Cleaning Up Fins?

[Jordan918]

I have soda blasted and soaked my fins in kerosene. What's the best bet for getting these to look uniform. I really don't want to paint them.

 

[my-79-750-k]

Scotch Brite on a wooden dowel or wooden "paint stirrer", so you don't mark them up with a metal dowel or spoon. That'll get the corrosion off, but will scratch the surface. Once it's scotch brite'd, hit it with some 00 steel wool, then 0000 steel wool on the same wooden dowel/stirrer. If you're going to leave it bare metal, just be prepared to spend a lot of weekend hours repolishing the fins.


...OR, if you know someone in the business, have them bead blast the outside with glass bead shot. It'll give it a "metalcast" or "satin" finish that looks great. I'd suggest hitting the outside with some high quality clear engine enamel if you want that bare metal look.

 

[porterhouse]

I got my 30 year old jugs vapour blasted and I am very happy with the result. I wanted the "just out of the factory" satin cast alloy look. You can go shinier if that is your thing too. Doesn't cost much and way easier than polishing it yourself.

Here are the before and after pics.

 

[Tim]

Looks great - wish there was a vapor blasting operator here. Interestingly dry-ice blasting is popular here for industrial applications. Might have to explore that - no media at all to clean up.

 

[sailariel]

That looks really great. I have many hours ahead of me using aluminum wheel cleaner and toothbrushes. The result is acceptable but very time consuming.

 

[swan]

Vapor blasting is the only way to go.

If not, use Simple Green and 3M Brand metal scrub pad.

 

[porterhouse]

I just stripped 4 layers of paint off a swing arm & triple tree using wire brushes and thought maybe something like the brush in the link below would work well on cylinder fins.

http://www.amazon.com/Brass-Brush-Power-Impact-Driver/dp/B006T7A1UM

At only a couple of dollars it could be worth a try.

 

[Jordan918]

Thanks fellas. I'm thinking I'm already past the scotch brite stage. These things are clean, just stained. Sounds like the bead blast route is the best medicine.