Is there an easy way of polishing aluminium with chemicals or maybe rotating with something in a drum ?

I would try to polish the gear and footbrake assemblies and its a rather arduous job doing it the mechanical way.
_________________
Poul
"If Life Gets Boring, Risk It!"
MC21SE, KISS box
MC21SP, HRC box, racing loom

I use this stuff called NEVER DULL. Its sold in a can and works really nice on alloy. Tear off a bit of the big swab, rub it on the aluminum part and polish it off. It requires some hard work, but will be worth it when you are done. Cheers

find a mate who has an abrasive buff wheel. Take about 20 seconds to turn them into mirrors!
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........."I love the smell of 2-stoke in the morning.......Smells like victory"............

MC21 Pentax SP...... TYGA'D

Dremel rotary tool is your friend. Use that with the Mothers Mag and Aluminum Polish and its done in a couple minutes.

Plus with the dremel you can now cut, grind, drill, polish and so many other things any items yuo want. I've used my dremel to cut bearings, cut bearing races, cut off rusted nuts, polish metal, cut fiberglass, and a whole list of other things. Comes in very handy.

The mothers Mag and Aluminum Polish will work by itself but you will need a little elbow grease to get it done.
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Charles Gallant

Chemicals no; media tumbling maybe. problem is there is about thousand different typs of media for polishing. The wrong one could destroy the part. I have to wonder why I never hear of aluminum being polished with media tumbling. In any case, if the part has anodising on it that will have to be removed first. Basically the anodising will have to be sanded off. Some use the help of Easy-Off oven cleaner.
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james
Its not how fast you go...Its how you go fast.
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Out of those suggestions i would have to agree with Jamies idea of the never dull product if your going to do it on a budget.
I run a small custom polishing business, i am doing all the alloy on my mc21 as its going to be used as a show/promo bike.
Cgallant: The idea with the dremel is good, i have one of these but if you dont own one costs can creep up if your trying to do it cheap.
If you wanted to polish on a tight budget i would say use wet and dry sandpaper. Start with the oven cleaner to strip the oxidation off the part, then a low grade like 240 and work your way up to 800-1000 then use the never dull and some elbow grease to get a good finish.

if you're going to do it on a budget.

Not on a budget, I just want it done the easiest way

jako: what is the easiest way to polish ?

The wet and dry is only useable on flat surfaces but if you want to polish f.ex. the footrest brackets, so the backside also looks like new, wet and dry and neverdull is almost impossible to use.

What powder and technic would be used for tumbling aluminium ?
_________________
Poul
"If Life Gets Boring, Risk It!"
MC21SE, KISS box
MC21SP, HRC box, racing loom

For parts that DONT have flat surfaces like you have explained, i would use the oven cleaner, then all my work would be done with my dremel or other rotary tools with polishing attachments and different compounds.
In my experiences from metal polishing here in new zealand and australia i havent come across the tumbling method, so im unable to give advice there sorry.
As for the easiest way to polish it would have to be with commercial tools, either a bench grinder or barrel/straight grinder with polishing mops/wheels. Different compounds and applications will essentially make your work alot easier and an improved finish.

If you dont have the tools, and there is no budget, i would suggest taking it to a polishing company getting them to do it, or you could even look at the option of electroplating/chroming!

I can tell you a little something about media polishing. When I have my headers coated with ceramic, they polish it with a ceramic bead in vibrator. The coating mostly aluminum. This polished the coating inside and outside the header. But I don't know how it work on a raw aluminum. Maybe if can remember I'll call the place that coats my headers.
_________________
james
Its not how fast you go...Its how you go fast.
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Is it similar to sandblasting process then a coating applied?
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Jako's Custom Metal Polishing
currently building show/promo MC21

Do you mean ceramic coating? Its similar to powder coating or painting. First the part is sandblasted with 100g silica. Then coating is painted on and baked at high tempature. Then the part goes into the media vibrator. When they can't put the part ino the vibrator, then they use very fine steel wool to polish the part, but it doesn't look as nice. When my headers come out they almost look like chrome.
_________________
james
Its not how fast you go...Its how you go fast.
MC21 Rothmans
RS250
RC31
CRF250X
748R
Porsche (many)
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what would the cost of ceramic coating be compared to metal polishing?
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Jako's Custom Metal Polishing
currently building show/promo MC21

Well, cermaic coating is basically don to control heat. If you don't have a heat issue your tying to control then its probably cheaper just to have it powder coated. There is even a chrome paint now that looks about perfect. I do my own polishing so I don't know what the costs are, and since none of the options are compairable I've never done a cost anylisis. Probably similar since about the same labor is involved for all the above options, except chrome paint which is pretty expensive.
_________________
james
Its not how fast you go...Its how you go fast.
MC21 Rothmans
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Porsche (many)
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I know over here we call it HPC coating, used on performance car parts, just havent seen it polished before
Im a bit of a skeptic when it comes to that chrome paint....
In my opinion it would be the best option to take it to be professionally polished.
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Jako's Custom Metal Polishing
currently building show/promo MC21

I agree,, he should just send it out to polished if he doesn't want to do the work.

HPC (High-Performance Coatings) is the name of the company I use for coatings. They have several offices. You can actually buy the coatings from a company called Tech-Line. I have also used thier products.

From what people have told me the chrome paint actually works pretty well, but I don't know about durability.
_________________
james
Its not how fast you go...Its how you go fast.
MC21 Rothmans
RS250
RC31
CRF250X
748R
Porsche (many)
http://members.rennlist.com/j911brick/rennlist3_002.htm