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    Polishing Stuff

    So since I'm on spring break and I can't my tires replaced for like two damn weeks and since I sold my Shadow on Friday i felt i need to be productive in some measure. So naturally the wifes part bike became my test subject. I've never polished aluminum and decided to give it a try. After stopping by Harbor Fright and picking up some cheap wheels and grey and white compound i went to town. How much compound should I use and how do I tell once a wheel is used up? They turn straight black right off the bat and I have no idea what a used up one looks like... Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get the fins relatively easily without breaking out the tiny as brushes? I'm thinking maybe my dremmel? Also, those damn spark plug areas...?That seems hardcore OCD to me though. I'm planning to keep the bike long term so it's going to be slowly overhauled. Next winter I'm planning on tearing it down for painting and redo the wiring.

    #2

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      #3
      You are polishing the engine???

      'Cleaning' I can understand, but polishing?

      Sorry, even I don't do that, and I polish a LOT of 'useless' stuff.

      To address some of your other questions:
      - Yes, the wheel will turn black almost instantly.
      - How much compound to apply? I have seen some people really goop it on, but I have found that it doesn't take all that much. You do have to load it up a bit on a fresh wheel, but after that, it does not take much at all.
      - When is a wheel "used up"? That one is easy. If you are using a bench grinder, you start when an 8" wheel. When it gets down to abut 5", it is hard to get some parts around the wheel without hitting the grinder, so it's "used up". If you are using smaller wheels on a hand drill, good luck. You need a really high-speed drill. I use a Harbor Freight cheapy drill at about 3000 rpm, it does OK to touch up aluminum that has already been polished, but not so good to start from scratch.

      The key to polishing is surface speed of the wheel against the work. A smaller wheel needs a higher speed.

      One last thing to remember: do not mix different compounds on a wheel. If you start a wheel with gray polish, use ONLY gray polish on that wheel. Get a different wheel for the white polish. The edge of the wheel will turn black on all of them, but you don't want to mix the colors.

      .
      sigpic
      mine: 2000 Honda GoldWing GL1500SE and 1980 GS850G'K' "Junior"
      hers: 1982 GS850GL - "Angel" and 1969 Suzuki T250 Scrambler
      #1 son: 1986 Yamaha Venture Royale 1300 and 1982 GS650GL "Rat Bagger"
      #2 son: 1980 GS1000G
      Family Portrait
      Siblings and Spouses
      Mom's first ride
      Want a copy of my valve adjust spreadsheet for your 2-valve per cylinder engine? Send me an e-mail request (not a PM)
      (Click on my username in the upper-left corner for e-mail info.)

      Comment


        #4
        Here are some pictures of Steve's "useless" polishing. I would have had these up last night but Photobucket was being temperamental

        Some of the cleaning he does



        On the buffing wheel



        Bowls in comparison from untouched (left) to polished (right)



        A fully polished carb set (almost all pieces)

        sigpic
        Cowboy Up or Quit. - Run Free Lou and Rest in Peace

        1981 GS550T - My First
        1981 GS550L - My Eldest Daughter's
        2007 GSF1250SA Bandit - My touring bike

        Sit tall in the saddle Hold your head up high
        Keep your eyes fixed where the trail meets the sky and live like you ain't afraid to die
        and don't be scared, just enjoy your ride - Chris Ledoux, "The Ride"

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          #5
          Originally posted by cowboyup3371 View Post
          Here are some pictures of Steve's "useless" polishing.
          Those aren't the "useless" pieces.

          THESE are the "useless" pieces:











          .
          sigpic
          mine: 2000 Honda GoldWing GL1500SE and 1980 GS850G'K' "Junior"
          hers: 1982 GS850GL - "Angel" and 1969 Suzuki T250 Scrambler
          #1 son: 1986 Yamaha Venture Royale 1300 and 1982 GS650GL "Rat Bagger"
          #2 son: 1980 GS1000G
          Family Portrait
          Siblings and Spouses
          Mom's first ride
          Want a copy of my valve adjust spreadsheet for your 2-valve per cylinder engine? Send me an e-mail request (not a PM)
          (Click on my username in the upper-left corner for e-mail info.)

          Comment


            #6
            Steve, how do you get in all the cracks and crevices so well? I'm trying my hand at polishing for the first time as well. Polished a few engine cases with decent results, but either burn the piece or get polish hard and caked in the crevices. I only use a small amount but maybe am still using too much. I tried using a dremel to get into the tight places, but had to redo those pieces. When I was done you could see where i used the dremel instead of the big wheel...
            sigpic

            Check out my rebuild thread here: https://www.thegsresources.com/_foru...GS-750-Rebuild

            Comment


              #7


              everything you need to know is above. Great link from a manufacturer of polishing gear. 18 page booklet.

              Enjoy.
              PB
              Central Jersey
              82' Suzuki GS750T


              "Old school is the best school"

              Comment


                #8
                Thanks for the link!

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by Sam 78 GS750 View Post
                  Steve, how do you get in all the cracks and crevices so well?
                  For the stuff shown there, I used a spiral-sewn wheel on my bench grinder. I just move the parts around to attack the cracks and crevices from different angles, eventually it looks OK.

