where's the christmasie thingies admin

[britman]

Flip,

I am glad the stone has done it's dastardly deed and passed. You know how I feel about the loss of your little one. Must have been one well loved little fighter. I still can't get another cat since old GC has gone and probably never will. Put your mind on the steel and go on.

 

[Sidecar Flip]

George:

Steel and Aluminum now. I'm multi-talented. I'm half assed thinking about making the brake line clamps in 6061 and color anodizing them. The only problem would be the capscrews would still be bright stainless.

 

[travelguy]

flipstr, glad to see that experience is over for you. never been a heavy dairy products person but i shall be even less now.
with reguards to anodizing... when my bike is down for the trans i want to do the forks in black. service manager cautioned me against black chrome, stripping erosion etc. and i was thinking black anodized but im not sure of how exactly they do that. in your opinion is that a better idea for the front forks ?
sam

 

[Sidecar Flip]

A technical dissertation of anodizing....

flipstr, glad to see that experience is over for you. never been a heavy dairy products person but i shall be even less now.
with reguards to anodizing... when my bike is down for the trans i want to do the forks in black. service manager cautioned me against black chrome, stripping erosion etc. and i was thinking black anodized but im not sure of how exactly they do that. in your opinion is that a better idea for the front forks ?
sam

The best idea would be powder coat or catalyzed urethane. I know you don't want to hear that. You might also consider "Parkerizing' which is a bath process that apllies a thin black coating that's also has lubricating qualities. Finally, you could consider TiN coating which is a sprayed on (plasma) coat that consists of Titaninum Nitride. That's the gold colored coat you are seeing on high end fork sliders. It has inherent lubricating qualities but interestingly Titaninum Dioxide TiCn is a better coating but isn't as pretty. Parkerizing is what gun people refer to as 'bluing', however, Parkerizing and bluing are 2 different things. Bluing is a brush on or spray on dye and Parkerizing is a plated on coating.

Anodizing is cathodic plating using a mineral/salt bath. The part, in this case, your fork leg, is the anode and a lead plate is the cathode. The color or pigment is in the mineral bath which is electrically conductive. A pre-determined amount of amperage and voltage (dc) is applied to the lead plate (remember) DC current travels from negative to positive (your fork leg) and plates the fork leg. The fork leg is submerged in the bath so it gets plated inside too and you don't want that. The 'plate' is very thin, a couple of microns but it might make a difference on the internal dimensions depending on how critical they are which I don't know. Aluminum is porous and the plating bath actually migrated into the pores of the metal bonding the material and pigment to the parent material. Time, the acid strength, the bath temperature and the applied current determines the 'plate' thickness. Color anodizing is just a pigment, you can use food coloring, that migrates into the pores of the metal. Hard anodizing is simply oxidizing the outer layer which forms a hard coat like 'white rust' but uniform and translucent. It's quite possible to do anodizing 'at home'. The only precaution is the acid which is sulfuric and because it's hot, it gives off corrosive fumes which obviously are hazardous to your health and sense of smell.

Eventually, I'll offer my alloy parts anodized in any color. I have to set up a plating area, have proper ventilation and a good high amperage filtered DC power supply, all things that will come along in the future. I'll be able to Parkerize too. Plasma coatings are best left to jobbers that have the specialized equipment and the know how.

 

[travelguy]

thanks flip.
sam

 

[busajack]

Travel

Hey travel,when your done digesting Flips metallurgy class,try this.All that plating stuff is the best way but you,ll never get them back together without scratching..Ive got 2 dollars in this vinyl method..BJC

 

[Sidecar Flip]

Jack:

Looks like a corset............

 

[busajack]

Flip

Flip, had to go this route because of my emence member.Real PITA..And sometimes it leaks at the hinges..YUK

 

[busajack]

Jeeezzze talk about of topic....BJC

 

[Sidecar Flip]

Dang Jack:

Bling on a budget................

I did your exhaust log paint job complete with the chrome black out and posted it under custom mods but got no replies. I liked it as well as yours but I guess no one else does. I even made sure there was no 'filth' on the bike when I took the picture.