Polishing sport bike frames.

[mercsvt]

been there done it the hard way, to do an effective, quick job.(alot quicker than spending days sanding, it will take you hours) this is my method and there may be better ways, but i bought a sears model sander, 1 3/4 horse 4600 rpm (has a replaceable warranty!!!) it has a 5/8 shaft, i only ordered the 5" wheels from caswell (the wheels only had a 1/2 hole but spin onto the 5/8 shaft pretty easily) you could go bigger but because of contours on sport bike frames, swingarms etc.. they fit very well, ANODIZED COATINGS i have tried EVERYTHING!! for some people oven cleaner, drain cleaner may have worked. not for me i paid 35.00 for caswell's anodize remover, and it WORKS, it makes 3 gallons, i split up to make 1/2 gallon at a time, any body that is thinking of sanding anodized off good luck your arm will fall off! my next problem was the sand cast on my wheels, frame and swing arm, order different wheels for each, get the greaseless compound's, 120, 180, 240. sand in that order, all this stuff basically is, sand paper on a wheel that reapplies easily to your wheel. it will rip down sand cast so fast you will feel guilty, and the aluminum stays pretty uniform too. TIP: make sure you buy an airtite plastic container and keep a damp kitchen size towel in it for storing this stuff when not in use or it will dry up rock hard. after all your parts are sanded smooth, use the black emery compound on a sewn cotton wheel, you should start to see good results, then buff with brown tripoli on cotton wheel till perfect, you will see small swirl marks on the finished product but i have heard you moisten the area and apply corn starch, talcum powder, and buff, i am not sure, i have tried this but it did not work for me, maybe caswell could give up a industry secret and tell us, after polishing with brown, how do you get the marks out? do you use a new wheel with the damp and powder meathod?

[mcaswell]

Firstly, here's the URL for the anodize stripper - http://www.caswellplating.com/aluminum.htm

Secondly, we suggest for aluminum that you use black on a sisal and brown with a spiral sewn cotton. This shouldn't leave any swirls.

[mtlplshr]

if you are stopping with the brown rouge(tripoli)you will have a good shine but not a incredible one.color buff with a soft wheel and green rouge.if you want the ultimate shine,then hit it with a soft wheel and white rouge,it will really make aluminum glow!!