GS 1000000 G - 99%

Working on a nut and bolt restoration, or just a lick of paint.
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Lexdba
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Re: GS 1000000 G - Forking Hell!

Post by Lexdba » Sat Mar 27, 2021 2:22 pm

Will write a how to next week. I have 100 kilos worth of new OEM Suzuki hardware so that’s sorted!
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Re: GS 1000000 G - Forking Hell!

Post by Smallkat » Mon Mar 29, 2021 8:14 pm

Also do you lacquer on top?
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Re: GS 1000000 G - Forking Hell!

Post by Lexdba » Wed Mar 31, 2021 6:23 pm

Now; before I post the plethora of Krusty-updates I will write the wheel-how-to as promised.

Let's start with the basics. What is polishing?
Polishing is nothing more than flattening the surface of a substrate enough so that all the cavities are as small as they can be.
Just like sharpening a knife, you break the burr (edge of the edge) over and over again using finer and finer compounds. You will never get the same angle on both sides but the burr can be minimised to get the edge to be razor sharp.

A polished surface will only look like a mirror once you get the surface of the of the workpiece as smooth as possible.
Now, as we are working with 40+ year old (absolutely fooking ancient) pieces of cast aluminium that have seen their fair share of road abuse the top layers of the aluminium will be corroded for sure. This means that you have to get all of the said oxidation out of the aluminium, otherwise it will always show up as a white cauliflower looking spot.

We are getting to point of grinding the surface. This can be done many ways, and every substrate asks for a different approach.
Stainless steel is the hardest to polish (takes a lot of RPM and a lot of heat) but it also is the most forgivable.
Brass and copper are easy but hard on your tools because of the contamination they inflict on your polishing mops.

Aluminium? Easy to polish but very easy to ruin! For grinding I use a variable speed rotary sander with both a 100 and a 180mm velcro backing plate. Start with 80 grit to grind out most of the surface garbage whilst still keeping the original contours of the work piece. At this point it's not too hard because the heavy grit sandpaper will eat up anything before you can ruin the finish.

Now the harder part starts: grinding with 180 up to 600 grits whilst continuously moving the contact point of your sander to prevent 'dunes'. If you keep your tool stationary whilst applying pressure you will end up 'pushing' the aluminium instead of sanding it down. Keep moving and following the contours to make sure you keep the top layer flat and even.

About things you should keep into consideration: the starting temperature for polishing is very important. If you have your workpiece finished up to 600-1000 grit and just push the cold sucker to a rotating polishing mop you will INSTANTLY cause a sticky patch and create 'tearing'. Tearing is what happens when the polishing mop and compound 'bite' into the surface and create a little groove. No matter how hard you try, you will never get that groove out of the surface without re-sanding.

Make sure the workpiece is up to 20 degrees Celsius and the polishing will get the temperature up from there. The hotter the better, welding gloves are my weapon of choice for handling bigger items.

You use a collection of polishing compounds for polishing, start with the rough compound on either a SISAL or starting mop, finish with the fine compound on a fine multi-layer flap disc. The diameter of your polishing mop/discs depends on the power of your polisher.

The wheels:


Snowflake part:
I start off by using a good quality paint stripper to get all the years of crud off. After a good clean and rinse I start by sanding the edges with a small random orbital sander to get the diamond cutting marks out of the edges. After that I switch to the rotary sander with the 100mm 180 grit sanding pads and apply a small amount of sheep fat to the edge of the sandpaper. The fat will work as a lubricant so your paper won't gum up and help with the finish. Keep using the rotary sander until you are up to 600 grit and clean the whole work piece. After cleaning you take a 1000 grit piece of sandpaper and some fine alloy polishing compound and go to town... it'll look like a mirror!

Edge:
I put a piece of 14mm ready-rod in my vice and use two locking nuts to secure the wheel.
Using the same small random orbital sander and 180 grit pads you use the tool to make both the wheel and the tool spin at the same time. This way you sand the edge evenly along the circumference of the wheel. Sadly, now the workout starts... pushing the entire thing against your bench polisher!

Finishing up:

Lacquer on top of polished alloy is like cursing in a church... It was the easy way out for the OEM's to keep the bikes looking good whilst in the showroom but it's a pain in the arse when it starts corroding underneath the lacquer... Just put a good buff with a high quality carnauba wax on top and you will be good to go for a month.

End of essay.
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Re: GS 1000000 G - Forking Hell!

Post by Lexdba » Mon Apr 05, 2021 7:15 pm

Done
IMG_8499.JPG
IMG_8501.JPG
IMG_8502.JPG
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Re: GS 1000000 G - Hang'm'High

Post by PaulD » Tue Apr 06, 2021 9:56 am

Think of the damage to the ozone layer with all the outdoor spraying :roll:
There rubbish them Jap bikes lad they won't last five minutes! you want to get yourself a nice Royal Enfield!
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Re: GS 1000000 G - Hang'm'High

Post by fossie » Tue Apr 06, 2021 8:37 pm

PaulD wrote:
Tue Apr 06, 2021 9:56 am
Think of the damage to the ozone layer with all the outdoor spraying :roll:

Carbon neutral it's in trees! ;)
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Re: GS 1000000 G - Hang'm'High

Post by Kryten » Wed Apr 07, 2021 5:56 pm

fossie wrote:
Tue Apr 06, 2021 8:37 pm
PaulD wrote:
Tue Apr 06, 2021 9:56 am
Think of the damage to the ozone layer with all the outdoor spraying :roll:

Carbon neutral it's in trees! ;)
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Re: GS 1000000 G - Forking Hell!

Post by katmarch » Thu Apr 08, 2021 1:21 pm

Lexdba wrote:
Wed Mar 31, 2021 6:23 pm
After that I switch to the rotary sander with the 100mm 180 grit sanding pads and apply a small amount of sheep fat to the edge of the sandpaper. The fat will work as a lubricant so your paper won't gum up and help with the finish.
What's the Vegan option? Olive Oil
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Lexdba
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Re: GS 1000000 G - Hang'm'High

Post by Lexdba » Thu Apr 08, 2021 1:22 pm

Soy Milk obviously :mrgreen:
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Re: GS 1000000 G - Hang'm'High

Post by PaulD » Fri Apr 09, 2021 9:04 am

Lexdba wrote:
Thu Apr 08, 2021 1:22 pm
Soy Milk obviously :mrgreen:
Are you related to Greta :roll:
There rubbish them Jap bikes lad they won't last five minutes! you want to get yourself a nice Royal Enfield!
A quote from my old dad 8-)

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