Reprep axle question

[Bubblegum]

I had to pull my wheels and took the opportunity to examine my axles under a microscope. I polished them following the methods here and they look in really great shape. They were polished and raced in January and have been sealed since then. I will realign and run on a home track before the next race.

Should I just leave them alone, clean with alcohol and pledge them, or resand at 12K and pledge them?

Thanks.

 

[SuperSlow]

I for sure would not re sand them. It sounds like you already did a good job polishing. Romoving more material and reducing your axle diameter further is not going to help you.

 

[Mojo Racing]

no need to re-polish them.

just clean, pledge, and go

 

[Bubblegum]

Thanks for the responses. I was worried I might create an issue by decreasing axle diameter.

Less work is a good thing.

 

[SuperSlow]

To be honest at the time i responded i thought i read resand up to 12k, and later realized you meant just hitting it WITH 12k which i dont think would really affect the diameter to much but as mojo said not really necessary.

That being said im no expert but i am always concious of how much i am reducing my axles. It is something i overlooked with my first set of builds before it hit me what i was doing. I never understood guys that start so low and have so many graduations, i even heard of guys starting as low as 220 and 180, n thats fallowing a file for crying out loud. I dont think i have perfected my process yet but i always start at 1000 no matter what type of axles im working with and keep an eye on it with a digital caliper along the way. The way i see it no matter how coarse you start if after your 1000 grit step you end up with the same finish as you would if you started with the 1000 what is the point of doing all the other ones before. All you are doing is thinning the heck out of them for nothing not to mention its a ton of work.

Happy testing Bbgum

 

[Mojo Racing]

When I coach my cubs, if they have to re-do an axle, I always have them start at 4,000 grit.

As SuperSlow said, we don't want to take down diameter more than we have to. A good metal polish makes a big difference too!

But... back to the original topic at hand, clean and inspect your axles. Generally, after only a few test runs and a couple races, the axles are not messed up, so it should only need cleaning, and Pledge.

 

[Bubblegum]

Yeah I meant 12K and leather only as a refresh. I only cleaned and pledged them though. Tomorrow I will look at these two sets and compare them to the other two I did as well.

I am curious how they compare.

Thanks again.

 

[Thinkin'Bout Racin]

When I coach my cubs, if they have to re-do an axle, I always have them start at 4,000 grit.

As SuperSlow said, we don't want to take down diameter more than we have to. A good metal polish makes a big difference too!

Mojo, if you are willing to share ...are you saying the metal polish helps to reduce the need to re-polish or the metal polish is a good tool to use during the re-polish? Or ....both?

 

[Mojo Racing]

both...

When polishing, use metal polish to finish your axle. If you are reprepping, your axle and have to chuck it back up in a dremel, there is no reason you wouldn't want to hit it with metal polish again.

 

[Thinkin'Bout Racin]

both...

When polishing, use metal polish to finish your axle. If you are reprepping, your axle and have to chuck it back up in a dremel, there is no reason you wouldn't want to hit it with metal polish again.

Thank you for your reply ...I will try it!