Subject: Re: Vmax Polishing Hi Lee ! Try some Jasco paint remover to get the clear coat off prior to polishing. I've read several articles about polishing and maintaining that luster. One product that recieved high marks was Yamaha's Clear Top Coat. It was reported that it won't turn yellow as other clear coats will when applied to polished aluminum. Read about engine case refinishing over at Dave Hartner's CBX page. It's an awsome web-site. http://cbx.iperweb.com/ ----------- Clearcoat: You could always cover aluminum with special paint Eastwood sells to protect buffed aluminum. paul Hi Eastwood also sells a product called - Nyallic. It comes in a spray can and costs about $10. It does not dull the shine,and is heat resistant up to 600 degrees. I have used this before,& it does work! They also claim it will not yellow ,fade,crack, or peel for at least 5 years. I have had it on a few items now for 2 years, & so far so good! Just spray this stuff in a WELL ventilated area;it is strong!! Dennis --------------- - - -Polishing tips for the aluminum. Is the stock aluminum clearcoated anywhere? If you shine it up...what compounds, buffing devices, and sealants are recommended? Its all clearcoated. Any decent paint stripper takes it right off. You need a complete buffing setup to do it right. Freestanding is best, a drill will do in a pinch but youll be at it forever. Tripoli and white rougue are the 2 compounds to buy for aluminum. Also some flexible grinding compound for the origonal cut, 320 grit works good. You need a wheel for each compound, and some odd shaped little ones for the drill. Dont even try to get a gloss until you have sanded, or ground all the imperfections out. Then use a hard wheel and tripoli for a dull burnish. Then go the a soft wheel and white rougue for that Chrome look. -------------------- Greetings all, Eastwoods site is www.eastwoodco.com. Go to the main page and type in Nyalic in the search window. Nyalic is great for protecting polished surfaces and holds up well in all the applications I've used it for. I does leave a little orange peel as in any spray on though. Cheers, Marcus ----------------------- > Could you give some comments on what rouge and buffer wheels you use > that have proven succesful. Brand names would be nice. I plan on > polishing a few parts and clear coating them. > > The buffer I have is a 1 h.p. and takes 10" wheel's > WOW!!! 1 HP motor??? BE CAREFUL you may end up wrapped around the wheel!!!!! The best wheels are either from Eastwood or Romanoff. You need "Sewn Wheels" to start the shine and eliminate small hairline scratches (after the part is sanded smooth) Use "Sewn wheels" for "Tripoli" or "Black Emery Cake" Use "Vented Wheels" to start the "finish shine" with "White Rouge" Use "Loose Wheels" to obtain the "Chrome Like" finish with "White Rouge" Red Rouge and Green Compound will not work good on aluminum, they're better suited for brass and plastic. DO NOT USE DIFFERENT COMPOUNDS ON THE SAME WHEEL, one wheel for each compound and each operation. All aluminum is better polished with a slower motor, 1,750 RPM will work better than 3.750 RPM on aluminum, but on the other side 3,750 RPM will be great for Stainless Steel polishing Mario ------------------- Mario u forgot something always have a wire brush ready and clean the wheel often to get metal out of the wheel too much metal and it starts cutting scratches in the part your working on get welders gloves atleast two pair one for the cutting rouge and one for the white , if u handle the part with gloves that are full of dark rouge go to your white rouge soft wheel the rouge will get on your white wheel use your shopvac or dust collector to get the dust or be ready for a real mess in your shop! I also use a clear face shield and bib great tip on the black rouge Mario I always used the red and found it didn't cut as good as I wanted it too Bruce Trimble ----------------- You're absolutely CORRECTOMUNDO!!!, Bruce, I forgot that one, and it's very important. Thanks! Also the glove tip and the faceshield is a MUST!!! Even using a dust mask, you'll notice that the inside of your nose will become "charcoal black" (OK, I'm open for the incoming smart-ass remarks here) Mario ------------------ > The thing you've got to remember (and carefully consider) when > polishing aluminum is that the coarser the process, the faster the > results and the more work to clean up after. Most of the time, > start out with a coarse (red) rubbing compound. Sorry Gary, but Red Rouge is a finishing compound, (better suited for brass and cooper) it is NOT a "cutting" one. For removal of lines and scratches you should use "Tripoli" (the brown stuff) > After things are > looking pretty good, move on to a fine (white) compound. And after using