Polishing alloy the final step?

[neilc]

Just had my hubs vapour blasted and I have polished them at home with benchgrinder and appropriate wheels and waxes.

Give that these hubs, off a '74 Cooper, had some deep pitting I didn't take them back to pit free. This has meant that now I have shiny hubs but black highlighted pits!  I guess filled with the polishing wax?

Any suggestions for a final step to clean these pits out before I send them off to get laced?

Thanks in advance.

[pmc57]

Good question Neilc, it's something I have also come up against, although I've just cleaned the wax out with an old tooth brush and kero, but there must be a better way? What do the pro's use after polishing aluminium to remove the wax scum?
Which ever way you finallly end up with, like with fork sliders, you may also consider coating the hubs with a clear coat before sending them to get laced, just to keep them looking good for longer perhaps?

[paul]

how deep are the pitts  ?  if you really wanted to make them like NEW  and the pitting was fairly deep then you would have to clean the pitts with a dremmel or such and the weld the holes and grind/file  and polish seem like off effort though ,other than that find some better rims on evil  bay
had a front alloy mudcatcher rim welded up the dressed up  looked good when polished

[neilc]

Thanks boys, the pits, well blemishes are a better term arn't that deep however it would still mean taking another .025 ml or so off just about everything.  I just think that's a bit much.  They are certainly not worth drilling out and filing either, I think that would be a monumental task as well.  I'm happy with a bit of pertina, rather than a perfect finish, it's just that these blemishes are now black not sliver.  Some sort of wax solvent seems to be what I'd imagine would do it.

 On the topic of clear glossing, can someone assure me that it won't go all cloudy on me in a few weeks of start lifting and peeling.   I intend to ride it on thr road or track days not race it on dirt.

[Maicojames]

You can carefully clean it out with a micorfiber cloth, if stubborn use acetone or equivalent solvent-again carefully.
  I polish some parts -part time. Last spring I had some Rickman hubs to do-for an Aussie- no less Pete Lawson on the west coast.
The hubs just kept showing pits-I became convinced that they were porous throughout. 
  Finally, I spun them on my buffer( with shaft adapters)-and wet sanded them to 600 grit( if that is a US standard I apologize)-then polished a junk alloy part with a spiral wheel to heat it. I spun the hub and held the buffing wheel( mop?) static against the part. It still had some pitting, but virtually none.
 
  To get them perfect, the would need to be plated-so that the copper coat could be used as a filler. I saw one set of them on Pete's BSA at Jefferson, and they looked very good-though as a polisher, I am yet to be satisfied with results. Fortunately customers , though... are happy. My opinion on the clear is that is of no help at all-you put a paint or powder of an extremely smooth surface-and it will in time flake off-especially under conditions that hubs live in.
Hope this is helpful.
BTW I did not know ANY Coopers were in Oz-I have only seen about 4 in my life-here in US, 2 in Texas and 2 in California.

[mx250]

Gee it hard to get a NOS finish, polish and get rid of every blemish and you can change shapes and end up with a finish like chrome. Leave the 'character' marks and you have the fine ingrained finish .

Any grease buster/remover will get rid of the polishing compound even WD40. They might leave a residue but that can be polished off with cloth etc. You also us French calk which seems particular good giving the surface a final polish as it removes the compound.

[neilc]

Ok I'll try acetone and Wd40 seperately and see if I can get those little pits clean.  I'm not fussed about a real mirror finish.

maicojames, there were imports of Cooprs on both the east and west coast of OZ.  There are more around here than you imagine, ie if you are aware of the make.  In there day they were a great bike, just a pity more people wouldn't take the risk and try a non-japanese brand.  Too many sheep down here.

[LWC82PE]

i usually use a degreaser just after polishing while the polishing compound is still warm and soft as it washes of easy. if you leave it a while the black crusty stuff dries and is hard to get off unless you usea stiff brush which can then scuff you wonderful mirror finish. if the items are clear coated then there is several more steps after this that i do.

[MX?]

I hope you're wrong about the idea of painting the hub.   I've just done my XL hub..which I'm sure (well I think) were painted from new?? What about the old "wives tale" of water getting in and destroying the alloy. I've just thrown out my old hub as the steel brake lining had expanded away from the alloy...only over a distance of an inch or so, but rendering it irrepairable.

[LWC82PE]

you basically have to make sure they are compleley dry and grease free. you gotta make sure no moisture is trapped in the pores. if you rush the process and paint over pores that have mosture trapped in them then yes corrosion will start and you will get a cloudy white look under the clear

[carbyman]

We just done some parts for a 88 CR250 in our machine thought i would share with you .
http://www.xtremefuelsystems.com.au/gallery.php?g2_itemId=271

[Tankslapper]

What would a job like that cost ?

[YZ250H]

And how much for just the carby carbyman ??

[carbyman]

Approx $330 to do the parts as per main picture
we have a minimum charge of $55 it works like this the more you send the better the deal you get
Send one hub or part $55
If you can bead blast the parts before you send them its cheaper Appox $220 do do the main job lot