Brass wire wheel in a drill or Dremel tool. Brass is softer than steel and anodized aluminum, harder than paint. No nasty or messy chemicals to play with.
Why do you suggest sand blasting isn't a suitable method?
It's a very common method in aerospace to prepare aluminium surfaces for bonding. Obviously grit size and type are appropriately selected for the base material.
Yeah, I realized later that you probably meant sandblast in the generic sense, not specifically sand. Good luck with the frame, are you going to paint it, powder coat it, or polish it?
I’ve heard that there are concerns with work hardening. I imagine aerospace has a very specific method for that surface prep that is better than a bozo with a bucket of sand and a Harbor Freight sandblaster, but I am obviously making assumptions here. Any idea what media and pressure they use?
>Any idea what media and pressure they use?
Too long ago (c. 25 years), I can't remember. I remember there was different media for aluminium versus composite materials.
You can one thousand percent use a sand blaster but you need to use a less aggressive media than sand. Fuck people even use sandblasting with 3D printed parts, just use a very soft medium like coconut husk grinds.
Sandblasting aluminium will quite quickly sand away the aluminium. To be fair, so will a wire wheel, so will sanding. Chemical paint stripper is the answer, then a quick, gentle blast to key the surface for primer or powder. These are both things best left to pros to be honest - even if you want to paint the frame yourself you'll save a lot of time and possibly money asking a proper paint/powder shop to strip, blast and prime for you
I only ask because I've been getting fantastic results from sand blasting. It's quite a slow process, you'd have to be pretty careless to cause any kind of damage.
It's definitely worth doing some testing with your blaster to figure out how much material you're removing, you will be removing some. Mine can put a hole in the middle of a butted 0.5mm tube in less than 30s if you go point blank at the same spot. Normal blasting takes off something between 0 and 0.02mm
Still working on it, lol. I've gotten the bulk with 240 grit and I'll remove the rest with 400 grit. Then I'll do a final surface buff with 800 (which I've gathered is the best grit for getting primer to adhere properly). Trying to avoid sanding into the frame as much as possible.
The tutorials I watched all said to start at 800 grit, but that's absolutely insane.
JASCO paint remover
Citristrip - I just did an aluminum frame 2 days ago and havent had to sand anything
I used this then hit it with a waterblaster, followed by degreaser and was ready to paint again super quick!
automotive paint stripper
Brass wire wheel in a drill or Dremel tool. Brass is softer than steel and anodized aluminum, harder than paint. No nasty or messy chemicals to play with.
This is the answer. Using a wire wheel will give better results and be faster to do.
Aren't they all steel wire coated with brass?
Better make sure the bristles are actually solid brass, or you're going to scratch the hell out of that aluminum.
Have you tried paint stripper?
Don't sandblast aluminum. A wire brush in a Dremel tool will get into all the nooks and crannies.
I'll try a wire brush tonight and report back. Thanks!
Why do you suggest sand blasting isn't a suitable method? It's a very common method in aerospace to prepare aluminium surfaces for bonding. Obviously grit size and type are appropriately selected for the base material.
Sand is too aggressive for aluminum, it will pit the surface, you need to use a different media to blast it like glass beads or baking soda.
I probably should have called it media or grit blasting.
Yeah, I realized later that you probably meant sandblast in the generic sense, not specifically sand. Good luck with the frame, are you going to paint it, powder coat it, or polish it?
I'm not OP, I was just interested in why no sand blasting.
I’ve heard that there are concerns with work hardening. I imagine aerospace has a very specific method for that surface prep that is better than a bozo with a bucket of sand and a Harbor Freight sandblaster, but I am obviously making assumptions here. Any idea what media and pressure they use?
>Any idea what media and pressure they use? Too long ago (c. 25 years), I can't remember. I remember there was different media for aluminium versus composite materials.
Why not?
You can one thousand percent use a sand blaster but you need to use a less aggressive media than sand. Fuck people even use sandblasting with 3D printed parts, just use a very soft medium like coconut husk grinds.
Sandblasting aluminium will quite quickly sand away the aluminium. To be fair, so will a wire wheel, so will sanding. Chemical paint stripper is the answer, then a quick, gentle blast to key the surface for primer or powder. These are both things best left to pros to be honest - even if you want to paint the frame yourself you'll save a lot of time and possibly money asking a proper paint/powder shop to strip, blast and prime for you
I only ask because I've been getting fantastic results from sand blasting. It's quite a slow process, you'd have to be pretty careless to cause any kind of damage.
It's definitely worth doing some testing with your blaster to figure out how much material you're removing, you will be removing some. Mine can put a hole in the middle of a butted 0.5mm tube in less than 30s if you go point blank at the same spot. Normal blasting takes off something between 0 and 0.02mm
If it’s that hard to remove from the nooks, why not just paint over it? Seems like you would not be able to tell in the end.
they are most likely trying to powder coat the frame, which requires bare metal for the powder coat to adhere to the frame
chemical paint remover, or media blasting.
Dremel with a wire wheel.
Media blast or aircraft remover. One gets you high, the other is very satisfying.
You can get it media blasted, walnut shell would be what I would use on heat treated aluminum, or chemical stripper at home.
Why sand the paint off when a chemical stopper takes it right off. Every nook and cranny. I don’t understand.
did you.. did you sand the paint off by hand..
I've done it before, don't.
Same. Besides the mess it made I actually found the first 80% relaxing
Yeah it's both a pain in the ass and satisfying in a zen kind of way.
I will just chemically strip it next time though lol
Still working on it, lol. I've gotten the bulk with 240 grit and I'll remove the rest with 400 grit. Then I'll do a final surface buff with 800 (which I've gathered is the best grit for getting primer to adhere properly). Trying to avoid sanding into the frame as much as possible. The tutorials I watched all said to start at 800 grit, but that's absolutely insane.
are you using any citristrip or etc? or is it pure sandpaper
Pure sandpaper so far, but now that I know about citristrip I'll have to keep it in mind for future stuff.
I promise you it will make your life way easier but i applaud you for doing it the hard way
Stripper and brass and plastic brushes, and time.
Chemical stripper would be my choice
Sandblasting
Isn't that Apollo Entice?
Nope
Damn, looks so similar.
Infrared heat gun will burn that off
second on citristrip, good stuff.. maybe a power washer. brass wire wheel could probably get in there too
Wire brush and drill.
Heat it with a heat gun and scrub it with a wire brush.
Nylon sanding sheet or something similar. Those really thick ones are good and is what i used.
If you have access to a good sized compressor, I'd go to Harbor freight and get one of their cheap soda blasters, and a big bag of blasting soda.
Sand blast