Aerodyne bumpers

[Des]

I've had my bumpers replated, the guy was quite dubious about the over riders, the metal being too thin to allow grinding to remove pitting, he argeed to strip them and see just how bad they are. so I've now collected the blades and the guy is now even more dubious about the over riders, so have asked him to plate the worst one and see how it turns out. I'm not at all fussed about the things looking perfect, but if they are beyond help, does anyone know of an alternative / repros, or do I start fabricating.

[Bellerophon]

Des, there is a way to salvage your over riders if the outer shell has not
been eaten through that is to have a large deposit of copper say 0.050 thou
deposited on them then have them polished until smooth, then chrome
plated. There was a very good plater near Daventry who did this alas like a lot
of things now has closed down.
Some of the liquid cooled aero engines used in the first world war had
water jackets made by this plating process, it being the only way to fabricate
the jacket around the cylinders.
One last thought, I think our friends in Australia had some made a while
back which were cast in bronze, someone may know if any of these are still
available.
Well, good luck.
Bellerophon

[Bobbyweaf]

Hi,

I bought some from the Bristol Owners Club of Australia, although I have not fitted them yet and I also got some Phosphor Bronze ones from Brian May. These were expensive but are fine. I had forgotten I had ordered these last ones.

Just one of the long list of tidying jobs to do on my 401 before the Summer is out.

Bob W

[Des]

Bronze over riders! I imagine they would be expensive. I mentioned copper to the plater guy and he didn't seem keen, would leave hollows when polished, I think maybe he's quite a perfectionist, thankfully I'm not. Powder coating was suggested as possibly better. I considered knocking some up in stainless, but this would mean a tedious amount of filing, sanding, polishing, maybe I should try making one at a time.
There are very few platers left, I've found one locally, only because I rent my unit from him, pretty much anonymous otherwise. A couple of decades ago I'd have been spoilt for choice.

[GREG]

Originally Posted by Bellerophon

Des, there is a way to salvage your over riders if the outer shell has not
been eaten through that is to have a large deposit of copper say 0.050 thou
deposited on them then have them polished until smooth, then chrome
plated. There was a very good plater near Daventry who did this alas like a lot
of things now has closed down.
Some of the liquid cooled aero engines used in the first world war had
water jackets made by this plating process, it being the only way to fabricate
the jacket around the cylinders.
One last thought, I think our friends in Australia had some made a while
back which were cast in bronze, someone may know if any of these are still
available.
Well, good luck.
Bellerophon

There is now an even better painless way !

I have brand new perfect over riders and blade replicas that look like chrome but will last forever and need virtually no maintenance :-) Unfortunately I don't have any replica chassis yet that will last forever !