Sunday, September 25, 2011

Hamilton Beach Type C 767, starting to look like something...

Following on the work in the previous post, the Type C is really starting to look like something.

With the rear housing now separated from the internal components, cleaning and polishing could finally begin. It started with the usual treatment: Dawn, an old toothbrush and hot water. Following that, was Brasso and toothbrush. The Brasso seems to do very well on getting out anything that remains, but even with the softest of toothbrushes, leaves extremely fine scratches behind on the polished surfaces. This is not a huge problem, because the next step with the felt wheel and polishing compound is more than capable of smoothing these out. I elected to not use the fine abrasive, and try instead one of the more aggressive polishing compounds. The front housing elements needing still more polishing to remove the abrasive wheel marks after 2 rounds of effort was enough incentive to try a different way. In the end, the more aggressive compound proved to be a superior means of getting the job done. I did follow up the more aggressive compound with some jeweler's rouge. There's still room for improvement, but I don't think it is likely without better equipment.

The front housing pieces also received more of the wheel/compound treatment, in what amounts to their third round of polishing. Each round has consisted of at least 2 applications, usually one each of aggressive (emery) and fine (jeweler's rouge). Tripoli has also been used, with results on the aluminum similar to jeweler's rouge. After every session, the parts have been getting cleaned up with Mother's Mag and Aluminum Wheel Polish, too. This is mostly to remove the oily residues of the polishing compounds, and because it darkens as it is worked over the surface, it fills in and helps identify problem areas that need more attention. It does tend to take the wind out of the sails a bit after spending hours meticulously polishing these parts to what looks like perfection, only to find more that needs to be done, but I digress.

Depending on the previous owners, some of these have been rather meticulously cared for, and others look (and often smell) like they've been left in a barn for the last 30 years. This Type C is not terribly worse for wear, all things considered. Similarly, the other Type A's that I am working on vary a bit, with almost no dents at all, and some are pretty beat up. Fortunately, these are only cosmetic issues.

Speaking of cosmetic issues, one of the next things on the agenda is to find an effective sealant/coating/finish to keep the now brightly polished aluminum from oxidizing. I've discovered a couple of possible options, but have yet to test them. So far I've tested, and ruled out, using automotive paste wax. It's not quite enough to prevent minor surface oxidation. The way I tested it was simply by leaving them wrapped up in a towel after being polished and waxed, and left alone for about a month, and when I unwrapped them, small areas were dull or dark. I can only imagine that it would be worse if they had been handled and used, and then put away.

I did spend a small amount of time polishing the adapter for the handle, but only working on the areas that would be visible after reassembly. It appears chromed, but the rough machining marks are reminiscent of their aluminum parts (compare with the bottom housings of the Type A's where the handle goes.) It cleaned up rather well. Finding a shop that will do small batch chroming jobs is becoming more of a necessity than luxury so I can get some of these sorts of parts looking new again if not better than new.

Without further delay, the visual portion of the show:


































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