Polishing Entire Trike!

[Instinctz]

Project in its self, Ive decided to polish my frame and numerous other parts. One it will look cool, and be cheap. Seccond, once I do get it powdered, it will look even cooler!

But anyways, ive mainly decided to do this sense I have some time till I will have the 250r project from the ground up, complete. So ive gone to polishing. I started with a drimel metal cut tip, to get the rust off, and down to bare metal, and for larger peices, im using a full size drill with some strange buffing tool. Which does take the paint off well, and leaves it looking nicer than the drimel. I am goin to buy new tools, and tips tomarow, but thats what I use untill then. Ive worked on it for about an hour and a half, total. Not too much to show yet, but I was experimenting with the tools. Once I get it basicly all down to the metal, I'll go in with the fine grit 800, then 1000 to make it shine!

Here is the pictures:
http://www.midwesttrikers.com/photos/iz_rides/250r_polish1.jpg
http://www.midwesttrikers.com/photos/iz_rides/250r_polish2.jpg
http://www.midwesttrikers.com/photos/iz_rides/250r_polish3.jpg
http://www.midwesttrikers.com/photos/iz_rides/250r_polish_action.jpg

[Instinctz]

And no im not cutting into my frame :-P , 97% of that spark is just the retarded tip, lol. Although it would cut that frame in half, eventualy.

[als250]

:shock: WOW!! What an undertaking!! Once you're all done are you gonna clearcoat it or something? Won't it rust, otherwise? I don't think you have an aluminum frame! Do you? :?

Al

[Instinctz]

Well I dont do woods riding, or hardly ever get it wet. Its garage kept, as is everything of mine. I will also have it coated with morthers shine or something lol, but that should keep it from rusting, and shines better.

It really looks cool in person!

[dirtbike77]

i wanted to do ma trike that way to but i dont know what to start with ( sand paper)

[YAMAHA_Jim]

The best way to get rid of all that paint is with a good sandblaster.I stripped a tri-z frame/swingarm to bare metal in under 10 minutes using Black Beauty slag(granular coal).I borrowed the sandblaster and the Black Beaty is about $10 for an 80lb bag.If you dont have a sandblaster an auto body shop might do it for small fee.Zip Strip paint remover works well too but its messy and burns your skin.After that, all you have to do is sand the frame to a smooth finish trailprotrailpro you start polishing...just trying to save u some time.
If your gonna polish the whole thing,I wouldnt get it wet afterwords.Rust can and will appear around every bolt hole and crevice after you reassemble it. Good luck with it.

[Billy Golightly]

It will 100% absolutely rust no matter what. Unless you always keep it in a airtight chamber and never take it out. And if you clearcoat it, better get it clear coated good, because everyplace it would get scratched, chipped, or wore off its going to rust there too.

[CHAINSAW]

If you know how to polish bare metal, you can keep it from rusting. Clear coating a piece will not work.. It only traps in the chemicals and liquid inside the metal, and it cant escape.. then it will rust, under your clear coat. (Metal has to breathe) If you polish it to a sleek and very clean finish, it will not rust if you keep polishing it. Polished parts must always be rubbed and buffed, because lets be honest, it looks like crap if its not.
I dont suggest using chemicals to remove paint. All it does, is come back to bite you in the end. The chemicals can get trapped in tight places, and stay there. They will eventually seep out, and ruin a finish. Best way, is the way he is doing it.. good ole fashioned elbow grease.

Oh, and the climate has pretty much everything to do with it. Here in the Central U.S. a polished bare metal piece can stay outside in the weather for a month, before surface rust starts. Honestly, with low humidity, and not much rainfall in our area, once a year it will need a good polishing if you have it garage kept.

[250rmanfmf]

yea, HondaATC is right, the moment it gets outside, it will rust. Have you thought about Chrome?? it may be expensive but could probably get it done for $500. it looks like a painful process the way you are doing it and just dont want you to spend 40 hours on the thing and then have it rust on you.

