drum polishing

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miken5678
Posts: 113
Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 4:28 am
Location: Jax

drum polishing

Postby miken5678 » Sun Apr 04, 2010 9:12 pm

Ok, after spending a long weekend cleaning up both front and rear hubs and starting to polish them I can see atleast with my equipment that it will take ages. My question is is there someone out there that can work miracles for a decent price?

I am very tempted to just toss them in the blast cabinet bead blast and see if there is a powder coating color that will be similar to alum however I am not sure of what the brake drum lining specs should be.. would be a waste to get them coated if new linings require it to be so hot it would screw up the coating..

I know how these spoke marks and dings are going to bug me and am very tempted to inquire as to nos drums or just a new set once considering the possible cost of linings and getting everything done...

feel free to point me in the right direction or offer up any advice.

bettyann
Posts: 57
Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2010 1:21 am

Re: drum polishing

Postby bettyann » Sun Apr 04, 2010 10:55 pm

You have to sand out scratches and spoke marks,with sand paper, then use finer and keep sanding down to 2000 ultra fine wet sand paper.
Then use coarse polishing compound and finer and finer till it shines like chrome.
You can have it powder coated with silver paint colored drums,but the scratches and spoke marks should be sanded out,
Then I would ask some one who knows if the powder coating might make the drums over heat under hard braking
Just an opinion. Capt Paul

miken5678
Posts: 113
Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 4:28 am
Location: Jax

Re: drum polishing

Postby miken5678 » Mon Apr 05, 2010 1:06 am

gotcha.. I have been sanding out scratches but using the buffing wheel in all the crevices etc becomes a pain in the rear.. I went ahead and for fun cut out the vents.. not a total cut out however just cut out the lines and the center piece that seperates them if it makes sense. I was bored etc however had I had aclear mind I wouldnt have opened the one up on the speedo gear side.. duh..

I have used some sandpaper to knock things down however there are some decent nicks and I assumed trying to polish them out to a mirror finish would be a pain and assumed with the pc'ing that it might help with a slightly imperfect surface.. and some of the spoke marks mentioned are in the actual mount are in the counter sunk area.. as the bike had some sort of steel chrome rim I assume someone did a botch job of lining up the spokes and it caused the issue.. deep enough I cant sand those out.. just hope to get spokes to cover up the damage

Paul did you polish your own?

bettyann
Posts: 57
Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2010 1:21 am

Re: drum polishing

Postby bettyann » Mon Apr 05, 2010 1:51 am

Yes I've polished 3 sets,the early ones have small fins in the center,the later ones have wide easy to polish drums,after i got them fine sanded,I put the drum in a drill press and spun the drum slowly with a soft piece of rope round it with polishing compound on it,with a strong rubber band to put a slight tension on it, and let it run for a while and kept putting fresh compound on the rope regularly.Then move it to the next grove and do the same.
It takes the boredom out of polishing,I've polished fork tubes on a drill press also,but my lathe does it better.
There's a polishing place near my home,they do excellent work, but I'll bet it costs a lot to do all the parts on a motor and wheels
Capt Paul

miken5678
Posts: 113
Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 4:28 am
Location: Jax

Re: drum polishing

Postby miken5678 » Mon Apr 05, 2010 2:43 pm

I was considering my drill press however just didnt get to it yet.. tried the lathe however the drums are to large for it... how did you get the outer covers done? I have been using air tools/dremel and manually using sandpaper.. it does take some time..

also did you coat your alumn once you finished polishing? or has anyone gone with the clear powdercoating as a protectant?

nortnlvr
Posts: 33
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2009 6:54 pm

Re: drum polishing

Postby nortnlvr » Thu Apr 29, 2010 11:49 am

I bought a bench polisher from Harbor freight for $50.00, sanded my drums, and polished the hell out of them with the bench polisher. Shines like chrome, took a couple of hours!

miken5678
Posts: 113
Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 4:28 am
Location: Jax

Re: drum polishing

Postby miken5678 » Sun May 09, 2010 1:45 am

nortnlvr wrote:I bought a bench polisher from Harbor freight for $50.00, sanded my drums, and polished the hell out of them with the bench polisher. Shines like chrome, took a couple of hours!



i dont have an issue with the flat easy to reach areas however in the nooks and curves it is proving difficult.. any photos of your work?


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