Forks question ???

[cb750stu]

Hi Folks my forks have some quite bad scratches and gouges on the fork bottoms just wondering if i can fill these with some kind of filler then sand smooth ??
These will be getting painted eventually does anyone know of a good filler ??
I have heard of Metal Set is this any good !!!

Regards
Stu

[kifer]

I would use any filler suitable for ally, did the bottoms on my VFR just wanted to cheer them up without to much fuss brushed on silver hamerite flatted then another coat and flatted again ended with 2000 grit could not believe the finish I ended up with look
almost new and all from what was already in the shed. Cheers Tom.

[LesterPiglet]

I've fixed pitted forks with araldite and they lasted for ages. I'm sure it will stick just as well to the bottoms.

[cb750stu]

Yeah i never thought of Araldite ive got loads of the stuff i think i will give it a go tonight !!!!

Cheers

[Waggles]

Would have thought any proprietry body filler would do the job, consider opening gouges up a bit to give sufficient area to bond to. Think I will be painting mine too eventually ( too busy riding it at the moment  ) as the alloy is not the best and I can't get rid of marks that are actually in the alloy

[cb750stu]

Yeah i have noticed that the more you polish the forks more marks in the metal appear !!!

[tom400f]

There is a process to follow when polishing, you can't just get a rag out and some Solvol and expect good results

Yes I'm sure there is! Tips and tricks we have but may be we could also have some threads where people write up how they do things (like polishing). Tools, materials etc. If (like me) you are new to some of this sometimes you don't want to start something in case you make things worse.

Of course it takes time to write up, so its a bit of an ask...

[LesterPiglet]

Plenty of tips/tricks on the US site. SOHC4.net

[Waggles]

Interesting comment Oddjob, when I was polishing by hand I started with emery paper and / or dremel with stainless small wire brush, then progressively finer emery ending up with two polishing mops, one with coarse, one with fine paste. finally a buff with solvol. Even after all that I find some 'ghost like' patterns appear in the alloy in places ( not on all parts ). These patterns bear no relation to the shape of any corrosion which was fully removed to a dull finish by the emery paper. No amount of re finishing gets rid of said marks, they just change shape a bit no matter how much alloy you remove.

I gave up and assumed they were some kind of fault in the alloy, any suggestions as to what I did wrong?

[Waggles]

Thats a really helpful and comprehensive reply, thanks mate, appreciate it 

Sounds like I was on the right lines but wasn't aggressive enough initially ( how unlike me  )

Mods, do you think this reply should be moved to 'tricks and tips' to be replaced by the 'How to' if it arrives? would be useful to all not just us 750 owners

[Waggles]

Can see you are a perfectionist if you don't think thats detailed!  but I take your point.

Am sure the 'how to' would be appreciated by more than just me, the polishing was the major task ( in terms of time taken ) for my recent restoration. I too would like to have taken all the time in the world to get it right but had to balance out the fact that I wanted to ride the thing too and would rather have a 'nice' looking rider than a perfect mirror finish I was afraid to take outside! But I still consider my F1 to be a rolling restoration now and will probably improve her a bit at a time during the winter ice layup so the info would certainly be of use to me!

[SteveD CB500K0]

I look forwards to it.

I'm sure I can find a safe place for it on here somewhere!

Steve