[CHAINSAW]

You guys who keep saying it will rust live on either coasts.. You dont know how the weather is here on dry land. If done right, it will not rust the minute is gets outside. 10 years of auto body experience talking here, so I know a little what Im talking about.

[plkmonster2]

you should crome it! it would be wicked with a cromed motor!

[sportvette]

that frame will rust!!!! you cant just sand it down!!! you can do this only with aluminum or stainless steel. regular steel will rust, and it will do it fast. like two weeks. even humidity will make that thing rust. trust me.

[Billy Golightly]

I can only speak from my own experience, and having lived in damp, wet Florida where theres a 1/2 inch of dew every morning, It would not last more then a few hours without getting surface rust. When I sand blasted the 500X's gas tank, I let it set in the shop overnight. When I came back the next day to paint it, there was already surface rust developing in areas. I had to sand it back off with a few peices of sand paper.

[FullBore]

It wil rust, even if its just standing in a dry garage, moisture will form on the metal as condensation at night and it will be speckled with rust in a couple of days, thats why we paint things, so they don't go rusty.

Nat

[Instinctz]

For you none believers, I guess you'll just have to see mine after its done, and a week after, month or what ever. It aint gonna rust, I live in a friggen desert, no such thing as dirt here. Its a dune only trike, and it will be powdercoated before I am finished.

Im not gonna use strippers, and I might sandblast it, but like I said im doin this to waste time so I could careless if its 40 hours. Drr :rolleyes:

[Instinctz]

As for your gas tank rusting overnight.. its been over 50 hours since I started, and it doesnt have any dust / rust / or anything on it...

[Tri-Z dude]

keep going Instinctz
remember, more u sand and drill, more pics u have to take cause i want to see it done also
it will look awsome
Ben

[Billy Golightly]

For you none believers, I guess you'll just have to see mine after its done, and a week after, month or what ever. It aint gonna rust, I live in a friggen desert, no such thing as dirt here. Its a dune only trike, and it will be powdercoated before I am finished.

Im not gonna use strippers, and I might sandblast it, but like I said im doin this to waste time so I could careless if its 40 hours. Drr :rolleyes:


Alrighty....

Heres another thing to think about, how are you going to clean it (Before, and after its assembled) without water or some other corrosive material?

[wanta250r]

If he cleaned it with water couldn't you get all the water off and it wouldn't rust or am i just stupid -D

[CHAINSAW]

Mother Polish, or fine grit polishing compound protects from moisture (i.e. car wax) If you just spray something down, and not wipe it off, it will rust. Like I said before, if done right, in Oklahoma where he is from, bare metal will not rust. I could take a pic of a practice piece of metal I polished over 3 months ago when I did my 250R, but I know good and well people will call it a fake. It has been sitting with mothers polish on it, and has little to no surface rust. I only took 5 minutes polishing it, and didnt get it smooth to really prevent rust.

[Thebasher]

Here is what it will look like
http://www.boomspeed.com/thebasher/Chrome250rframe.JPG

I dont know about where you live but here in Florida that frame would rust in a matter of hours. Good luck

[nuttybazerko]

i don't know about oklahoma, but if you did that in indiana it would rust the next day! i hope it works! i polished my aluminum rims on my truck, obviously they didn't rust, but they got dull even with mothers wheel wax. i hope yours stays shiny. you won't take it to trikefest up here in indianer will ya?

[Howdy]

Here is what it will look like
http://www.boomspeed.com/thebasher/Chrome250rframe.JPG

I dont know about where you live but here in Florida that frame would rust in a matter of hours. Good luck

Nice frame there. I should do that with a 350x frame.
Howdy

[Jeb]

I almost hate to encourage this, but...

I have a bare metal bill's pipe on my Tri-Z. After every ride I have to clean the pipe off, then give it a good rub down with wd-40. If i don't do this after every ride, I will come back the next time and it'll have little rust spots all over it. then i have to rub it down with scotch bright and WD40 but it usually cleans up pretty easy. too much work to me. Just the pipe is more bare steel than I want to mess with so I couldn't imagine a whole frame, with tiny corners and seems and such. I don't live in the desert, so at least he's got the dry climate going for him.