Gurus: Reflective Listening (pun intended) and a ? or two

[Stryder]

I've had my stuff a while now (3/4 horse buffer I bought here) and have been sort of putting the shop together. While I have been doing this I've been reading and listening so here's my plan based on what I have read:

Materials: Harley cast covers. Late model, currently powder coated. From what I understand these polish up pretty well (after they are stripped).

Preparation: Based on the comments/posts here I plan to use greaseless. I just purchased all of the grades so I gather I'll have the assortment I need: 80, 120, 180, 240, 400.

Question: Should I use a sisal wheel for all of these? 8"? Double wheels?

Question: This is a labor of love, for my personal bike, not for any profit. Should I go all the way from 80 to 400 before moving off the greaseless?

Question: Does the greaseless make the wheel look like a big sanding drum or does it load like a compound? What I'm getting at here is how much do I put on each time and how do I know when I have enough?

Polishing: Seems like the current wisdom says I should use a sisal (2X8" wheels?) with black after sanding. Apparently I should also feel like I've been beat up afterwards. :P

Question: After the Black on sisal, do I immediately go to white on a spiral? White on a loose cotton? Black on spiral?

Question: Do I use any of the colors I have past white on these parts?

I guess the questions out-numbered the statements. Oops Anyway, am I on track?

Here's a couple of pics of what I will be working on for reference:


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Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

[Fireblade]

As a matter of fact, I have those parts sitting in my shop that I started working on today. The first pic you posted, I hand sanded it, reason I was trying to make up some lost time, and I took it to work with me. I sanded with 80 up to 600, then I used a 8" sisal with black emory and smoothed it way out, it was already smooth with the paper but shining with the emory. Then I hit it with the 8" spiral with black, I usually jump to the white with a loose cotton after that, but occasionally I use the tripoli brown. This part did not need anything else but that, oh and the bobs down in the tight spots. As for the large cover, that is a different story, it was a part that had been polished I guess in the factory, but showed some distress from age. It had many pits and nicks in it, which were pretty much in the wide flatter areas. This had to be sanded, I started with 36grit (Yikes!) and worked my way up, it was a tedious part considering I pretty much sanded the whole face down smooth, but besides the more drastic sanding method, it was the same compounds and wheels.

I have all the greaseless compounds, but hardly ever use them. Maybe I use them incorrectly and that is the reason for it. I load my wheel let it dry, but it only lasts for 2 minutes or so. I really haven't played with it much, but I can see that if it was lasting longer, then it is a good product. I have too many things to get done, hardly any time to experiment.

Another bit of info, but also a question for all. I use pretty much black and white on aluminum and stainless, and get good results. I ordered the green stainless, received it today, used it and set it aside. Seems like the compound is greasy on the part, never seems to get a "dry" cutting action, more of a rub up and down the part action. Again, maybe I am not using it correctly, but the white sure works good and the piece looks like a mirror. The stainless I am polishing is Harley brake rotors, so it is a harder stainless than trim work. Any ideas on the green? or personal experience with the stuff and comparing it to the way I did it?

[customandsound]

that is funny this .. that this post was listed ... i got covers from a full dresser i am doing .. and i can't get them to shine .. i wet sanded 40-600 hit with black on a sisal then brown on a spiral then to white on losse cotton... i got a black chrome look going on ... but if you look at an angle it is perfect .. but head on it looks bad ... i was going to bead blast it then start over ...the primary has a nasty mark on the lower half where the controls are .. it looks polished from the factory but i am not sure .. it may be chromed .. if i can't get it i am going to dip it .. and be done with it ..

[customandsound]

greasless is great .. once you learn the trick to keeping it on ... i load it then let it sit for a minute and then use it ,, but i only get 15 to 20 mins out of it .. i use it on a spiral wheel...

[skiddz]

maybe contaminated wheels? My loose cotton wheels seem to get really dirty and leave black, greasy deposits on parts. I have to rake them quite often to get 'em to color without leaving a mess behind.

I also get 15-20 mins out of an application of greaseless. The 1st couple minutes it cuts like crazy, then seems to lose some "bite", but still removes material, just bit more slowly.

