Cleaning/polishing help with lettering on rim

[bob_fickel]

Any suggests/help on how I clean and polish the letters on a motorcycle rim?? I'm a newbie to metal polishing and I'm having problems removing the paint, the surface is textured.....and then the big question.... how to polish it??

here's a picture of what I'm working on
http://ca.geocities.com/bob_fickel/gsxrrim.jpg

Plz/Thkx!!
Bob

[mpierich]

Originally Posted by bob_fickel

Any suggests/help on how I clean and polish the letters on a motorcycle rim?? I'm a newbie to metal polishing and I'm having problems removing the paint, the surface is textured.....and then the big question.... how to polish it??

here's a picture of what I'm working on
http://ca.geocities.com/bob_fickel/gsxrrim.jpg

Plz/Thkx!!
Bob

You'll probably need to be more specific...take the time to search this forum and most of your questions will be answered.

About the letters...personally I would shine them up with 320 sandpaper, spray flat black paint in there and wipe off the letters, leaving them bright on a black background. If you actually wanna polish the background, it'll probably entail many hours with a Dremel, and the risk of screwing up the letters.

[funcheon5488]

dremel tool, it is your friend
+ polishing kit, just to be more specific

[mpierich]

Originally Posted by funcheon5488

dremel tool, it is your friend
+ polishing kit, just to be more specific

Hmmm...thought that's what I said. Maybe all Dremels are not friendly.

[jrow]

bob_fickel,

Bob, the paint can be removed with Aircraft paint stripper (don't use the odorless, it's not as strong as the other)

As stated above, in all likely hood you'll ruin the letters if you try to polish the background. BUT if you insist you can try dental burrs and a Dremel. It takes a real steady hand and a lot time. Another thought would be to polish the surface of the rough area and leave the "nooks" unpolished.

The "88" in the corner can be taken out with a die grinder and cartridge rolls. Again this will require a real steady hand as to not gouge the corner.

One thing that I would have attended to is that 'crack' at the edge of the hole in your picture of the rim.

All the supplies can be purchased at Caswells, they also have great tech support. Suggest you read the "sticky" on aluminum polishing this will give you more incite.

John

[bob_fickel]

First off thanks for all input!

Second...I should have been clearer in what I was attempting to do. I just want to clean the areas of all piant. I am not trying to smooth area, just clean and buff, so it's shiny rough/raw texture aluminum.

I have used aircraft stripper on the rim to remove the paint (3X)...but the lettered area just won't come clean (also used brass wire brush with stripper). My latest idea, which I haven't tried yet ...use a spot blaster w/ baking soda as the blasting media.

Bob

btw

One thing that I would have attended to is that 'crack' at the edge of the hole in your picture of the rim.

I was using the dremel with a cratex bit cleaning the paint out of the hole and guess what happened