"Orange peel" textured bore

[Cramjet]

With loose abrasives like the liquid polishes I realize we can smooth out the plastic very effectively. My question is, has anyone tried something like rolling up wet 2000 grit sandpaper and using that to file down the slight orange peel in the plastic? If so, did you gain any speed?

 

[TRE]

i have tried it.. the bores look better dont know if there is any more speed..i think you just need to start with good bores to begin with

 

[bracketracer]

Cramjet, I remember reading on another forum of someone polishing the bores with a carbon fiber rod wrapped in self adhesive micro finishing paper. I never tried it myself so I can't speak to it's value.

 

[GravityX]

I agree with BR, read it somewhere, but have never personally tried it. My thinking is that if it was something that brought wheel bore polishing to another level, it would be readily used today by a majority of the racers here. I have not dismissed the idea, yet.

 

[Cramjet]

*in my best Ross Perot voice* You see folks, it's simple. You wanna get rid if a porous texture you have to grind it down with something solid. Not something liquid that's just gonna give you a bigger bore without better texture.

This is how I decided this needs to be done! First, you glue a q tip stalk on the end of a piece of 1000 grit and 2000 grit sandpapers.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/137765278@N04/23932431236/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/137765278@N04/23958527535/in/dateposted-public/

glue to the other edge of the sandpaper, roll them tight, and wait for them to dry.

After that. insert and go to town. This is my first experiment as well.

 

[bracketracer]

So, with a swab stem already being larger than the wheel bore........how did you make room for the sandpaper sheet to fit as well? The carbon fiber rods were only .050 or .055" as best I can remember, much smaller than a typical swab stem.

 

[TRE]

*in my best Ross Perot voice* You see folks, it's simple. You wanna get rid if a porous texture you have to grind it down with something solid. Not something liquid that's just gonna give you a bigger bore without better texture.

This is how I decided this needs to be done! First, you glue a q tip stalk on the end of a piece of 1000 grit and 2000 grit sandpapers.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/137765278@N04/23932431236/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/137765278@N04/23958527535/in/dateposted-public/

glue to the other edge of the sandpaper, roll them tight, and wait for them to dry.

After that. insert and go to town. This is my first experiment as well.

I think you will do more harm then good with this method

 

[txchemist]

Cramjet- Many paths to the same destination. When you polish a surface, you need an abrasive, and another surface to push the abrasive against the plastic bore.
The plastic polish liquid contains a fine abrasive. The Q-tip with a tight fit will push abrasive against the walls of the bore. Where the ripple is higher will get more pressure and get ground away faster. The Q-tip will expand a bit from the liquid and you often hear the squeak from a nice tight fit as you polish. This pressure is very well distributed around the bore evenly. When you have done a good job, the bore looks like a mirror and you have NOT made the bore much bigger. Some will ream out a few mills to get a super parallel bore almost free of defects, and then polish it. Expert racers have found if you increase the bore much, you better increase the axle a tad so the gap is controlled to a small range, but the physics of the friction of the wheel on the axle dictate that the smaller bore, smaller axle diameter pairs will be faster at the pro level.

So the question is can one control the pressure uniformly with the sandpaper process to make a faster wheel. I think the answer is if you can do it perfectly, you could get a speed match- once you get a mirror- you are wasting plastic and speed to get more mirror.

 

[B_Regal Racing]

I've read it and know where its hosted. PM me if anyone is curious.

But it was not with a QTip stem, but rather with a .045in rod. I found it extremely difficult to do (e.g. to keep the micro mesh attached to the rod, but it was possible. I'm far from fast, so I can not say it was better or worse; only that the QTip is easier and quicker to achieve similar results.

 

[Cramjet]

As a relative beginner, I believe in your collective wisdom. It's fun to throw random ideas out there though. All part of the learning process.

That said, the wheel prep method with just the swab stalks and pipe cleaners has not yet given me results in which I believe I will keep up. Yeah, they look shiny, but with the jewelers loupe, unsatisfactory.

 

[quadad]

We did this process years ago with adhesive backed micromesh and I think 0.050" rod. You would get similar 'squeeks' as you do with Novus and I think it worked pretty well. Never got a good comparison to more popular methods.

 

[Cramjet]

Good to know. I realize through reading the posts on here that prep can be a sticking point for some people and B Regal has been mentoring me a bit. I have started matting down and smoothing out the q tip swabs in cheap wheels before I consider using them in the wheels I will actually use. I just turn them dry in there to get them ready.

They come out of there super burnished and have a shiny glazed look. No more ripples. Also, no more tearing deep cuts where it first goes into the bore. Is that legit? Seems to be good so far.

 

[BulldogRacing]

My philosophy when cutting large slabs of granite for counter tops was always this, "It Don't Grow Back"! So be careful not to go too far. I think TX gave a good description and all the advice here is what made me faster. I like your last post, I like to shape the q-tips in a junk wheel as well. Great advice.

 

[Cramjet]

Yeah I have to say I appreciate TXChemist's technical, methodical approach. Not just explaining why, but specifically, why not.

 

[Kinser Racing]

What you see with the loope is the texture of the plastic's composition. It cannot be completely eliminated. Once it reduced to the least degree you'll only start "Overworking" the bore.

 

[Cramjet]

So by overworking the bore, you are expanding it, and that leads to more friction and more slop in the movement, which makes it worse, speed wise, than the problem you are trying to fix. Gotcha.

 

[Kinser Racing]

So by overworking the bore, you are expanding it, and that leads to more friction and more slop in the movement, which makes it worse, speed wise, than the problem you are trying to fix. Gotcha.

Yes. There's a line that you don't want to cross.

 

[txchemist]

OK, this is a mix of computer simulation based on a few data points to give you a general impression. Oil a bit different than graphite, but same general shape

 

[chromegsx]

OK, this is a mix of computer simulation based on a few data points to give you a general impression. Oil a bit different than graphite, but same general shape

So to get to the bottom of the curve for graphite it looks like .004 is ideal...according to computer simulation. Is oil the same .004 difference? And does type/brand of oil used affect the ideal difference in axle and bore?