Lessons Learned While Vibrating

The title is much more interesting than the actual subject.

I've been continuing to test the results of using a vibratory tumbler to remove rust and help refinish some parts. As a result I've learned a couple of things that I thought I'd pass along to anyone who stumbles across this post.

First, despite the tumbler being noisy and annoying you should not put it on the patio, beside your grill, unattended. My tumbler, let's call her Vicky, had a dream and wanted to fly. Having the aerodynamic form of a witches kettle and the propulsion of a potato, she only flew about 3-1/2 feet... straight down. The bowl, which holds the parts while they vibrate, loosened causing the amplitude of the vibrations to increase substantially. This caused Vicky to walk to and over the edge of the counter, plunging her to the cement below. Just before Vicky hit the ground her cord made a valiant attempt to save her but to no avail. All the cord managed to do was yank itself out of the switch, shutting down the motor - which was probably a blessing.

The other lesson learned was, "be patient". It took a long time for those parts to build up that layer of rust and grunge and it's going to take a long time for it to come off. Sure, you can spend hours with sand paper or a wire wheel on your grinder (I've done both) to remove the grime but both of those methods require your time and attention. A tumbler can do it while you do something else. It's nice to think that something is getting done without you having to be an active participant. The power of multi-tasking finally realized.

I'm sure, as Vicky and I get to know each other better, we'll have new adventures. I can't wait to try polishing something with walnut shells. I started a series of pictures showing the parts I was polishing but with Vicky's attempt at flying and the malfunction of my kitchen timer (another story for another day) I didn't get any other shots. Sorry about that. I'll make it up some way on a future post.

Refinishing Parts

Refinishing parts is going to absorb a LOT of my time in the near future. It's already starting to and I've barely scratched the literal surface of things. I'm trying to reduce the amount of labor as much as possible so I've been using some chemical stripper and a new toy to remove some of the old paint and rust from the smaller parts. The larger ones I plan to have mediablasted as soon as I find the right place to do the work.


I decided to try a vibratory tumbler to de-rust and polish nuts, bolts, and small pieces of hardware. I picked up this little tumbler at Harbor Freight, along with some media to remove rust without rounding off edges or destroying threads.





The Operating instructions say 2 to 6 hours is required to remove rust so I thought I'd do a little test. I threw the media, along with some pieces of the rear brake, into the tumbler and fired it up. The series of pictures below are from time zero, 30-minutes, and 60 minutes of tumbling. I'll continue the test and re-post the series when I have more time but so far things look great. The rust was noticably reduced in only 30 minutes.


I have learned two things in using this tool. It is noisy. Not loud really but it's like a maracca being shaken by someone who missed their ADD medication and drank a LOT of coffee. After an hour of listening to this in my garage I was ready for something else. AC/DC couldn't even drown it out.


The other thing to note is that the instructions, which tell you to wait an hour before opening up the tub, should be followed. A huge cloud of dust doesn't blot out the sun if you don't, but there is a lot of dust and it doesn't seem like dust you should be inhailing. I don't know if an hour is really necessary but 10 minutes was not enough. I was impatient, what can I say?





The other tool I experimented with was a wire wheel on my grinder. I used it to get the rust off of the passenger footpeg supports and the front brake cover.





I did managed to get one part primed: the door to the tool box. It was pretty badly rusted so I sanded off the remaining paint and as much of the rust as I could. I sprayed it with a rust-stopper from Dupli-color. It started out as a clear coat and as it cured turned black. I'm pleased with the final result. It still needs some final sanding and paint but so far I'm quite pleased.

I'll be stripping, grinding and sanding a lot more but I feel like I'm making progress. I still need to find someone for the engine work but there is not shortage of work to do while I get that sorted out.

More to come. Happy Cycling.

Wheel Rebuild Started

I must have been bored during my holiday break because I decided the wheels on the Cubbie were in need of more than a clean-up. I've removed all the spokes from the rear, liberating the hub so it can be thoroughly cleaned and repainted. I can also get the remaining rust off of the rim and polish it more easily without the spokes in the way.

Before I disassembled the front I measured the offsets and took a LOT of pictures so I'm fairly confident I can get it back together. I've built bicycle wheels and they're really the same except for the size and gauge of the spokes.

Only one spoke snapped during disassembly. I am hoping to polish everything for reuse but some of the nipples are very badly rusted. I like the idea of putting the bike back together with as many original parts as possible but only if I'm left with a clean, safe cycle.

The front rim is a bit bent but I hope to be able to straighten it and keep it trued up as I relace the wheel. If not I'm sure someone will sell me a shiny new chrome one. I didn't start on it because I don't have a spoke wrench of the proper size. One more tool to add to the set. I didn't have a spoke wrench for the rear spokes either but I had a combination wrench that fit the spoke nipples perfectly. I may be purchasing a wrench for the front tomorrow and spending some quality time with it tomorrow night.

I'm just about at the stage that I can start having parts painted. The plan of attack is to to get a rolling chassis finished first, starting with the wheels. Then work on the engine, electronics, and finally the finishing touches like cables, seat, lights, wiring and the hundred other things I'm forgetting. LOTS yet to be done but I'm really enjoying the process.

Much, much more to come later.
Happy New Year!