke there, Skull. Seems that unless you get black goo, it's not polishing. And the more of that black goo, the better.

Good thread going here...

Hey, Scott. Yeah, it is. Getting the experienced polishers to jump in.

...start with black emery if really rough, then white diamond, red rouge and if you want to go one more step, fine green polishing compound. I use Veritas polishing compound...

Hey, robinc. Good input. Never heard of that 'green', nor the Veritas. Is that a Canadian speciality item?

...Apologies for further hijacking your thread 2M.

No, no, no. Not a hijack at all. This is OUR thread now. Your input is appreciated.


Wow, that looks great!

White spirits will clean the covers after polishing. But you also lose some of the shine. I assume the spirits removes wax left behind from the polish, hence the slight drop in shine.

Yeah, noticed that too, Paul. Must be the wax removal, like you say.
 
This is as far as I'll go with the polishing.
Arm hurts, hand is cramping, and I may have cracked a rib.
XS1B-RightCoverPolished.jpg


Good ol' Autosol.

By this time next year, it should be a nice dull grey, and match the rest of the engine.

A note about cheep import grinders. As I was nearing the end of the white rouge process, I noticed that the grinder was way down on power, and really hot. Well, it won't spin up now, have to spin it by hand to get it to start up, and it just doesn't have any power. Starting windings, I guess.

Then, I noticed the labeling.
Grinder.jpg


Well, it WAS a cheep grinder. Just a handy spare. Now a boat anchor...
 
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