polished frame

flyabusa

Registered
I have seen some busas with polished frames and was wondering if any one can give advice on the procedure on doing this. I have body work skills but not sure on how this is done and how much of the bike has to be taken apart.
 
Personally to strip the bike frame and swingarm all I used was a stripping wheel attached to a hand held drill . You can purchase the stripping wheel at mjhiers,lowes or any hardware store . It's a reddish brown round flat panacake sponge looking disk with a stem for attaching to a drill. I use it to remove the anodizing on the frame,swingarm and the rough texture on the mid part of the frame; but you may want to use the gray stripping wheel for this section . It should be located right beside the other wheel in the store so get both (brown and grey). For finishing I'll post a thread on it in few sec that will walk you through step by step .
 
POLISHING YOUR FRAME 101.

Knock u'r self out Playaz
 
If you use the stripping wheelz that I suggested you wont have this problem and leaves a smooth finish with no scratches.  Kinda hard to explain;but if you seen them you'll agree . These wheelz are for stripping wood.  Tru enuff with whatever you use try not to concentrate on the welded areaz.
 
I did the same thing except I used an angled die grinder with the burgandy 3m pads, then I used the grey pads to remove the heavy scratches. Then I water sanded the frame with 400 then 600,800,1000, then 1500. I used a buffing wheel attached to the angle die grinder and some aluminium rouge and finished up with mothers aluminium polish and a cotton cloth. The sanding part goes fairly quick. I took me about a week after work to do the frame on mine.

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I used products purchased from Caswell...Didn't read Rhythm's insert more than likely very close to the procedure I used...It took me about 8 hours start to finish on frame...Check out Caswell.com...They will send you info on polishing...Dirty job...
 
Nice work on the polishing guys...........
I always thought you'd chromed that baby.
 
Rythm that was a good link.

Polishing. Be prepared for a hell of a long( I do mean long) tedious job. I do not recomend doing it until winter when you have time. I did not use easy off when I did my r1. The anodizing is a %*%^$# to get off with sand paper. If the easy off works, that will save you hours upon hours of time.

The method I used differs only slightly.
Use a da sander with 220 to get through the first and hardest part. Then 3whatever, then 400, then 600, you should be starting to wet sand now. 800, 1000, 1500, and finish with 2000. Apply some blue magic, Mothers, Or whatever aluminum polish you prefer and your done.

When you finish sanding with a particular grit, you will have all of the grit marks sanded out from the last step. Go back and sand it 2 more times before you move up.

disclaimer, I am not an expert, it's what I did.


Painted surfaces such as wheels and anniversary busas, use Aircraft stripper to get the paint off. Works better than anything you can buy at the hardware store and does not harm aluminum. You can get this stuff at auto parts stores in an aerosol can.

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A question for you frame polishers. Did you guys remove the engine or polish around it? It seems like it would be easier to take it off.
 
Wow that looks like a lot of work but it also looks like it would pay off too. I guess I know what I will be doing this winter.
 
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O'k for all Ya that are asking what n the hell is the red wire coming out of the swingarm. I ran a hot wire thru the frame to exit thru the chainguard bolt hole to power my lit up chain guard. So there is really one bolt holding the chainguard on and the other bolt I just cutted off the stem and silconed the head of the bolt ontop of mounting hole of the chainguard to make it look as if it was bolted
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