Polishing bar clamp

[Katastrophic750]

Does anyone have any tips to polish the bar clamps that are above the triple tree? I have this off the bike right now. I have read about some people using oven cleaner to strip paint from rims. I wonder if this would work?

[Astro4x4]

Something like this? I'll do a how to Thursday morn. I'm too tired right now to think straight. I started with automotive paint stripper and steel wool.


One on right is after sanding with 400 grit. One on left is after first go around on buffer with emery compound.



Just a shot of them on my in process triple.

[hardlydangerous]

I use aircraft stripper
or
Air craft finish remover
it's availabale at wal mart and most automotive shops. I think my last can i got from pep boys
spray it on and hose it off, scrub with with a tooth brush for tough spots. the polish away
I use a 1/2 electric motor with an arbor/polishing wheel but a bench grinder will work as well. I start with a black compound, then move up to brown and finish with white compound.
Harbor freight sells a great polishing kit for first timers starting out real cheap.

Here is a pic of a bike I built last year with fully polished frame, pegs, controls and clamps using basically the the same compounds and wheels you will get in this kit.

[#1 Moses]

Polish Job

Nice so your saying the upper triple is just dull aluminum and it be polished out like that with compomd on a buffing wheel. Great as mine is so dull I may try to clean it up a bit thanks for the information.

[hardlydangerous]

Yeah
Most alluminum pieces are coated with paint to keep them from corroding. A chemical stripper will usually take the finish off and leave the bare metal ready to be polished. In some rare cases the alluminum pieces may need to be sanded smooth first with 400-1500 grit paper, but a black polishing compound will take out most minor imperfections and scratches

[Dexter]

What will keep it from corroding after the finish is stripped off?

[hardlydangerous]

clear coat or alluminum polish.

[RbrtAWhyt]

Why not just chrome plate it?

[Katastrophic750]

Thanks for the input. I went to Home Depot and got some paint stripper. I have some mothers polish\sealant and will start it tonight.

[fireman1724]

Be sure to post the pics when you are done.

[Astro4x4]

Check out this link.

http://forum.caswellplating.com/showthread.php?t=1755

Buffing will not fix pits, deep scratches etc, so I sand first and sand to the final shape I want. a By sanding first, I can keep flat areas nice and flat so when they are buffed up it looks like chrome with a nice clear reflection.
I used stripper, followed by a sanding drum with a light touch to remove the parting lines,
followed by 400 grit sandpaper, then into the black emery compound on a treated wheel.
I found that a treated 6" buffing wheel on a bench grinder worked WAAAAAAY, better than the smaller wheels on a die grinder. Much faster and easier to control. Once I get all the scratches from sanding out with the emery compound, I hit it with tripoli, then rouge.
Couple of tips - never use a buffing wheel for more than 1 compound as cross contamination will drive you crazy with hazing and scratching.
ALWAYS clean you part with acetone or a good degreaser between different compounds or you will contaminate your new wheel and get nowhere with the next finer compound. I picked up this kit at Princess Auto for $40 (I think)


It has everything you'll next except the large diameter buffing wheels.

[hardlydangerous]

That's the same kit at harbour freight

[Astro4x4]

Figured it was. I noticed he was from Canada so I figured I'd throw in Princess Auto.

[Katastrophic750]

I finished the polishing of the bar clamps. They turned out pretty sweet.
I used a gel paint stripper and worked it on the clamp with a tooth-brush.

This pretty much removed all of the paint. Then I got to polishing.

I tried to post pics but they exceed the maximum size. Any tips to help me post the pics?