Updates and Polishing (2012)
From
the moment the Titan was " ready for use", so since 2006, the was stil
one big job to do, polishing the outside aluminium.
To give the Titan extra BLING-BLING, i had the idea to polisch the
aluminium skin, so the Titan becomes the same looks as the famous
american Airstream trailers. The first years after the big restoration
job we wanted to enjoy the Titan as much as possible, and we did !!
With an average of 4 to 5 short or longer trips each year, in
Netherland, Germany and mainy France, we went as much as possible
Now April 2012 , the restored Titan goed into its 7nd season. In all
these years we had no problems at all with the Titan, he did a great
job.
Some improvemends are done in the past years, the bed became a new
innerspring mattress. The gasheater made place for a eleictric one, and
last year i've installed a heki roof window to get more light in the
interior.
thepictures
below show the installation of the Heki during the
AER meting in september 2011 in Germany
the
electric heater, also installed in 2011:
I've also installed a external lpg connection for the
BBQ:
Besides regularly greasing some parts and adjusting the brakes the
Titan didn't any other maintenance. Since 2006 the Titan had run about
25.000 kilometers
The aluminium skin became very dull after a few years, what was
expected because the skin has no protection or threatment at all. Now
its time for the big polishing job, i thought to myself.
In the past years i did some studies about polishing aluminium, and
read a lot about the polishing jobs on Airstreams done in america on
the internet.
Some needed more as 200 hours to polish 1 Airstream. There are several
tools and materials used for the polishing job.
What should be the best, i would learn in practice.
In the last years i've done some small polishing jobs on other objects
with a drilling machine and a small rag wheel and universal polihing
paste. These wher very difficult jobs.
So i needed a lot of courage to start the Titan polishing job.
I started with some testwork at the gaslid at the front, i did it with
a 125mm rag wheel on a 500 watt drill and used universal 'green'
polihing paste. al the products came from the local DIY.
The pictures above show the result from this first test work after 4
hours working, the result is not good at all. The aluminium skin has
stripe marks from the rag wheel, and it isn't shiny at all. The power
drill hasn't enough power, and it difficult working with a rag wheel on
a drilling machine, becaus of the position of the rotating rag wheel.
This wasn't the way to go, so I needed professional stuff, easier sais
than done. The DIY stores can't delever
Polihing machines are lookalikes of anglegrinders, but with lower
rotating speed and a lot more torque, and a much higher pricetag.
I've found an affordable 1500 Watt polishing machine from "powertools",
a Belgian company, which suited my expectations. This machine has a
slow start function, electronic regulated adjustable speed control and
it can delever 10Nm torque at 3000 rpm.
I've als found a company which could delever me big cotton rag
wheels and a complete program of polishing pastes
I took the blue paste (for finishing purposes) and 200mm cotton rag
wheels.
I've made my own adapter to connect the rag
wheel to the polishing machine, these rag wheels are ment for
stationary polishing machines only, and can't connect to the machine
directly.
The pictures below show the tool, paste and the first result:
It's a gigantic job, 1 meter takes more than 1 hour.
To be continued...
June 2012
The polishing job is almost ready, i've used 1 rag wheel and 1 block
paste, i'm continuing with a second set.
Inbetween i've repainted the roof and added a rubber sealing at the
edge of the pop-roof.
The pictures above show the polishing job almost ready, only the door
and a small part needs to be done.
July 2012
Just before the holiday the polishing job at the Titan is done. I think
it looks great.
The job needed 200mm cotton rag wheels an 2 blocks blue polishing
paste, and took me approx 60 hours !
Some pictures above are taken at different campsites in France during
July.
