Just having fun cleaning up

Today was a doozy! My wife woke up this morning with the left side of her neck and upper left chest swollen and not feeling too good. She is under treatment for breast cancer and has a port a cath (VAD) that her chemo was introduced through in that area. First thing I though of was she had a clot there which is not good. Called her doctor who told her to come in. Me erring on the safe side took off the day to take her in. We spent all day at the doctors office and the hospital getting sonograms and dye test. Thankfully everything came out clear and no problems, doctor scheduled her to get the VAD out in about a week since she does not need it anymore.
Once we got home I was tired but had some pent up energy, so I grabbed my little grease monkey (Daughter Zoe) and headed to Harbor Freight. I was going to get a motorcycle jack there but did not like the one they had in stock. Looking around I found a cheap grinder set up for polishing. I grabbed it, a few extra wheels, some polishing compound sticks and extended warranty (this model is known to go out in a period of 10 months to a year depending on use).
Upon getting home I got the polishing grinder (??) out and got to work for the next two hours. I had previously hand polished the rocker covers by hand using 100, 150, 800, 1200 and 2000 grit sandpaper and my cheap hand drill with a small polishing pad with some good end results. I took them off again and used the polishing wheels and was amazed!! I decided to go crazy and pull the right hand cover off ( cannot remember the name of the case that holds the points) and got to it.



Not too bad for a first time if I say so myself!!

In getting the cover off I think I have decided to go with an electronic ignition, just have to find a good set to put on!

Now since I have started this I guess I will be taking all the aluminum covers off to clean up and polish now! At least my wife does not mind, she says I am as giddy as a school girl working on this bike!

Ciao :mrgreen:

Uh Oh, another one bites the buffer wheel deal, betcha can't stop till you've taken your fork sliders off too : )
Don't get too zoned out, especially smaller items, as when just about finished they get whipped out of hand bing bong clink clank, to start over with sand paper or files again : (

Hope your wife bounces back fine and appreciates the new gleam on your mistress.

hobot

Ahh, and it starts. Once you polish that first part there is no stoping. The part next to the polished one looks bad, and the cycle continues. Good to hear your wife is responding well to treatment. My dad and my father in law both have cancer. My dad had kidney and femur cancer. they removed the kidney and replaced the femur with Ti. It's been over a year cancer free. My father in law juust got his clean bill last month. Wonders of medicine. After all the things my dad has been thru ( he got hurt at work 25 years ago, slipped disc's, turned into 23 surgeries, 3 hips, shoulder toes ankles periphirel nuropethy the cancer. Body cast's, powered wheel chair, cane's crutches etc....) He walks unassisted rather well. He is the million dollar man. So I know there is hope for anything life throws at you.

Sounds like a nice ending to a miserable day.

Here's to future similar days haveing the miserable part ending earlier and the nice part starting sooner and lasting longer!

It was a good way to end the day! The only parts I want to do are the Z Plates (have to take off to replace the ISOs), transmission cover and primary cover. I want to get a good feel on the bike and get her up and running good but expect by next winter I may be taking her down all the way !? Besides the ISOs I need to put new shims on the swing-arm, get the brakes working, new tires and probably changed the bearings in the wheels. I am sure this is only about 10% of everything that needs done but I will get there slowly! I cannot believe I am having this much fun though, should have done something like this years ago!!

I too started out hand rubbing, then tried drill in a vice with buffer wheel, whoa!
No end in sight and on 2nd bigger set of drill end buffer wheels now but scared what I might get into with a powerful full speed set up. Best is enough power to melt carrier wax and some of the metal surface too. Your first shot out of hand piece is still lurking to gain the full scope of polishing mood levels.

Just for info, don't worry too much about trying to polish the indented parts of the Z plates. They won't grind down to a fine finish. Best thing is just take some Simichrome or Mothers AL polish and shine them up. The edges can be polished up fine though. I even took a file to the casting mark on the bottom center and polished up all the edges.

Wear eye/face protection and apron all the time and use a pair of pliers to hold the parts securely and make sure you hold them securely. Otherwise they will be inside the sheet rock on the other side of the room or in the ceiling. Put on a baseball hat to keep the buffing grease out of your hair if you have any. The wifey doesn't like the grease in the bed. Don't ask.

Dave
69S

I lost my points cover once but the buffer is not really high speed so it just bounced. I used my mechanic gloves to keep a good hold and watched myself pretty close, military forces safety on us and it becomes second nature, especially when your the safety nco!

Thanks Doug, I had my safety glasses an gloves on and some old clothes but will be investing in an apron. As far as hair, I shave my head, makes for easy cleanup, lol!!

warpedscout said:

As far as hair, I shave my head, makes for easy cleanup, lol!!

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Time is doing that to me :mrgreen:

Jean

Jeandr said:

Time is doing that to me :mrgreen:

Jean

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yea and all that money you save on razor's you spend on nortons :lol:

HOB, YOU ARE NEVER GOING OUT DRESSED UP WITH ALL THAT GLITTER ARE YOU :?: :lol:

hobot said:

I too started out hand rubbing, then tried drill in a vice with buffer wheel, whoa!
No end in sight and on 2nd bigger set of drill end buffer wheels now but scared what I might get into with a powerful full speed set up. Best is enough power to melt carrier wax and some of the metal surface too. Your first shot out of hand piece is still lurking to gain the full scope of polishing mood levels.

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Oh ugh John, only the photo's will be shiny after my first trip to pavement. I'm going to have to clear coat and plastic coat stuff plus have 3 mud flaps plus splash guard to try to slow down the finish decay and abrasion. I know coatings will tend to dull the 'mirrors' but still brighter longer, safe to just wipe grit off, than trying to keep up with wax and sanding > buffing each trip. 3rd mud guard goes in front of rear tire below swing arm, likely a leather piece.

BTW you sure can get the hollars of Z plates fine polished but takes hand sanding and hand rubbing corners, to fatigue, a few times, to get nice as can be.

What's been on my mind is what to cover the crash bars with to replace regularly for nicer appearance out and about. I gave up on SV frame sliders, still work as new with a good bit ground off each side.

Oh yeah, besides pieces flung away, must stay on guard not to let odd shaped pieces touch the spinning buffer shaft : (

Just got back from Texas learning to 'cut' opals with spinning sand paper and lap wheel. Norton parts were great pre-training for this tedium that can go real wrong right at the very end.

One time a polish salesman came to our door. The house had two front doors, two knobs, two handles. The guy gets right to it "Let me show how great this polish is . . . . . and he starts in on one of the handles . .. . shines up bright. Then he stops polishing and commences with the closing . . . . . no sale . . .. one handle polished, the two knobs and the other handle still tarnished and dull. Left us with an eyesore that lasted 6 months.

LOL!, yes sir this polishing stuff is pretty all or nothing, though I've seen some neat examples of rat rusted old bike with a few prefect chrome or polished pieces to stand out for double takes out of place.