How are people paint stripping frames?

shaunhutchinson

Hi

I have a nice wee 6061 T6 aluminium frame through the magic of eBay to get me back on some wheels. Looks a bit scruffy but joints and tubes are good. I'm aiming to refurbish it starting with a paint strip.

I have heard nightmare stories about softmedia/bead blasting, heat treatment, chemical strips.

How are you all stripping frames?

Advice and photo examples are very welcome.

Cheers mi dears.

SHAUN

cooldad

Can't see the point unless it's classic or a garage queen.

It'll just get pranged up again.

cougie

Pay for a pro job and it'll be stunning. Not worth doing it yourself.

shaunhutchinson

cooldad wrote:

Can't see the point unless it's classic or a garage queen.

It'll just get pranged up again.

Garage queen?

shaunhutchinson

cougie wrote:

Pay for a pro job and it'll be stunning. Not worth doing it yourself.

I'll be honest. I enjoy the making and renovation part more than the riding sometimes. I'm treating more like a hobby. However, I'm talking to a stripper this afternoon. As I'm not getting much advice from good folk from a DIY perspective in general.

Do you know any good renovation forums for bikes?

cooldad

shaunhutchinson wrote:

cooldad wrote:

Can't see the point unless it's classic or a garage queen.

It'll just get pranged up again.

Garage queen?

Old bike (or whatever) done up beautifully but not ridden. Like concours cars trailered to meetings.

shaunhutchinson

*** update ***

Went to a bike parts renovator in worcester, and the owners wife took it off me and placed it in one of her mega vats of stripping chemicals. Told to come back later. Looking forward to seeing the results. Yay! *rubs hands*

shaunhutchinson

cooldad wrote:

shaunhutchinson wrote:

cooldad wrote:

Can't see the point unless it's classic or a garage queen.

It'll just get pranged up again.

Garage queen?

Old bike (or whatever) done up beautifully but not ridden. Like concours cars trailered to meetings.

LOL... I lecture in transport design so I have seen many many a show bike/car/etc. This is not for that, I'm aiming to build a cafe racer for that. This latest effort is because I have just moved into the sticks and there are so many awsome trails and paths. Of course i like to take a wee bit of pride in machine ware but this will be used well.

Uber_Pod

Not sure how best to strip the paint, but you'll save some weight by leaving it unpainted.

shaunhutchinson

Uber_Pod wrote:

Not sure how best to strip the paint, but you'll save some weight by leaving it unpainted.

Really, do you think it would save much?

I'm not really taking it that serious but I quite like the thought of riding the frame naked. I had a saracen once that had a realistic matt aluminium paint job. looked nice.

I might just polish it up and pop a wee coat of 2K clear coat on it as I think aluminium oxidises does it not?

Anyway, here is a quick pic of my wee 20" T6 6061 taking a bath in the stripping vats at Zed-Part, the renovator I mentioned.

The Rookie

Paint will be about 250g on that,

shaunhutchinson

The Rookie wrote:

Paint will be about 250g on that,

250g... not bad as a by product of just wanting to clean up the frame. 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.

Uber_Pod

I wasn't being remotely serious about not painting it, hence the smiley!

Mind you, people have spent lots of money to save 250g in other areas.

If you do paint it, weighing it before and after would give people some accurate information rather than just internet rumours.

shaunhutchinson

Uber_Pod wrote:

I wasn't being remotely serious about not painting it, hence the smiley! Mind you, people have spent lots of money to save 250g in other areas. If you do paint it, weighing it before and after would give people some accurate information rather than just internet rumours.

It's too late Uber_Pod, I'm quite attracted to the whole idea now. Have seen some cracking raw aluminum frames here: https://www.pinkbike.com/forum/listcomments/?threadid=128209&pagenum=30

Besided I couldn't figure out what colour to paint it anyway. I would have probably painted it matt aluminium like my old bike.

shaunhutchinson

Need a new zerostack headset because of the crazy bell shaped headset tube on the frame. But after a rummage around I found a few parts that I could use for this build, mainly urban bike bits. Might just use em. Have to see how the dirt tyres hold up on the trails of the worcester lickey hills. Quite liking the raw aluminium look. Just needs decals, ect.

GedFoss

That's one sweet-looking balance bike

shaunhutchinson

GedFoss wrote:

That's one sweet-looking balance bike

LOL... for mid aged men who never had one as a child.

Waiting for hollowetch tools to remove and reuse use an external BB I have on an old bike, oh hum. Same for zerostack FSA headset. I hate the wait but it'll be funtime again early next week.

bobbydigital

Been at my Kinesis xc frame for about 10 hours total, it has some white primer on there, it laughs off paint stripper, industrial stuff, very slow process without the right chemicals.

shaunhutchinson

Bobbydigital wrote:

Been at my Kinesis xc frame for about 10 hours total, it has some white primer on there, it laughs off paint stripper, industrial stuff, very slow process without the right chemicals.

My guy at Zed Parts in Bromsgrove thought that mine might be the same. He mentioned that some of the bikes have etched paint and are a real bugger to shift.

shaunhutchinson

Anyway... Quick update. I scratch finished the alu frame with wire wool and 2K clear coated it with some starter decals still have to put a few more layers of clearcoat on it to seal the decals properly but it's slowly coming along. Therre were a few deep scratches/dents so to save the structural integrety of the tube I just decided to leave them in and call them war wounds. Got most of my parts, just waiting for a No. 10 FSA headset and more 2K clear coat. Pics below.

bobbydigital

Looks clean, are the lines in the metal normal or did you do them with wirewool or something? Like underneath they go short way across the beam.

Going to get a little wirewheel on a drill for me and have all scratch marks in different directions, not sure how it will look under clear coat but hoping it was catch the light well.

shaunhutchinson

Bobbydigital wrote:

Looks clean, are the lines in the metal normal or did you do them with wirewool or something? Like underneath they go short way across the beam.

Going to get a little wirewheel on a drill for me and have all scratch marks in different directions, not sure how it will look under clear coat but hoping it was catch the light well.

Aye, I did the best I could with wire wool by hand on this because it is aluminium. I wanted to use a drill but zed-parts (parts renovators) told me to avoid it as aluminium metal is too soft. Can imagine it working okay on steel or stainless though. He said it might look awesome if I scratch is by rubbing it with wire wool in small circles but I obsesively went for lines. It's not great. I think a pro could have sctatched it better but I'm okay with it. main thing was to get it cleaned up, dodn't have the time for a proper polish.

Please feel welcome to post it on here when you have done it, love to see how it turns out.

Uber_Pod

It looks great and certainly different to most bikes. I like the 'shut up legs' too.

I wouldn't know how to go about it, but smoothing the welds would be pretty cool.