polishing thread?

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Yes the edge was damaged in the past, it has a bit cut away where it tapers on the edge.
There was a ding on the edge of the wheel hub that I had to deal with that was causing the brake bind that I sorted before the first ride.
No wire wheel just one of those plastic mops as well as the thin disc.

[Johnny4428]

Anyone else entering the “bling fest”? 🤣🤣

[Laverdaroo]

Black??? Dark Grey???

No idea what you're referring to Roo. There are no dark grey abrasive discs, dark green as you say is quite abrasive, it has it's uses and I use that colour a LOT. However it can really scrub up the surface. If you got that to shine with a purple you're doing well young grasshopper.

Done a decent job of it Roo, it should shine up nice, the better the surface the quicker it shines up and the better it looks, it's all in the prep, get that right and the rest just falls into place. At this rate I'm going to have some competition. 

Looking at Teds pic, not sure what he's used, marked the surface and it looks like a wire wheel with the swirl marks. Word of advice Ted, remove the brake arm pivot pin and the torque arm bolt at the bottom before you go any further. If they are stuck in (and a lot are, and yours looks like it going to be) you're going to need to work on the plate and you don't want to do that after you've been detailing it.

I've asked max if he can make me a stainless steel torque arm bolt as pictured in your pic, just in case you damage it. They ain't available anywhere so be careful.

The brake is actually missing a small section on the edge, near the rivets.

Well the kit I put up for 7.99 or so has dark grey, dark blue, dark green, dark brown/red, light green, light grey, purple, white in.

On closer inspection this morning innit that chuffed with it, it looks like it’s been sandblasted or hit with a chain so going to start again on it tomorrow. Got things to do today. Another 4 hours I won’t get back

Bloody hate this job, messy, boring and noisey


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[Oddjob]

Some great tips Ken. Can you recommend some products for buffing the small crooks and crannies? I’ve seen a few products on Amazon?

Buy something like these

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/363959884129

You could do with some larger discs like what come in the Dremel kit but bonded to the mandrel not screwed on like the Dremel ones, those are virtually useless but for a quick tickle up they are ok.

[Oddjob]

Black??? Dark Grey???

No idea what you're referring to Roo. There are no dark grey abrasive discs, dark green as you say is quite abrasive, it has it's uses and I use that colour a LOT. However it can really scrub up the surface. If you got that to shine with a purple you're doing well young grasshopper.

Done a decent job of it Roo, it should shine up nice, the better the surface the quicker it shines up and the better it looks, it's all in the prep, get that right and the rest just falls into place. At this rate I'm going to have some competition. 

Looking at Teds pic, not sure what he's used, marked the surface and it looks like a wire wheel with the swirl marks. Word of advice Ted, remove the brake arm pivot pin and the torque arm bolt at the bottom before you go any further. If they are stuck in (and a lot are, and yours looks like it going to be) you're going to need to work on the plate and you don't want to do that after you've been detailing it.

I've asked max if he can make me a stainless steel torque arm bolt as pictured in your pic, just in case you damage it. They ain't available anywhere so be careful.

The brake is actually missing a small section on the edge, near the rivets.

Well the kit I put up for 7.99 or so has dark grey, dark blue, dark green, dark brown/red, light green, light grey, purple, white in.

On closer inspection this morning innit that chuffed with it, it looks like it’s been sandblasted or hit with a chain so going to start again on it tomorrow. Got things to do today. Another 4 hours I won’t get back

Bloody hate this job, messy, boring and noisey


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You must be colour blind Roo. The kit was made by Wobekuy and if you look at the pics you can see they've actually listed a pic where the brushes are shown in grade order, starting with dark green at the top, the 4th one down I presume you mean is grey but to me it's more of a light blue and isn't that abrasive. Unless of course you bought a kit from somewhere else and they've changed the colours but generally everyone else seems to keep to the dark green as being the most abrasive and the same colours in their kits.

No idea where this black you keep referring to comes from unless of course that's also in the kit you bought. I know I linked you to the Wobekuy kit though when I recommended them so I thought you'd bought that kit.

Try polishing a small area, you can get too carried away trying to get it really smooth and then find the buffing compound will get rid of a lot of stuff. If it doesn't really shine within a few minutes go back onto the brushes.

[Laverdaroo]

I ordered what you suggested and these are what came!
6 of each Ken.

Not even looking at it today. Had enough of that chapter for at least 24hrs!
I do think my bench grinder isn’t fast enough though to get a decent finish. I may have to go back to the abranet and elbow at this rate.  I’ll keep at it but out tonight for her birthday so don’t want to get blathered and turn up with black hands

This is what I got in the kit…..