[skiddz]

Question: Should I use a sisal wheel for all of these? 8"? Double wheels?

Yes. If you can spin double 8" wheels, go for it. I tend to stick with 6" wheels on a 3650RPM buffer. That nets me a surface feet/min speed in the neighborhood of 5700. I usually stack 2, but will go to 1 if the piece has tighter areas a stacked set won't get in to. I'd say 80% of my time on a piece (afer sanding I mean) is doen with a sisal wheel and black compound.

Question: This is a labor of love, for my personal bike, not for any profit. Should I go all the way from 80 to 400 before moving off the greaseless?

Depending on the part, I sometimes stop as low as 240. Sometimes I start and finish with 400. Depends on how much material I think I need to remove to smooth out the part. I usually hit at least 320 before I start buffing.. if you see scratches or pits after moving to the sisal wheel, tough it up with the greaseless again.

Question: Does the greaseless make the wheel look like a big sanding drum or does it load like a compound? What I'm getting at here is how much do I put on each time and how do I know when I have enough?

Yeah, kinda. It's usually a kind of orangy-rust color (my 400 is black tho) and ya put it on a spiral sewn wheel. I put enough on to cover the working part of the wheel and let it dry for 5-10 mins before I use it. You can tell if it's too thin or too thick. If I need extra cutting action, I'll apply a 2nd coat after the 1st has dried.

Question: After the Black on sisal, do I immediately go to white on a spiral? White on a loose cotton? Black on spiral?

That's a personal preference. I usually do sisal/black, spiral/brown, loose/white and call it good. Today I tried going right from black/sisal to loose/white and had pretty good results. Try different methods and see what works for you.

Question: Do I use any of the colors I have past white on these parts?

Can't answer this one. I don't have anything finer than white..

As for being on track, yeah I think you're headed the right direction. The only advice I might offer is to go slow, go slow, go slow! You can always remove more material, but ya can't add it back so easily.

[Fireblade]

Hey customand sound, that cover your talking about that I have is just polished. I think that alot when I get Harley parts, the people I usually get them from don;t know what they are, they just want them to shine. I did however get the part to shine like a mirror, I hit it alot with the black/sisal maybe you need to spend a little more time with that?

[customandsound]

it is the derby cover .... i had to sand the **** out of it .. the primary .. was the same way ... i wore out 2 sisal and i got that black chrome look .. i know that was not right.. the side covers should come better than that .. i did the rocker covers and i used sprial wheels for all they come out alot better that the other stuff ... my uncle was happy with them i got alot more to do ... all this just to get a set of 20"byod wheels for my car ... if it was not for family and for trade i would not of did them....... what do you think about bead blasting them and starting over from scratch ?

[Fireblade]

Wow, 2 sisals eh? forget what I said about spending more time with a sisal lol. I wish I had some pics of the covers to show you, but I already returned them to the owner, never thought to take pics of them. BUTTTT......I guarentee I will have another set coming to me soon enough, always got something Harley laying around. Well, tell ya what, if you have a sandblaster do this. Pic a spot or better yet, tape off a spot that you can sandblast and see if it flakes off, know what I mean? If there is chrome on that badboy it will flake and leave little silver metallic flakes on the surface. If it doesn't flake it would be just dulling the surface, but you may have to stay in that spot for a bit depending on your compressor. Mine takes only seconds, but then again I blast with 100psi and my compressor puts out about 26scfm. I said tape it off so you will get a localized area to compare to a unblasted area. Besides that I don't know what to tell ya, have no problems here, I do however know that some are chromed an some come polished, looking at brand new ones now in V-Twin.

Actually thought of something else, doesn't Caswell sell buffing kits just for chrome?? I don't know what it consists of but maybe you may wanna look at that first before you blast that thing.

[customandsound]

yep they do ... i got all that stuff .. i will give it a shot ... the quicker i get all of this done .. the sooner i get my wheels just in time for spring ... but the customers stuff comes first... you know how it is i got a ton of my stuff to do before the car shows come .. and i got some stuff for my bike before race season comes around ... i will let you know what the out come it .... how hard would they be to rechrome?