Going Racing

[The Prophet of Doom]

@Rikigun
The powder is the exact same powder they use commercially.  Prep is the key and I have the advantage there because I don't get rushed like a commercial place.
If you are spraying paint you get spray drift on everything nearby.  Would you spray in the garage next to your wife's 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL?  With powder you can.  It's just powder till it's baked so you sweep it up and it's gone.  You could do it in your living room and the wife would never know.  There's almost no smell either.

@Kiwibum
Great idea.  From the reading I've done it's best to not have the part in direct line of sight with the element as it can cause scorching, so perhaps some aluminium foil to obscure the element if doing it sideways?.  I built a hanger out of bronze welding rod and can hang longer parts from both ends if I need to.  It's pretty obvious that this toaster over won't stay long as many of the parts I want to do are larger than a chicken.
I have the same power issue in my garage.  I see some trenching in my future.

[kiwibum]

What did you mean by "there's no spray drift"?

Part of the powder coating process is having a static charge on the part.  The paint gun puts a 15Kv positive charge on the powder as it leaves the nozzle, the part you are painting is earthed to the gun so the powder is attracted straight to the part. There is very little over spray from this. And actually it's not really painting as it is dusting polyester power on the part then heating it up to melt it on. So in essence it's a way to put a fine lay of plastic on your part :) which makes it very durable assuming the part was nice and clean rust free to start with. 

I've wondered about applying this to the two chrome water pipes on the RHS crank case because all of mine are rusty and thought doing them in black might work. Would need to remove all the chrome first possibly, or get rid of the rust. It is also possible to get chrome like finishing powders. I wonder how it would go on the cylinders?

[The Prophet of Doom]

There are high temp powders available in limited colour ranges - once they have cured at 200C, they are good for up to 550C

You can powder straight over chrome if you scuff the shine off it first. (and get rid of the rust).  Powder is pretty thin; if the surface isn't smooth it will show, and look like crap.

They would look great black, I was thinking of replacing them with ss braided hose, but now I might just powder them.

[Rikugun]

You can powder straight over chrome if you scuff the shine off it first

Anyone have suggestions on how to accomplish this? Chrome tends to be pretty tough stuff.  :) How "scuffed" do you think chrome would need to be to accept the finish - more or less than for paint?

[kiwibum]

You can powder straight over chrome if you scuff the shine off it first

Anyone have suggestions on how to accomplish this? Chrome tends to be pretty tough stuff.  :) How "scuffed" do you think chrome would need to be to accept the finish - more or less than for paint?

"scuffed" the same as for paint, probably wet and dry sand paper would do it. I think basically if paint will stick, power coating will stick.

[Rikugun]

Yup, my point exactly....paint seems to be rubbish at adhering to chrome.  :(

[The Prophet of Doom]

About the same as for paint.  In both cases to properly scuff chrome you really have to work at it, not just wave a bit of sandpaper at it.
You have to take the shine completely off.  Sandblasting does the job, but even then takes a bit of effort.

[Rikugun]

I might be able to get some time on a media blaster and should try it. I'm not working with the water tubes as someone mentioned but rather a set of engine guards I'd rather have black. As far as sandpaper is concerned, maybe go the extra expense and get some silicon carbide rather than the aluminum oxide that's usually on the store shelves.

[The Prophet of Doom]

More DIY powder...
As far as resilience goes, I messed up one part and tried to sandblast it to strip and start again.  Using a medium grit and fairly new media it didn't budge it - just took off the shine a bit.  I ended up using a high speed die grinder and wire brush - even then it took about 15 seconds to break through to the metal.

[Rikugun]

The parts look great Roro. I'm really impressed on how durable the finish is too. It's pretty amazing really to be able to apply such a durable coating in a home workshop.

[kiwibum]

Yes great looking parks. Good to hear the paint is so resilient. Keep up the showing us what you are doing, you're inspiring me to get back into mine.

[The Prophet of Doom]

In front of where the horn was is a plastic thing marked YAMAHA. I lost the bolt hole plugs out of this years ago as both sides have minor cracks in them.  I tried to glue them up, but they are too fine.

Made a couple of replacements today out of 6061 Bar stock.  So I don't lose them again the plastic is screwed and taped, and I have a couple of homemade grub screws keeping everything where it should be. 

Should I leave them as is, clear coat them or make them black?

[iain]

paint it purple, you fag

Iain
nz

[kiwibum]

clear so they are nice an shiny  :)

[The Prophet of Doom]

paint it purple, you fag

At least my bike doesn't need a hook to hang my handbag

[Rikugun]

At least my bike doesn't need a hook to hang my handbag

Can't ya just sling it over the uphill bar end?  ;D  :P

[The Prophet of Doom]

A while back I fitted an R1 shock.  Today I got the bike off the workstand and bounced up and down on it.  It may be OK if I was 60kg, but weak enough that I'd end up with tread marks on my arse.  Being unemployed (yet again) I can't afford to re-spring the R1 shock so back to plan B which is to refurb a stock shock.

I've got a decent collection of about 5 x '82 shocks (no '83 shocks unfortunately).  It is impossible to tell from looking which are good or bad so I'm guessing either go for a ride (difficult with the engine on the bench) or remove the spring and see if it's still damping.

I built a DIY shock spring compresser out of 10mm threaded rod and bits of 90mm x 45mm framing timber (treated).  Worked OK, though doing it again I'd go for 12mm rod.  This stuff curved a bit and gave me the shits - I could imagine a 10mm threaded rod snapping under stress and impaling me on my work bench like Jesus on the cross.  I instructed her-indoors to listen out for blood-curdling screams, equipped myself with a cell phone, eye protection and a large towel for mopping up blood and went for it.

Seemed to go OK.  The shock is 20% corroded, 80% dirty.   I will powder the spring later in the week, give it a shine and put it back in service.

[pinholenz]

Is the xz400 shock the same as the '83 xz550?

[QBS]

Could you install a V spring on the R1 shock and get what you want?

[The Prophet of Doom]

@Pinhole
At least on my bikes the XZ400 has the same shock as a 82 Shock, XZ400D one similar to the 83 shock with a damping adjustment, but slightly different.

@ QBS
Alas, the R1 spring is a good inch smaller - Cutting springs is illegal here.