pk ripper help needed

[Geordie]

i am restoring a looptail ripper and have come to a dead end. the bike was white when i got it but the paint was bad and needed stripping. the paint is now off and i've got to choose a colour. i would like the bike to have the original ballburnished finish but i cant find a company anywhere in the country that can do this for me. my m8 thats helping me has had a phone call from a company today that says they can apply chrome lacquer to the bike which apparentley can be made to look like a dull ballburnished finish. i know that se never did chrome pk's and i'm not sure about this process, if it dosen't come out looking 100% i wont like it. my other option was to have the bike powdered black and go for all gold parts but i want to go for all top end parts 401's, powerwing bars, hutch beartraps etc and they are all available in chrome and too expensive to annodise gold. so if anyone knows of anyway to get this to the original ballburnished finish please share it.

[Steve P]

Just strip all the paint and polish it with Peak or Autosol

Here's my Mini Ripper which was painted when I got it











Cheers

Steve 

[Geordie]

thanks steve, i'll try that first, the full size rippers look duller than your mini though or is that just there age? yours looks chromed. did you use a machine to polish that up or have you got forearms like popeye? and did you need to lacquer over the top of it to protect it from the elements

[Steve P]

did you use a machine to polish that up or have you got forearms like popeye?

No machines used here . . . all by hand with the odd can of spinach 

The frame was prepared with grade 1000 wet 'n' dry and soapy water before polishing. This smooths out any minor scratches and makes the entire polishing process much simpler with better results

My Pro XL is ball burnished and it still dulls slightly when in storage but a quick flick with the Peak soon brings the shine back again



Cheers

Steve 

[Bigplinky]

If you get the frame GLASS bead or vapour blasted (glass beads in water) it should give a polished alloy finish without damaging the metal (but ask the blasters advise first), plenty of motorcycle resto companies advertise it. Personnally I would just use wet and dry paper up to 1200 or 1500 grade ( use wet, regular dipping in water and washing up liquid solution) and then polish with autosol to get rid of the last scratches, the finish will dull with time.

Andy

[Geordie]

thanks lads, quality advice as usual, i'm going to take some pics of the bare frame this weekend and i'll post them up then i think it's polishing time. i've found out a little more about the ballburnishing over the last couple of days, it's done in wooden barrels which are full of small metal balls to which they add a small amount of water and cleaning solution the balls vibrate or turn around in the barrel which ballburnishes the item. we've been told that it's still possible to have items up to a foot in length done but nobody knows of any company in the uk that can handle anything the size of a frame. se must have had specific  equipment made to do the frames bitd.

[Waxintaxin]

The finnish on the originals was ball burnished , and this process is suppose to keep the alloy shinyish, if you polish it out , it will dull with time , as personally i like them dull not super shiny i would hold out for a ball burnishers , there has to be one somewhere.

Rich

[Geordie]

there is m8 but none with big enough equipment to do a frame

[Waxintaxin]

That sounds like a challenge 

I will try and help

Rich

[Geordie]

quality m8, are ya going to make a huge ballburnishing machine a-team stylee from a few old bits of junk you've got lying around?
  if you are count me in if i can be face man cause he never does any work and gets all the birds.........