Author Topic: Polishing Primary Drive cover ?  (Read 2371 times)

Offline Stephen Foster

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Polishing Primary Drive cover ?
« on: 29.07. 2012 12:06 »
Not certain if this is posted in the correct area of the forum ?
Apologies if not ,
Im trying to get a deep shine into the above & have progressed down through "wet & dry" to buffing soap , lime , etc .
come to the final polish & the item seems to bloom over slightly ?
Wonder if Anyone can put Me right please ?

Steve ...
I own a 1955/56 B.S.A Swinging Arm "Golden Flash" , had it since 1976 .

Offline bsa-bill

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Re: Polishing Primary Drive cover ?
« Reply #1 on: 29.07. 2012 12:49 »
I know what you mean Steve, I have a cover that just won't come up like the rest, seems to be that it has oxidized right into the alloy or maybe just a bad batch of alloy when they were produced.
Don't know if that's the same problem with yours or not but I just can't get that case to shine like it should.
Even on a particular bike you will find some alloy bits take a better shine than others, gearbox covers seem to come up best on both my bikes.
you could consider having it chromed but for myself polished alloy is a nicer product than chrome, it has a warmth that chrome lacks.
Other than that don't think I could advise more than go back a couple of steps to a course polish bar (presume thtas what you mean as soap) and see if it's any better
All the best - Bill
1961 Flash - stock, reliable, steady, fantastic for shopping
1959 Rocket Gold Flash - blinged and tarted up  would have seizure if taken to  Tesco

Offline Stephen Foster

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Re: Polishing Primary Drive cover ?
« Reply #2 on: 29.07. 2012 12:58 »
Thanks Bill ,
Agree about gearbox cover ..this comes up really well .
Dont want to have the item chromed , dont get Me wrong it looks ok ..just Me being faddy ?
Ill try the green bar then ..where did You pick that up ?

Regards,
Steve ..
I own a 1955/56 B.S.A Swinging Arm "Golden Flash" , had it since 1976 .

Offline Goldy

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Re: Polishing Primary Drive cover ?
« Reply #3 on: 29.07. 2012 17:32 »
Some of them are poor quality, I once tried to get one welded by a specialist Company that have done alloy welding for me before . They said that the quality of the material was so poor that it just,kept burning away. I would give autosol a try.
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Offline Jules

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Re: Polishing Primary Drive cover ?
« Reply #4 on: 30.07. 2012 10:23 »
Yep my experience too with the welding - my cover had been damaged by the clutch. Somehow it had been run into the inside of the cover (and through before somebody prior noticed it!!). I took into a specialist welder who warned me that it mightn't work too well because of porosity in the castings and oil gets into it but you just cant see it until you hit it with the welder and then it splatters!!  *sad2* *sad2*

Offline Rgs-Bill

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Re: Polishing Primary Drive cover ?
« Reply #5 on: 30.07. 2012 20:46 »
From what I have been told the only bar that actually has JEWELERS POLISHING ROUGE  in it is the red bar. I polish my primary cover, after the appropriate grades of wet dry paper down to the finest grit, so there are no scratches from previous grits, then use the red bar.  Most guys think the pressure you use from the stitched buffing wheel is what polishes it, it is not, it is the red stick compound, with the jewelers rouge in it, with light pressure, just takes longer, that does the polishing, and not hard pressure, you have to let the rouge do its job, pushing too hard just turns the metal black, ( as in burnt on to the metal)  Autosol is a nice product for final shine, if you read the label on BRASSO it says do not use on aluminum, but I have had good results with this for many years, also Eagle One polish used to have pumice in it and worked well, not sure if still has pumice, everything now is clear coat safe, (which translates too no abrasives at all)
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Offline Stephen Foster

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Re: Polishing Primary Drive cover ?
« Reply #6 on: 30.07. 2012 22:10 »
Interesting comments on the Jewellers rouge ..just ordered some in powder form to give final polish ?

I own a 1955/56 B.S.A Swinging Arm "Golden Flash" , had it since 1976 .

Offline bonny

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Re: Polishing Primary Drive cover ?
« Reply #7 on: 31.07. 2012 01:34 »
Not certain if this is posted in the correct area of the forum ?
Apologies if not ,
Im trying to get a deep shine into the above & have progressed down through "wet & dry" to buffing soap , lime , etc .
come to the final polish & the item seems to bloom over slightly ?
Wonder if Anyone can put Me right please ?

