Polishing Aluminium- It's your fault!

Right, after lots of input on my previous thread: http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=219758 from alot of you good people, I went away and rustled some alu forks out from underneath the LBS workbench and set about this as a test piece..

1" Steerer, 202mm long with a nice shape..are they Rudy Projects? - can anyone confirm or deny this?.. I do know that I picked on a set that are powder coated :twisted:



After B&Q paintstripper (shyte for this type of removal I may add) /wire wool and ALOT of sheer bloody mindedness on my part the grey undercoat was only clinging on to the welds:


This is after using 600 grade Wet & Dry..So easy after removing the powder coat!


800 grade Wet & Dry:


1200 grade Wet & Dry:


Polishing kit / Autosol ====PING!!!



I bought the polishing kit & mops for £13 off Ebay, used with a regular electric drill brought it to a result I hope to repeat again..I have the polishing bug now- despite pining for the 'old' Nitromors whilst battling with the powdercoat at the start. I'm sure there's better stuff out there than B&Q paintstripper, so let's hear it please I lost some of the weld details too, due to scrubbing away. How can this be avoided in future?

I'm not entirely sure what to do with these forks now as they were originally for my girlfriends build but that changed direction

Anyway, that's my bit for now, Cheers

best thing to do with those forks is.........buy a nice frame to hang off the back of them!!!

zetecmk2":2k807bwi said:

best thing to do with those forks is.........buy a nice frame to hang off the back of them!!!

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Unfortunately, the stable is truly full but I like your :idea:

next time you want to remove powder coat use wurths gasket remover peels off easily

saulus":oupmipli said:

" despite pining for the 'old' Nitromors whilst battling with the powdercoat at the start".

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Second that, spent £9 on a tin recently to strip a frame, threw the whole lot in the bin as it was useless, even on house paint :evil:. blame namby pamby "health and safety" for for forcing the company into taking out (or diluting ?) the ingridient that makes it work :roll:

Nice job though

Anything I'm polishing I have professionally acid dipped first. It's cheap and fast.
Here's my 2 main tools;



And some results;

Try Starchem paint remover - it does work - however I'd suggest having protective goggle, masks, gloves, overalls and working outside (applying it indoors is a definitely a no-no ) - as it's very
hazardous - had to sign a disclaimer when I purchased it at a specialist paint shop in Brighton - can be purchased on Ebay.

how about stripping my bonded trek 6000? what would be best I dont want to strip the glue out of the joints

Looks awesome... That AMP fork I amazing to

how about stripping my bonded trek 6000? what would be best I dont want to strip the glue out of the joints

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The Only way I know how you could safely strip the Trek Would be a good Media Blaster, that uses Nut Shells or Poly Balls.
This shouldnt cause any damage, But I wouldnt use Chemicals, But that is my opinion, But have had many a Delicate Classic car part blasted this way.