Restoring Alu frame - walnut blasting, nitromors, bead blast

[saxon]

So just taken delivery of a scruffy Indian Fire Trail I am planning to restore for my daughter.

The purple forks and stem are scratched paint, the frame tubes are alu finish with a clear coat over them.

Was planning to have the frame bead blasted and clearcoated but have just spoken with a place who say that if I have the frame blasted to remove the existing paint it will be a devils job to get it back to that original shiny aluminium finish and I would be better going down the Nitromors route because it won't matt the surface so much.

I have also spoken with Colourtech of Dartford who said they too can blast the frame to remove the paint but again it would be uneconomic for them to polish the metal back up and that would only be viable if I did it. They did suggest they could however powder coat and lacquer it in an aluminium colour.

So I'm at a bit of a loss with what to do next and would welcome advice.

Has anybody here had an alu frame blasted and how much of a pain is it to polish it back up again afterwards?
Has anybody tried the nitromors route? Is that a better option?

Has anybody any advice?

Saxon

 

[Splatter Paint]

Re:

I strongly suspect if it is bad enough for re-finishing underneath it'll be pitted. If the paint stripper is safe on alloy then maybe a test piece on the very worst area would be the way to go.

With a lot of time an elbow grease I 'restored' an old Pantera frame which cleaned up well - but was always, always going to be pitted. Take a look here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=362900&hilit=Pantera I used a soft brass brush first, then ScotchBrite before polishing. Note that all that dust given off by brushing oxide is bad for you! I wore a decent face mask and gloves.

Powder coast will mask pitting, but you'll still see it.

SP

 

[legrandefromage]

The pantera wasnt lacquered and it was ball burnished. The marin frame is lacquered and it will be a git to remove.

One option I've seen work is to wrap the frame in nitromors and clingfilm, then leave it for a few days to work. Nitromors has been diluted a bit and is nowhere near as good as it used to be. But, if left on its own, all wrapped up, it does do the job, just slower than it used to.

The mirror finish bit is actually quite easy, keeping it that way is the harder part.

 

[saxon]

Also some places seem to offer waterblasting and polishing which looks good:

http://vapour-blasting.com/alloy-polishing/

 

[jimo746]

Re:

What's Walnut blasting?

Whatever it is it sounds the nutz!

From experience, the easiest route would be blasting then powder coat.
You could spend an unhealthy amount of hours trying to achieve a shiny frame and never quite get there by polishing it up.

 

[Retro junkie]

Re:

hi there
seems like you have a small dilemma on your hands.
first of all i guess you will not know if the clear coat thats already there is 1k or 2k lacquer.
if its 2k i dont think nitromoors will touch it. both of the basting ideas will be a no no if your not looking to have it painted after.

you will almost certainly need a stronger paint stripper of a more industrial strength...you can pick these sort of things up at a decent custom spray paint supplier like i did when i restored my cannondale m800 last year... the only difference between yours and mine is i was respraying mine after..

it is quite a messy job but give the beat results in my opinion...MAKE SURE YOU WEAR PROTECTIVE GLOVES!!! industrial paint stripper is very nasty stuff so its always a good idea to have a bowls of warm soapy water on hand just in case something goes to cock...

once its been stripped give it a good wash in hot soapy water to remove whats left of the paint stripper, then you can give it the top coat

 

[Splatter Paint]

Re:

I wonder if soda blasting would work?

 

[ishaw]

Re:

I wouldn't touch colourtech with a shitty stick. Search on here for my and other tales of woe at their hands. Google also throws up some bad stuff.

 

[Gruff]

Re:

I stripped the laquer from a Kona and had good results with Wurth Gasket remover.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WURTH-SEALANT ... 0677.m4598

Spray it on, leave for a couple of hours and scrub off with wire wool. Repeat if necessary.

Good luck

 

[JonTom]

Re:

I was going to suggest Vapour blasting but see you've already been there. I'm considering it for a IFT frame of my own as it leaves the aluminium almost shiny (or at least not as dull as blasting).

I saw the frame below recently on an Australian Facebook group - this has been powder coated in a chrome paint. Sounds mad but it looks good.