Frame refurbishment
- Thread starter Shaunio
- Start date
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fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
Professional powder coat for under £50 Might be cheaper than rattle cans and paint stripper and sanding
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Soft media blast the frame, have it painted.
Be caution with powered coating alloy frames as the baking process might adversely affect any heat treatment the frame may have had at manufacturer.
Be caution with powered coating alloy frames as the baking process might adversely affect any heat treatment the frame may have had at manufacturer.
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fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
200c is unlikely to affect the frame
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Some of the alloy heat treatments are carried out as low as 140.
confusedcyclist
Veteran
Sheldon brown has a good page on this. Can't link easily from phone. Google it is my advice. IIRC, Blasting not advised with ALU frames as the material beds into the frame and ruins the finish.
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Thanks for the site recomendation ConfusedCyclist.
Quick update: While on my way to a soft media blaster in reditch who convinced me they knew what they were doing, I popped into a cycle shop to get the bottom bracket bearings removed and faced off as I don't have the right tools to do it myself. The shop owner told me terrifying things about his steel media blast job, so I changed my plans and drove - frame in boot - to a Zed-Parts, a parts renovations shop. We had a nice chat and the owners wife took the frame off me and placed it in one of her vats of stripping chemicals. Told to come back later. Looking forward to seeing the results. Yay!
*rubs hands*
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Below are pics of the stripped frame that Zed Parts did for me. It all happened really quickly they told me.
The owner originally thought it would be an overnight soak because it was a polymer coat, but he said when he went to check it after a short while the paint coat just fell off the frame. He thinks it is because normally the paint is etched into the aluminium to make it tough but this wasn't.
Great cost too. cheapper than buying paint remover, PVC gloves, wire brushes, etc. Can't wat to give this a good clean up and transfer the parts from my old smashed up On-One frame.
Got the frame mocked with some bits could immediately salvage from the on-one wreck. just need a zerostack FSA headset, and some hollowtech tools to get it all finished.
Gonna ride it with the raw aluminium and a spot of clear coat to seal the surface. Couple of decals and it'll be great fun.
The owner originally thought it would be an overnight soak because it was a polymer coat, but he said when he went to check it after a short while the paint coat just fell off the frame. He thinks it is because normally the paint is etched into the aluminium to make it tough but this wasn't.
Great cost too. cheapper than buying paint remover, PVC gloves, wire brushes, etc. Can't wat to give this a good clean up and transfer the parts from my old smashed up On-One frame.
Got the frame mocked with some bits could immediately salvage from the on-one wreck. just need a zerostack FSA headset, and some hollowtech tools to get it all finished.
Gonna ride it with the raw aluminium and a spot of clear coat to seal the surface. Couple of decals and it'll be great fun.
ChrisEyles
Guru
- Location
- Devon
Nice! I don't think I could resist polishing the frame before that coat of clear coat if it was mine 
cyberknight
As long as I breathe, I attack.
- Location
- Land of confusion
Very nice !
I am considering having my old boardman repainted as the white is a muck magnet on the commute , not sure how to go about it as it has a carbon fork.
I am considering having my old boardman repainted as the white is a muck magnet on the commute , not sure how to go about it as it has a carbon fork.
Bonefish Blues
Banging donk
- Location
- 52 Festive Road
Lovely adult balance bike 
Nice! I don't think I could resist polishing the frame before that coat of clear coat if it was mine
It would look good, but I am not sure the laquer would stick well to a polished surface.
ChrisEyles
Guru
- Location
- Devon
True... though I have seen some gorgeous MTBs that have been polished then lacquered on retrobike. If I could be bothered I'd do the same to my 90s Marin Mount Vision look-alike, but it's a bit of a faff.
Gravity Aided
Legendary Member
- Location
- Land of Lincoln
Maybe marine epoxy paint would, but that requires judicious use of a mask, or preferably a respirator.
