Aluminum Cosmetics

[Rick Iverson]

Gents:

I have a couple empty Hewland MK bearing carriers, one of which is fabulously pristine. Over the years, oxidation has tarnished the cast finish, and it is my intention to restore both of these to the bright factory finish before selling.

Any help on a vendor?

[DanW]

Mothers Aluminum polish. Follow the directions.

Napa Aluminum Brightner - (phosphoric acid) spray on, wait 60 seconds, wash off.

[TimH]

S100 cleaner from any motorcycle shop. Also spray on, rinse off.

[stonebridge20]

Vapor hone.

Yes......I do !

[stonebridge20]

This is a Mk case we did half of about 3 months ago.

I never put any kind of oxidation inhibitor on it.

[Rick Iverson]

Gents:

Does soda blasting remove ANY material?

[tlracer]

Gents:

Does soda blasting remove ANY material?

From my understanding, soda blasting works in two ways:

Abrasive - the soda particles will remove loose material. Because it's soft, the media 'explodes' when it hits the component and it's this energy that strips deposits, etc off

Chemical - soda is sodium bicarbonate which is alkaline, making it very good for removing grease & oil (it's remarkably efficient for cleaning baked-on fat/grease in a domestic oven too - from food cooking as well as when you have been heating components to extract bearings, etc!)

Because it's alkaline, aluminium parts need to be cleaned thoroughly afterwards to remove any traces. Just a good wash-over with plain water will be fine, then dry with an airline to get any water out of crevices, etc.

Choosing the right blasting media is all about what you need to remove - if it's just light surface tarnish then soda should be fine. I would mask off or plug any critical holes, threads, etc. before blasting.

[pooch776]

Vapor hone.

Yes......I do !

Mike,

I have restored a number of cars and have never been completely happy with the results I can achieve with a wire wheel, bead blasting, and/or painting gearbox cases.

Please help educate me. Is vapor honing the same as wet blasting? What media is used? Do you use a corrosion inhibitor to prevent oxidation? What is the cost to vapor hone a gearbox case?

Have you ever tried a REM finish on a gearbox case?

Thanks, Joe

[tlracer]

Vapour-honing, or vapour-blasting, uses fine powdered glass most commonly as the media. I've had various castings cleaned up - gearbox casings, oil tanks, uprights, etc. and the finish is excellent.

Far better than wire brush as it keeps the original cast surface intact and not anywhere as aggressive as coarser media that can damage softer metals like aluminium.

The other thing I've used is cut wire media - this is as it says, small pieces of steel wire - which I found excellent for replicating sand-cast surfaces where the original has been heavily worn or repaired.

[Rick Iverson]

Timo:

This is precisely what I was looking for. Good stuff here.

Thx, Bud.

From my understanding, soda blasting works in two ways:

Abrasive - the soda particles will remove loose material. Because it's soft, the media 'explodes' when it hits the component and it's this energy that strips deposits, etc off

Chemical - soda is sodium bicarbonate which is alkaline, making it very good for removing grease & oil (it's remarkably efficient for cleaning baked-on fat/grease in a domestic oven too - from food cooking as well as when you have been heating components to extract bearings, etc!)

Because it's alkaline, aluminium parts need to be cleaned thoroughly afterwards to remove any traces. Just a good wash-over with plain water will be fine, then dry with an airline to get any water out of crevices, etc.

Choosing the right blasting media is all about what you need to remove - if it's just light surface tarnish then soda should be fine. I would mask off or plug any critical holes, threads, etc. before blasting.