Tube Cleanup-again!

[sliver]

Thanks to all who posted their methods for cleaning up the tubes, now it’s my turn. When I first overhauled my ’54 Greenie many years ago I sprayed the tubes and everything else with rattle can clear urethane - I don’t think automotive clear coat was available in a spray can back then. Over the years the urethane turned yellow and the top tubes rusted badly from the headstock scraping the coating off when it was moved, and not enough maintenance on my part of course. I removed what was left of the urethane with paint stripper and used the expansion plug drill lathe setup to sand the tubes.

For my rollers I used a couple of old roller blade wheels (I knew they’d come in handy some day) bolted to a plywood backing plate screwed to a piece of 2x3 and clamped in my Shop Mate. The first tube I did showed a score mark in line with the wheels, likely from grit imbedded in the wheels, so I applied a layer of electrical tape to the wheels and that was fixed. I used an old 3/8” drill at first but it wasn’t powerful enough so I brought out the heavy artillery and clamped up my trusty B&D half incher for more power. I clamped the whole thing to a makeshift table in a setup that would Mickey Mouse cry with envy, but it worked. I used Papco expansion plugs from an auto supplier, in 1 5/8” and 1 1/2” sizes, and they fit the tubes like they were made for them. I replaced the nuts with a 5/16” connector intended for threaded rod and cut the head off a bolt and screwed it into the other end of the connector for the drill chuck to grip. One plug came loose because the original outer washer was deforming and wouldn’t allow enough compression of the rubber plug so I substituted a heavy flat washer on the outside to allow tightening the plug more. There was some wobbling going on but it wasn’t fatal, and the flexibility of my “headstock” allowed for the movement without coming apart at the seams.

I started with a strip of 50 grit cut from a belt for my bench sander. (I got a whole box of these for free but they all separated at the glue joint after only a minute of use, so I save them for jobs like this.) I used a strip about a foot long and wrapped it around the tube and pulled downwards. It was surprising how much this slowed even my big drill down, but it really cut through the rust. I then switched to 180 grit and that’s as fine as I went. The surfaces looked good but on the top tubes there were still lots of tiny pit marks filled with rust so I treated them with rust converter, and once that was removed I sanded again with 180. Overall I lost .003” from the diameter of the top tubes but I don’t see this as a problem since I’m sure there’s more than this much flex in a MKV. The bottom tubes also got the 180 grit but they were pretty much rust free and only needed cleaning up, and there was no change to their diameter. The bottom tubes (not the top) were sprayed with automotive clear coat, and everything will be waxed – often! The results aren’t showroom perfect but as my dad used to say, they’re as close as damn is to swearing and that’s good enough for me. Got to put this thing together now and make some sawdust. More to follow…..

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Very Nice! After My first time cleaning the bars, I oil my with slick 50 after each use.
Mark

[cornbread]

Here's what I did to mine.
Bead blasted then dry film lubricant
So far 5-6 years later the dry film is in perfect condition

[sliver]

Here's what I did to mine.
Bead blasted then dry film lubricant
So far 5-6 years later the dry film is in perfect condition

What dry film lube did you use? That black finish is growing on me.

[heathicus]

Here's what I did to mine.
Bead blasted then dry film lubricant
So far 5-6 years later the dry film is in perfect condition

Tell me more about this dry film lubricant. Is that why your tubes are black? What brand did you use? How is it applied? How much did it take for both tubes?

[cornbread]

Tell me more about this dry film lubricant. Is that why your tubes are black? What brand did you use? How is it applied? How much did it take for both tubes?

http://www.airborncoatings.com/dryfilm.html
I do not remember the cost