What does "burnishing" mean to you?

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Noskills
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What does "burnishing" mean to you?

Post by Noskills »

Hello all,

I was looking a league racing site and there was a discussion on burnishing bores with graphite. Much to my surprise they described putting graphite in the bore and then using a polishing rod or axle to grind or squish graphite into the bore with moderate pressure.

I have always applied graphite to my prepped bore with a fluffy pipe-cleaners on my dremel at low speed.

Are people really doing this by hand? Can you really grind graphite into a bore? I always assumed that burnishing applied a microlayer on top of my bore prep which likely wore off after a few tuning runs (but I did it anyway).

Thoughts?

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Stan Pope
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Re: What does "burnishing" mean to you?

Post by Stan Pope »

My understanding (right or wrong):

1. without graphite: polished rod pressed against the rolling bore to smooth off (small) surface projections.

2. with graphite: as above and, in addition, pressing graphite into (small) surface pits and coating surface.
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Re: What does "burnishing" mean to you?

Post by Speedster »

I wasn't aware a bare rod was ever rolled against the surface of the wheel bore but I am aware of #2. Doc Jobe also talks about it on Page 306 of the Big Green book. I could never figure out how to apply 2.2 lbs. of force so I don't do it. Procedure C gives the bore a better Graphite coating than does procedure A and I don't do that one either. Maybe it's time to step up my game.
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Re: What does "burnishing" mean to you?

Post by Topspin.D »


https://youtu.be/

Go to 3:09 in the video to see burnishing the outer hub. I put the rolled up cloth in a drill and then fill outer hub with graphite and push the spinning cloth (chamois) on hard to burnish. We then burnish graphite inside inner hub and inner wheel rim (DFW only). Finally either use an axel or polishing rod (pine car solid axel that's polished) to burnish graphite in the bore.

From the Doc Jobe lectures:
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Noskills
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Re: What does "burnishing" mean to you?

Post by Noskills »

So if one used a hard rod or axel with some pressure on hub you would think you would not want to use a graphite with moly in it as it could scratch the bore. I think this is MaxV's opinion.
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Re: What does "burnishing" mean to you?

Post by Speedster »

If bore prep was started using a Walgreens cotton swab shaft and Novus 2, and then went with a wax, these procedures would not seem applicable except perhaps for Stan's #1. Is there a mold release agent left in the bore or is the wheel made a different way? Should the bore be cleaned with alcohol or some other liquid prior to polishing? Would you share your detailed procedure on bore prep?
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Re: What does "burnishing" mean to you?

Post by Noskills »

Speedster,
I am happy to share what I do. First I polish the bore with DD step one polish and a pipecleaner. I tired a q-tip stem once and it peeled off some plastic bore. (Either my stem was too wide or my speed was too high. I only have a Dremel and my lowest speed might be too fast so I now only use a piper cleaner). Clean with alcohol. Coat bore with red rocket x 2 coats. Buff off with pipecleaner in Dremel. Let sit over night. Use pipe cleaner and MaxV graphite for burnishing in my Dremel. I pour some in the hub and pour some over the pipe cleaner while it turns. That's it.

I think I need a low speed drill to use a q-tip stem as I maybe only tickling the bore with the pipe cleaner. Also sound like I need to apply more pressure to the bore with my burnishing to get it to "stick"

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Re: What does "burnishing" mean to you?

Post by whodathunkit »

Speedster wrote:If bore prep was started using a Walgreens cotton swab
Speedster, have you been into a Walgreens store lately?

I've been to several different walgreen stores looking for the walgreens brand cotton swabs.
Walgreens is no long carrying the Walgreens brand cotton swabs..
the studio 35 brand cotton swabs are all you can get.

Seth,
burnishing is the the plastic deformation of a suface due to sliding contact with another object.
Visually, burnishing smears the texture of a rough surace and makes it shiner.
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Re: What does "burnishing" mean to you?

Post by Speedster »

I picked up a box of studio 35 brand cotton swabs distributed by the Walgreen Co. While the paper shaft does vary a bit, many of them measure .099 which seems to work well in the wheel bore.
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Re: What does "burnishing" mean to you?

Post by birddog »

I'm with Speedster. I've been using studio 35 paper shaft swabs as well and although they do fit tight, they seem to work OK. I haven't noticed any issues to date and that is what I use to polish the wheel bores.

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Re: What does "burnishing" mean to you?

Post by Noskills »

I think I am going to have to try to check the q-tip in my drill and keep the speed low manually with he driller trigger. I cannot set my drill to slow and let it run hands free. Will see if I can do it.
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Re: What does "burnishing" mean to you?

Post by TXDerbyDad »

I use the Tamiya cotton swab spears.
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