Hello,
I’m new to makerspace, and was wondering if there is an abrasive blaster, or other piece of equipment, that I can use to strip down an old bicycle frame. I want to strip it down for powder coating.
Thank you for any tips!
Patrick
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We have a vapor hone which is like a sand blaster but the media us in water. A bike frame might fit. Might be challenging to flip it around to get all sides
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Cool! Where do I find training for it, or is there a certification class?
Thank you!
No certification is required. The are directions on the machine itself as it is in metal shop. It is in the about middle of the room.
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Awesome! Can’t wait to use it. Thank you all for your responses!!
there are rotary sanders that i do not believe require clearance. its how i usually do my bicycle rebuilds. I didnt even consider the vapor hone due to its small size but worth a check.
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It will be super tight for a small bike frame in the vapor hone.
Additionally some local abrasives places will be able to blast it for a modest fee if it won’t fit.
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I just had Quality Powdercoating sandblast some legs for a welding table, It was about $115.
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Electrokoat is run by a member and I usually have them do stuff that wouldn’t fit in our oven or would have been too hard to jig up. They do blasting.
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harbor freight sells these kinds of units for like $20. i actually got a fixer upper bike last week unexpectedly so of course i’m already looking into an identical project as the OP
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@brenly thank you for the vapor hone dimensions and the harbor freight recommendation. Will you be working on yours project at makerspace? This is my first time tearing apart a bicycle. My project is an early 1990’s specialized rockhopper (steel frame). I’m adding a 36V front hub motor, and a 460Wh battery pack. Should go around 30mph, with a range of 25 miles. I need to go through pretty much everything on the bike, as it’s been outside and unridden for some time. Are there any bike tools at the space?
@hon1nbo thank you for the recommendation. I’ll be giving them a call, because I think the powder coating oven is down (as of last week).
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There is a Park bike stand in automotive. I dont believe there are any cassette tools or chain link tools. Most everything else should be able to come apart with hand tools.
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So I tried the vapor hone last night on a couple test pieces. I was only able to get a couple spots of my test piece clean, as it seemed the system was lacking abrasive. This could also very well could be my lack of experience with the vapor hone.
My bicycle frame, stripped down without forks, would fit however the task would be near impossible. The hoses seem restricted to a small working area inside the cabinet. Again, this is probably because I don’t have experience with the equipment.
For the two frames I’m doing, I’ll take them down to a powder coat business for stripping and powder coating.
Wish the makerspace powder coating oven was working!
I haven’t used it in a few weeks, but it could be one of two things:
- cycle the abrasive (@procterc was it serviced at the last meeting?)
- needs to be backpurged whilst you use it (hold the nozzle firmly against the glove and turn it on for a few seconds; you should hear some gurgling coming from the agitator which will kick up some media that may not be flowing freely)
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You need specialized (not the brand, the adjective) tools to remove headset and bottom bracket bearing races. And a crank puller. Some bike-specific tools are useful for reassembly, like 3rd and 4th hand tools for doing rim brakes, but not absolutely necessary.
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@hon1nbo I tried the back purge (finger on the nozzle) for about 5 seconds, several times, but didn’t notice a change. Maybe I should have done it a few more times, or for longer. I didn’t hear a gurgle.
@jswilson64 my question is since I’m doing two frames, would it be money better spent to buy the tools and have them, or pay a shop to pull it apart for me?
Most shops can pull the bearing races pretty quickly for not much money. And reset them after you get it powder coated. It’s an easy, quick job. Most good bike shop mechanics salivate at the prospect of doing more than adjusting a derailleur limit screw or fixing a flat. If you have a good local shop they’d probably teach you how to do it, too. Buying the tools would be a waste unless you intend to build a lot of bikes from the bare frame. The tools are large-ish and bulky. Search for “Bicycle headset press” and “Bicycle headset race removal tool” for examples of a couple of the things you’d need. Similar stuff for bottom brackets.
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