the "White Rouge" you can use what they call "Coloring Rouges" for that extra bright shine. You can get them under names as "Blue Moon" or "Emerald Green", those compounds are also great for polishing plastic and Lexan. (yes! using a new "loose buffing" wheel you can also polish off scratches from sunglasses) > The fine > compound will most likely provide an acceptable finish. You forgot to mention the RPM's. Most of these rouges are best, when used with a 1,700 to 1,800 RPM on aluminum. On the other hand, Stainless and Titanium, work better with 2,600 to 3,000 RPM (always remember, the harder the metal, the more RPM's you need) > If you > really want to go for the gold - finish with any good wax. I > don't think the wax will actually provide any protection, but the > finer polishing compound in the wax will make for a better finish. Most waxes will dull the shine quite a bit, the only one I found, I really like the results is Formula 2001, (paste) it will protect against dirt for a while (a "little" while) ----------------- Subject: Re: Vmax Shine on fake air intakes Marcus Hallov wrote: > Need some tips on how to shine up the fake air intakes on a 91 > V-max. Im living in Hong Kong since 5 years back and climate here is > tough on them. When i bought the bike 3 years ago they had coat of > 'clear paint' on them but have now removed this; now all i need is to > pollish the Aluminium. Did anyone use a machine for this ?. What you need to do is get "wet sandpaper" in grades 320,400, 600, 1000, and 1500. You could probably skip 1000 but, it's always nice to all of these grits just in case. Start off with the 320 grit, take the scoop off of the bike to do all this or you're going to make a mess on it, start sanding all of the brushed look off of the aluminum keeping the sandpaper wet to wash away the powder from sanding. You should probably use a piece of fairly firm foam rubber, about 10cm x 10cm x 1cm thick, to spread the load so your fingers don't sand it unevenly but not absolutely necessary. Sand with each of the grades until you get all the scratches from the previous grade out. You work your way to 1500 grit which is very fine making sure that it is all smooth and uniform. After sanding you will need to get access to a buffing wheel, the kind that goes on a bench type grinder. You can probably rig something else up if you have to. Maybe even rub it out by hand but the machine will do it much faster and better. These are very easily found in a hardware/home improvement type of store here. I used what's called "White Rouge" compound on the buffer to do mine and that seemed to work well. Putting the compound on the wheel just start buffing. You'll see how it works and how to get it shiny. Can't really explain that part. After that you should hand polish with something such as Flitz, Simechrome or Mothers alum. polish. These will leave a protecting coat on it like wax on paint. This should do it. Good luck! Alternatives anyone? Randy ------- Randy, you really dont need all that sandpaper. I like to use paint stripper to strip the clearcoat rather than sanding thru it, then use 320 on a jitterbug sander to do the sanding. Sometimes I will then go to 400 or so but not always depends on what the piece looks like. Then use Tripoli on your wheel to do the intial polishing, it will take all the scratches out in seconds, followed by the white rouge. I think you will find it goes much quicker. Roy ------------------ Date: Wed, 03 Nov 1999 11:21:33 -0800 From: "Scott Hallmark" To: V-Max@sayegh.org Subject: Re: Cheap Buffer Message-ID: <38208B3C.D0D48F45@ltx.com> What I found from personal experience is that slower speeds "does not cut the mustard". At the time I discovered this I was using a slow speed hand drill. Then I purchased a few buffing wheels that had a formula for determining tyhe size wheel you needed to do the job. I don't remember the formula off hand but it dealt with inches per minute of buffing wheel area. It was close to X * (1/4 * Y) = Z Where X = speed (RPM of drive device) Where Y = diameter of buffing wheel Where Z = inches per minute of buffing surface ( buffing wheel) The range for Z needed to be > or = to 7000 inches/minute I will look around in my garage tonight and see if I can get the formula specifics. Please keep in mind that I don't polish metal for a living so there is a good chance there is a better and or smarter method than which I have employed. This is just what I have experienced first hand. None the less, after I got everything in the correct range I was able to expend a lot less time and energy to accomplish the same job. None the less I still have 100+ hours on my rims and 20 + hours on my engine and various other odds-n-ends with plenty more to go until I am satisfied. Scott H.