Multiples of, obviously…..


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[Oddjob]

Missing the dark green Roo but the one on the right I call red, the one below it I call light blue.

I'll be doing some more later tonight after picking up the missus from work. I've got a stack of stuff to take to the chromers for de-chroming, mainly alloy bits like float bowls and carb tops. Also got a couple of bits for chroming after de-pitting them etc and I've got stacks of de-chromed pieces that need attention so they can be chromed afterwards, including your favourite the 550F2 chain guard, even though I've got a NOS one I prefer to see if I can refurbish a decent one first, I can then sell on the NOS one, plus I find the chrome is better on UK chromers work, shine is deeper.

Got to make myself a new work bench later this week, need decent weather though for my chop saw, the sawdust it creates means it's all over the garage if I do it inside. Then I'm moving my roll cab tool chest to closer to the new bench, after that I can finally set up my zinc/nickel plating kit as I should have more space.

[Laverdaroo]

I love workshop re-jigs, thats my kind of job.

I'm slowly gathering a tub of stuff to plate after I've finished the 'brake plate from hell'. It's a sod to get flat and when youre there you get two stages down the line and something else crops up..........the sod! It's quite heavily stained too, it appears, even after going back to 180 in some places. I'll get there but after deciding to do this I'm sending the hub out, sod that.Lifes too short

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Roo you were doing so well after ONLY 4 hours what's occuring?

[Laverdaroo]

The will to live!

need a change as I'm getting 'snow blind' and hopefully picking p the re polished clutch cover tomorrow afternoon so it's back to engine fiddling tomorrow and de dust stuff. Theres a bit of fluff flying about and it really likes assembly lube. Even f you do have apolyester sheet over with a bungee!.......it appears so.

Not binning it, just having a breather to get a few wins in inbetween the onslaught. Keeps you going

[Oddjob]

I wouldn't mind Roo but that brake plate looked to one of the easiest I've ever seen to polish, very few marks, not badly stained and no big dents etc.

Wait until you get a hard one to do, you'll soon lose the will to live then. I've just done 4 float bowls which still had bits of nickel plate attached even after being de-chromed, each one took me around 5 hours to do and that was just getting the nickel off which had to be sanded and sanded and sanded until it went. Talk about hard, at one point even I was thinking of just throwing one of them away. Best thing to do then is walk away, leave it for a bit and come back to it. I've done 2 brake plates and one I gave up on it was so bad, decided to have it powder coated instead to hide all the pin prick holes. Spend at least 30 hours on one of them, that's hard work.

You don't know you're born young fella me lad 

[Johnny4428]

Bloody Hell Ken, I do admire your perseverance to obtain the desired Finnish.

[Laverdaroo]

I wouldn't mind Roo but that brake plate looked to one of the easiest I've ever seen to polish, very few marks, not badly stained and no big dents etc.

Wait until you get a hard one to do, you'll soon lose the will to live then. I've just done 4 float bowls which still had bits of nickel plate attached even after being de-chromed, each one took me around 5 hours to do and that was just getting the nickel off which had to be sanded and sanded and sanded until it went. Talk about hard, at one point even I was thinking of just throwing one of them away. Best thing to do then is walk away, leave it for a bit and come back to it. I've done 2 brake plates and one I gave up on it was so bad, decided to have it powder coated instead to hide all the pin prick holes. Spend at least 30 hours on one of them, that's hard work.


You must be bloody joking, it has to be right for two main reasons...
1) Iwant it right but bloody Nora!
2) I'mnot havin it pulled apart by you on here giving me stickfor doing a shit job

The more I polish,sand, flat off, the more it looks like its been shot peened. Very frustrating!
You don't know you're born young fella me lad 

[Laverdaroo]

Just think I need more speed on the wheel Ken, asmentioned, my bench grinder with felt wneel on isnt really cutting the mustard.

[Matt_Harrington]

Just think I need more speed on the wheel Ken, asmentioned, my bench grinder with felt wneel on isnt really cutting the mustard.

Roo, When I polish ally castings etc, I tend to start off with one of these (4 ply x 6"):
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]
Its flexible and gets into most nooks and crannies. The fines ones get rid of scratches and oxidation etc leaving a decent finish for polishing.
Gouges etc need the coarser wheel to start off with.
I also believe you can get larger versions of those tiny abrasive wheels as above but have not tried them yet.
The cloth wheels are also great at light rust removal etc.
Matt