Mothers polish

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ed
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Mothers polish

Post by ed »

Many of the posts mention using MOTHERS POLISH for axle and
wheel bore polishing. We went on the MOTHERS website and
the choices are many.
Could you be more specific what is best to use.
Thank you
Ed
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Re: Mothers polish

Post by M7 Racing »

Use Mothers Mag and Aluminum Polish or Mothers Billet Metal Polish. Both should give basically the same results. We have been using the Billet polish over the last two years with great success.

Make sure to clean those axels well though afterward with denatured alcohol.
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Re: Mothers polish

Post by doct1010 »

ed wrote:Many of the posts mention using MOTHERS POLISH for axle and
wheel bore polishing. We went on the MOTHERS website and
the choices are many.
Could you be more specific what is best to use.
Thank you
Ed
As mentioned, mag or billet works well on axles as final step. Not so sure I would use it on wheel bore. May not be compatible with the styrene.
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Re: Mothers polish

Post by M7 Racing »

Good call. I would not use it on the bore. We have used lots of different types of polishes for the bore but what works best for us is whitening toothpaste and the real type pipe cleaners (from tobacco stores).
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DougD
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Re: Mothers polish

Post by DougD »

M7 Racing wrote:Good call. I would not use it on the bore. We have used lots of different types of polishes for the bore but what works best for us is whitening toothpaste and the real type pipe cleaners (from tobacco stores).
How, exactly, do you do this? Do you spin the pipe cleaner with a drill or dremel? Or is this a 'By Hand' process? Just currious, as I think this sort of thing is where we failed big time...
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Re: Mothers polish

Post by doct1010 »

DougD wrote: How, exactly, do you do this? Do you spin the pipe cleaner with a drill or dremel? Or is this a 'By Hand' process? Just currious, as I think this sort of thing is where we failed big time...
Not sure about M7, we use a similar process on bore. Chuck pipe cleaner in drill, coat small section with toothpaste work wheel back and forth at low speed. Repeat with dry pipe cleaner. We also burnish bore with gage pin prior to polish.
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Re: Mothers polish

Post by M7 Racing »

Not sure about M7, we use a similar process on bore. Chuck pipe cleaner in drill, coat small section with toothpaste work wheel back and forth at low speed. Repeat with dry pipe cleaner. We also burnish bore with gage pin prior to polish.
We do the same except we are not to the level of burnishing the bore. We use Long's Extra Absorbent / Extra Fluffy pipe cleaners. You can get them online http://www.knoxcigar.com/exabclean.html, but for me it is more fun to go to the cigar shop and get some. We put it in our drill press just like a drill bit, put a bit of toothpaste on and run it at a slow speed (too fast and you can still melt the plastic. Work the wheel back and forth a couple of times, then flush out with LOTS of warm water. Then we dry the bore and rinse it a little bit with denatured alcohol (all with a chenille pipe cleaner. We have also then put a chenille pipe cleaner in the drill press, coated it with graphite and worked it up and down the bore the same way as the toothpaste. I am not sure if that does anything and the burnishing probably helps more.
ed
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Re: Mothers polish

Post by ed »

would you please explain burnish the bore with a gage pin
and where one could purchase a gage pin
ED
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Re: Mothers polish

Post by doct1010 »

Ed,
A gage pin is a calibrated metal rod. You could use a polished drill blank or in a pinch the end of a drill bit, just be sure to polish it first. The process is rather simple. Place gage pin inside wheel bore (should be a close fit) and roll, with slight pressure on a hard and true surface. Do it several times. If you remove it quickly enough the pin will feel warm. The thinking is, the pin and pressure create just enough heat to burnish down the high spots and irregularities inside bore. It may harden it as well, this I'm unsure of. We also remove the taper with a reamer prior to burnishing.
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DougD
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Re: Mothers polish

Post by DougD »

Thanks DocT and M7... I'm so new to this stuff that I barely know which side of the sandpaper goes against the wood... :)

I keep reading about "polish this" and "Bore that" with no mention of how to do it. I'm glad to find friendly folk who are willing to educate a novice like myself....
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Re: Mothers polish

Post by doct1010 »

DougD wrote: I keep reading about "polish this" and "Bore that" with no mention of how to do it. I'm glad to find friendly folk who are willing to educate a novice like myself....
Glad to help. I think you will find there are many here far more knowledgable than me whom give freely of their time and advice. Simply ask. It may also accelerate your learning curve to search ideas or questions you may have. There is a wealth of info archived here on DT.
ed
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Re: Mothers polish

Post by ed »

What type of reamer and what size would I be looking to
purchase to ream the taper in the wheel bores ?
Do you chuck the reamer in a drill press or use a t-handle to
use it ?
Will the reamed wheel bore cause more wobble on
the axle ?
Thank you
ED
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Re: Mothers polish

Post by Pinewood Daddy »

I tried reaming (.097) a few times. Unless you have a way to guarantee you're parallel to the OD (IF the bore was parallel to the OD in the first place), you'll probably introduce additional runout and make the bore bigger, adding more clearance between the bore and axle.

I prefer to burnish the bore using a .097 gage pin. This smooths out the surface, theoretically hardening the surface and doesn't remove any material. Then polish the bore.
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Re: Mothers polish

Post by doct1010 »

ed wrote:What type of reamer and what size would I be looking to
purchase to ream the taper in the wheel bores ?
Do you chuck the reamer in a drill press or use a t-handle to
use it ?
Will the reamed wheel bore cause more wobble on
the axle ?
Thank you
ED
Ed, I do not ream bore per se, (although some top notch builders always ream bore at outset) I use a .094-.097 reamer depending, just enough to remove taper. (the bores are tapered in molding process and vary quite a bit from wheel to wheel) You are correct in assuming it is best to keep bore narrow whenever possible and yes a larger bore opens the door for wobble and vibration. I do it by hand with a jig I made. Although I use drill press for many wheel mods, this one requires a very light touch. A good burnish with an .097-.098 pin works very well, however I am not convinced it takes the taper out completely, so to insure a smooth and level bore we do both. We run Krytox and the wheel bore tx is critical possibly more important than axle tx.
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Stan Pope
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Re: Mothers polish

Post by Stan Pope »

There are tradeoffs involved. For instance, a 1% increase in the bore diameter causes approximately the same percentage increase in the bore friction losses! The reference bore diameter is the part of the bore that the axle actually rides on, not necessarily the largest or smallest part of the actual bore. Since PWD car performance is a matter of managing very small percentage improvements and losses, 1% is larger than it might first appear.

In order to minimize the wheel drag differences (and the resulting steering torques), it is good to have nearly equal bore diameters.

But, the conical bore may cause some problems, too. The axle exerts less control over the wheel's direction, and the wheel may be more susceptible to wobble.

I don't have experimental evidence to support a choice, but successes with the slightly conical bore and using the smallest part of the bore as the reference surface for working the tread have led me to NOT enlarge the smallest part of the bore (beyond mild burnishing) by reaming/drilling.
Stan
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