                  For some of the small areas that the large wheel won't reach, I use some small felt bobs in the Dremel, then go over the whole area with the large wheel.

                  Click HERE to see some other shiny bits.

                  .
                  sigpic
                  mine: 2000 Honda GoldWing GL1500SE and 1980 GS850G'K' "Junior"
                  hers: 1982 GS850GL - "Angel" and 1969 Suzuki T250 Scrambler
                  #1 son: 1986 Yamaha Venture Royale 1300 and 1982 GS650GL "Rat Bagger"
                  #2 son: 1980 GS1000G
                  Family Portrait
                  Siblings and Spouses
                  Mom's first ride
                  Want a copy of my valve adjust spreadsheet for your 2-valve per cylinder engine? Send me an e-mail request (not a PM)
                  (Click on my username in the upper-left corner for e-mail info.)

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Ok...cam caps could be deemed semi useless...otherwise the rest is fine.

                    I mark my wheels per the polish I used on them.....my polishing at work is of a higher order though-lol. {church related items- candle holders, communion holders, chalices, brass shrine pieces...I'm a maintenance custodian for our parish and alot of these things haven't seen any kind of polishing in over 30+ years}

                    ...what's the best sisal wheel to get for 1st roughing on heavily pitted things?...all I've got for now is 6" sewn and loose wheels {black/brown/white/green HF grit sticks}

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by Steve View Post
                      Those aren't the "useless" pieces.





                      .
                      Now without trying to start WW3...why did you go to the effort to polish these so nicely and yet not sand the tool marks off of that brass elbow before polishing?

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by ExcelDominus View Post
                        So since I'm on spring break and I can't my tires replaced for like two damn weeks and since I sold my Shadow on Friday i felt i need to be productive in some measure. So naturally the wifes part bike became my test subject. I've never polished aluminum and decided to give it a try. After stopping by Harbor Fright and picking up some cheap wheels and grey and white compound i went to town. How much compound should I use and how do I tell once a wheel is used up? They turn straight black right off the bat and I have no idea what a used up one looks like... Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get the fins relatively easily without breaking out the tiny as brushes? I'm thinking maybe my dremmel? Also, those damn spark plug areas...?That seems hardcore OCD to me though. I'm planning to keep the bike long term so it's going to be slowly overhauled. Next winter I'm planning on tearing it down for painting and redo the wiring.
                        After 5-10min of use any wheel will get black no matter what compound your using....that's just normal. Me, I just run the compound stick across the spinning wheel...use it for 5min, then swipe again. If you over load it you'll get smudge on your work - that's a tell tail sign that you've added too much.
                        Once you get past the 1sr sewn circle on a sewn wheel...the wheel will get semi loose but that's ok too. It's still sewn on the rest of it but it just won't be as tight as 1st used {mind you, I'm using HF stuff....better grade wheels might be a better experience}.
                        I can tell you these simple things- 1st, if your gonna be there for a while, get a good working angle - my time is roughly half a day getting a 18" tall brass church candle holder done and it messes with my upper shoulders by the end of the day.
                        Wear gloves...the metal can get warm when your working it.
                        Watch your attack angle and swing...nothing worse than a part grabbing the wheel and flying!
                        As said earlier, mark your wheels per the compound you use with it {I use a permanent marker}.
                        I'd also add that as your wheels wear, they'll throw a lot of dust and strings at you...and your shop. Where work clothes and a mask wouldn't hurt either so you don't breath all that dust in.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by 80GS850GBob View Post
                          Now without trying to start WW3...why did you go to the effort to polish these so nicely and yet not sand the tool marks off of that brass elbow before polishing?
                          Because the guy that owned that little piece of work sort of challenged me when I said that it only took a couple of minutes to polish.

                          I think that took less than three minutes, it started like this:


                          .
                          sigpic
                          mine: 2000 Honda GoldWing GL1500SE and 1980 GS850G'K' "Junior"
                          hers: 1982 GS850GL - "Angel" and 1969 Suzuki T250 Scrambler
                          #1 son: 1986 Yamaha Venture Royale 1300 and 1982 GS650GL "Rat Bagger"
                          #2 son: 1980 GS1000G
                          Family Portrait
                          Siblings and Spouses
                          Mom's first ride
                          Want a copy of my valve adjust spreadsheet for your 2-valve per cylinder engine? Send me an e-mail request (not a PM)
                          (Click on my username in the upper-left corner for e-mail info.)

                          Comment


                            #14
                            When it comes to polishing, there are no "useless" items!







                            85 GS1150E May '06 BOM
                            79 GS1000S Wes Cooley Beast





                            Comment


                              #15
                              Very nice renobruce! I know them valve covers are time consuming and are hard to Polish! 👍
                              My Motorcycles:
                              22 Kawasaki Z900 RS (Candy Tone Blue)
                              22 BMW K1600GT (Probably been to a town near you)
                              82 1100e Drag Bike (needs race engine)
                              81 1100e Street Bike (with race engine)
                              79 1000e (all original)
                              82 850g (all original)
                              80 KZ 650F (needs restored)

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