Steve ...

polish it with some car wax and the shine should come back , i did a gearbox outer cover yesterday and the shine wasn't great when i had finished it , handling it contaminates the surface , a quick rub with some turtle wax or similar and it gleamed like new.

as for not being able to weld aluminium casting because of oil contamination , soak the part in acetone (nail varnish remover) or keep going over the part with the arc and the oil will burn out , scrub it with a wire brush and go again.

Offline Stephen Foster

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Re: Polishing Primary Drive cover ?
« Reply #8 on: 31.07. 2012 06:24 »
Thats correct re welding aluminium .. I hold the arc over the area to burn away contaminants , never had any problems .

Steve ..
I own a 1955/56 B.S.A Swinging Arm "Golden Flash" , had it since 1976 .

Offline BSA_54A10

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Re: Polishing Primary Drive cover ?
« Reply #9 on: 31.07. 2012 11:57 »
Quote
From what I have been told the only bar that actually has JEWELERS POLISHING ROUGE  in it is the red bar. I polish my primary cover, after the appropriate grades of wet dry paper down to the finest grit, so there are no scratches from previous grits, then use the red bar.  Most guys think the pressure you use from the stitched buffing wheel is what polishes it, it is not, it is the red stick compound, with the jewelers rouge in it, with light pressure, just takes longer, that does the polishing, and not hard pressure, you have to let the rouge do its job, pushing too hard just turns the metal black, ( as in burnt on to the metal)  Autosol is a nice product for final shine, if you read the label on BRASSO it says do not use on aluminum, but I have had good results with this for many years, also Eagle One polish used to have pumice in it and worked well, not sure if still has pumice, everything now is clear coat safe, (which translates too no abrasives at all)

There are several types of "Polishing"

Polishing for plating requires you to generate enough heat at the surface layer of the metal to cause recrystalization and chemical combination of the oxide surface and the parent metal to form an amorphous semi metallic glass so that when you put the part into the tank you get a uniform thin plating and not dendritic wiskers .

Polishing for shine requires you to replace coarse scratches with progressivliy  finer ones till they are invisible to the eye

Polishing metallurgical samples to a bright mirror finish for microscope examination.
Wet & dry down to 1600.
Brasso 4 - 8 micron
Silvro  2 - 4 micron
Tooth paste 1-2 micron

If it was a really important job finish with 0 - 0.5 micron diamond paste.
1600 grit wet & dry is about 40 to 50 microns.
Rub two sheets together till they no longer feel like they are cutting and you end up with 20 to 30 micron scratches.
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Trevor

Offline a10 gf

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Re: Polishing Primary Drive cover ?
« Reply #10 on: 31.07. 2012 12:57 »
Quote
1600 grit wet & dry is about 40 to 50 microns.
Brasso 4 - 8 micron
Silvro  2 - 4 micron
Tooth paste 1-2 micron

Out of curiosity, in what range would Autosol be ?
Have been quite happy with using a drill with some buffing wheel + autosol.


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Offline bsa-bill

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Re: Polishing Primary Drive cover ?
« Reply #11 on: 31.07. 2012 15:26 »
hate to sound like a grumpy old F*** but Autosol is not as good as Solvol Autosol used to be IMHO
All the best - Bill
1961 Flash - stock, reliable, steady, fantastic for shopping
1959 Rocket Gold Flash - blinged and tarted up  would have seizure if taken to  Tesco

Offline cotterpinkid

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Re: Polishing Primary Drive cover ?
« Reply #12 on: 31.07. 2012 15:39 »
A couple of years ago I discovered Meguiars products and found their metal polish very good indeed and little effort needed to use it. It is almost like a wax in consistancy. No affiliation, just a satisfied user.
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Offline bsa-bill

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Re: Polishing Primary Drive cover ?
« Reply #13 on: 31.07. 2012 17:56 »
I fully concur cotterpinkid, it's my first choice now
All the best - Bill
1961 Flash - stock, reliable, steady, fantastic for shopping
1959 Rocket Gold Flash - blinged and tarted up  would have seizure if taken to  Tesco

Offline BSA_54A10

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Re: Polishing Primary Drive cover ?
« Reply #14 on: 01.08. 2012 10:42 »
Autosol is a funny product.
At a guess I would go for 10 to 20 microns.
But it has  waxes , solvents & soaps in it .
I deliberately avoided mentioning waxes because the are a different animal again.
Waxes & silicones simply fill in the scratches with a matrix that is highly refective and refractive so that you do not notice the scratches
Bike Beesa
Trevor