Rampage":1333dv2y said:
I've seen your Marin before, but still every time I see it I'm very impressed!
How was it blasted? Bead blasted or something courser?
Thank you
I have had a few goes at blasting Ti ...
The first time I used a work top blaster with glass bead. For a first time I got very lucky, it worked quickly, gave a great finish and didn't remove the masked decals (these were the bear valley bits). The equipment was at a local tool makers that we used so I called in a favour. Since the closure of our factory I have no contact with them now :-(
The second time was an automated process using steel bead (it was a test for the airborne). Test piece was a spare stem I had. Worked quite well but it was to 'heavy' for what I wanted. Decals wouldn't have stood a chance. Sold the stem on here - buyer was well happy with it.
The third time was the first go at the Airborne frame with (what I was told) bicarbonate of soda. I couldn't use this equipment myself. It took a lot of work and wasn't heavy enough. Would have been good on brand new / perfect condition Ti. Blew the decals right off as the pressure was high to get any sort of change to the finish.
The fourth go was renting a blaster off a local car modifier. I had another go at the airborne using glass bead. Very similar finish to the Marin bits, maybe not quite as heavy. I suspect decals would have survived but I didn't try.
The last go was at the replacement stem and bars for the airborne. I used some contacts through work. Couldn't do the stuff myself but they were happy for me to come along and watch etc. They hadn't blasted Ti before so they were quite interested and actually very receptive to my comments / guidance (and very strict QC !). I took a 'spare' stem as a practice for them. Results were great - an identical finish to the Marin bits (my favourite finish) and very similar to the airborne. I don't know if decals would have survived ?
This was the equipment :
The blast media :
The results :
I will defo use this method again, the yo has got Ti forks, bars, bar ends and post ...
The coolest thing is the blue neon glow you get when you hit Ti with the blast media ... :shock:
WD
