TECH: Hand Drill Polish Tech by BCM

JJ vs CC, Blah, Blah Blah.
I'm going to kick start the tech with the bottom of the ladder, The Drill (not Chivos Drill).
Anyone who know us at BCM knows we work out of a two stall garage without a huge selection of tools and other than a crappy drill press, zero machines. I rely heavily on the hand drill, I do a great deal of shaping finishing and polishing with a $35 Rigid from Home Depot. The key for me is a fairly wide assortment of wheels. I would guess 95% of these drill wheels come from harbor freight and they work fine. I've tried more expensive stuff but there's really not much difference.
As for the drill itself any electric drill will work but in my opinion the faster the better so if your going to buy one for this kind of work I would look for something in the 2500 rpm range. One thing I have noticed if used a lot the chuck will develop some end play and eventually a lot of play so we dedicate a drill just for this purpose as it will cease drilling nice round holes.





Below is the retired Black & Decker 2500. I wish this thing had an hour meter & I would say the chuck moves 3/4" side to side before it finally gave up.

I'll break down the wheels we use most of the time.


Grind & flap wheels used for shaping, Also drill mills(I call them)



Wire wheels mostly used for heavy rust and thick gunky crap. I don't use them much as they scar and heat ripple the material.



Scotch-brite wheels and discs in various sizes grits. I love these things. that multi disc ball is amazing.



Now these are my new favorite Nylon Bristle wheels combine these with a little Never Dull on your material and you'll get some good results.

So here's some examples of the results from around the garage.

Here on the R100 you can see some of the case covers are finished this was done with a nylon britstle wheel & Never Dull. Smear on the never dull and have at it in circular motions until it dries up under the wheel, wipe it down with a rag. check out the difference.



Here's the mega phone on my personal SR 500, the whole thing started life chrome. I used a soft scotch-brite wheel then a soft bristle with the never dull.



Here's Bob's FLH, He used all the wheels on this removing paint all the way down to brushed finish including bring the chrome down on the shock.



here a blurry picture of the oil tank on my pan, it's chrome. the tranny and case were also done with the nylon wheels. they get the grime out of sand casing nicely and if you incorporate some polishing compound smooth them out a bit.

This is the tank on my SR, I've been asked many times if it was a custom one off stainless tank or chromed. this thing is a $60 mustang ebay special I was lucky enough to have Mullins chain drive tunnel and notch. I have about $2500 in this bike, I ride it all the time so I never got it painted. There's about an hours worth of sanding and the rest is the drill wheels, scotch-brite and nylon bristle.

Bob rode it down the coast the other day hence the rust. I'll Never Dull/nylon wheel it then mothers polish and a coat of car wax. ten min time good as new.




Pick up some wheels and experiment. I think finish is important and a lot of times it's all we got.

These are Your Friends



BCM

Good shit...I've been thinking of a way to tone down some of the chrome shit on my Shovelhead. This'll come in handy. I'll do some pieces and post some pics when I'm done (whenever the hell I get to it.

drill tech? oh yeah, i got some drill tech.

i like my Milwaukee in the vise - THE poor man's lathe

Great post! Thanks.

THANK YOU BCM!

I've shared his garage, I've borrowed tools, I've marveled at his bikes and I've witnessed his handiwork for 22 years, so I can say with some authority...

KIm Boyle can literally put a shine on a turd.

He helped me do exactly that with an old YX125 in '96.

Kim's tech tips are awesome, and everyone can benefit from the elbow grease he has bled for his cause.

Thanks again for contributing to the tech section. There will be a dedicated page on the forum for this stuff soon enough... we're just trying to let the forum grow a little bit, first.

McGoo

This. Is. AWESOME!!

Hell Yeah! Dude, that oil tank FUCKIN RULES!

Gracias for sharing.

that's really useful. i don't have a garage -- just a strip of concrete in front of the apartment -- so this kind of tech that doesn't take a whole shop full of tools is really useful.

Awesome tech! Thanks!

simple handtool...producing quality that gives the appearance of being done with hi-tech, high dollar equipment...

indeed, a great thread.

I like the poor man's lathe!

this is good stuff!

Great idea using the drill as a lathe.

im always lookin for a good reason to hit the ol harbor freight and spend a bunch of money hhahahaha!

Nice. that tank is rad too!

Im LOVIN the drill in the vise, I usually wait till im going to work to do some heavy grinding. Thanks!

yup, i picked up a old school drill press from some cats garage, and i still use the regular old drill probably more... good stuff, and ive used the drill press as a ghetto sideways lathe quite a bit as well