Viola: Sanding the Steering Head

Tried using the Dremel to get into the nooks and crannies on the steering head, but none of the wire brushes were really that effective.  The only thing that really made a dent were the sanding tips, but those were taking off metal along with the paint.

Resorted to just low grit sandpaper.  Couldn't really get the metal spotless, but it seemed relatively smooth.  Decided to prime a little patch of the steering head to see how well it would work on the pock-marked metal.

Viola: Painting the Headlight Case

Light sanding on the primer, then paint and clear coat.  This time I only waited a couple minutes between coats of paint.  Waited about 5 minutes between clear coats.

Spares: While You Wait...

In between coats of paint, started working on the early clutch cover.  Wet sanding with WD40 and 320 grit.

Before...

After...

Viola: Priming the Headlight Case

Very light sanding with 1500, then primed.

Spares: Clutch Cover Polishing

While waiting for paint to dry, figured I'd polish the new clutch cover.

I went from 400 straight to 1500/2000 only because I didn't have anything in between.  Might be good to get some 600/800/1000 to fill in the gaps.

Viola: Painting Fork Ears (Again)

For the ear with the most damage, I went over the entire piece with 400 grit sandpaper.  On the other one where the damage was minor, I only sanded that one section.

Then I repainted, let it dry for 2 hours, then did clear coat.

Viola: Painting Fork Ears

Set up a booth to do the fork ears.  Hung them with a string and inserted cardboard "handle" at the bottom to keep them from spinning and to give me something to turn them with.  Both very important!

But came back the next day to find some big smudges.  Figured it only could have happened when I moved the box to let them dry.  Another important tip: make sure the items are secured when drying!

Viola: First Painting

Decided to paint the fork bridge, just to get a first look at how the color sits on the bike.  Also need to start nailing down a very precise painting process before I get to the bigger pieces.

This time around, I sanded down the old paint with 220, then did 2 coats of primer and about 3 coats of paint.  Finally light-light-heavy clear coat.

I think I need to spend more time prepping the surface because any blemish just gets highlighted by the paint.

In between coats, also finished stripping down the fork ears.