Question for Aluminum polishers on here

How much is too much rash in a point/dyno cover before it's too far gone to work out ?
I have a points cover I'd like to fix, but may end up going black with it.
Any tips for a newbie?

you would have to sand that out and re-polish....you might see an uneven spot after your done blending and sanding when light catches it right....I would purchase another, but it can be fixed.

Yeah, that's about what I was thinking too. seems like lots of metal to take off to get right.
This one isn't mine. I have a couple spares I'm still working on. And an odd one that showed up one day...thinking I need to make it black.

Not recommending either way. Not sure mine was that bad. But I used a metal file to slowly remove the gouges out. Which leaves some file marks as well if you press too hard. Which are hard to get out by the sanding that follows. Yours looks like it may be deeper than what I had. If you have a hand held belt sander you may be able to use that by mounting upside down in a vise. I would have a finer belt on there. But you have to be even more careful doing it this way. May take off more material than you intend.

D'oh! Man, I tell you, I don't think this one is as bad as the one you pictured. Looks like it took a hella ride in the gravel :pinch:
Looks 100% better after your polish work.

I have taken some curb rash that was worse on wheels before. I would work it slow with a file, and then a flap wheel sander or something. Next, a dual action sander will be your friend. Really just a matter of feathering it out just right, but I would give it a go

I would think one option for really deep gouges is to have someone TIG some filler metal in there and then file/sand down. Only problem there is that there may not be an exact color match since these are cast not machined pieces.

It doesn't look like it's dented, and the gouges don't look all that deep, so, yeah, it could be sanded out smooth and polished.

Chris

Bunch of workaholics here! :laugh:

Being of a lazy nature, a die grinder with coarse, medium, and fine Scotchbright scrubby pads, followed by the brown Tripoli polish on a sewn buffing wheel on my air drill works wonders, and so little elbow grease needed that my five year old grandson loves to do it

To strip off paint prior to polish I use 220 grit sanding disks on the die grinder, followed by blue (fine) scrubby pads, then the Tripoli.

BlackZ1R wrote: Yeah, that's about what I was thinking too. seems like lots of metal to take off to get right.
This one isn't mine. I have a couple spares I'm still working on. And an odd one that showed up one day...thinking I need to make it black.

Yeah, you're right, that is an odd one. Moriaki odd, wow, where did you find that? And what's more, how easy are those to find nowadays? I would love a piece like that for my bike.