A little polish

[OCCoupe]

Back in 2016 a lot of people asked about the method I used to spruce up the can relays on my coupe. I never documented the process, instead I referred people to Speedway which is the shop that I worked with to develop the technique for cleaning up a can relay.

 

[OCCoupe]

Recently I started work on a voltage regulator. This regulator was the best I could find (thank you @adawil2002 ). I took the cover off the relay then used a wire wheel to remove the scale. Unfortunately I didn’t think about documenting the process. After I cleaned off the scale I proceeded to sand the housing with 320 grit paper. This is 6 hours of hand sanding the housing. Keep in mind that I created the grain by sanding consistently in the same direction and that a 50+ year old relay is going to have lots of pitting from corrosion. I went through 2 sheets of 320 sandpaper.

I plan on spraying a satin ceramic clear coat when I’m finished sanding.

This is a before and after.

 

[Bmachine]

Thanks for the info Mike.

 

[Ohmess]

That is the nicest looking voltage regulator I have ever seen.

 

[Wobdog]

Back in 2016 a lot of people asked about the method I used to spruce up the can relays on my coupe. I never documented the process, instead I referred people to Speedway which is the shop that I worked with to develop the technique for cleaning up a can relay.

Mike
Very timely, I was just got to start this project on the relays. You only used two pieces of sand paper in 6 hours? Did you wet or dry sand?

 

[OCCoupe]

I dry sanded. And I should have said sheets since the paper wore out quickly.

 

[jefflit]

Six hours? I was going to post this meme but then realized most people on this forum would side with @OCCoupe. Nice job, Mike.

 

[Wobdog]

Thanks Mike! I am really happy when I see post like this, sets realistic expectations! I will try to remember to take pictures, and I will restate the time line on how many beers it takes me to do the job. I feel this unit of measure will be more inspiring to others