Morning All

What would be the best way to achieve a polished finish on a stripped down frame?

Polish it? (sorry)

easiest way is take it to a polisher

hardest way……do it yourself

Polish it? (sorry)

Kinda asking for that I guess 😉

Will look into taking it somewhere to have done though idea was for cheapest route possible. Had been thinking something like Autosol with a Dremel/buffing pad combo ❓

Autosol worked a treat for me on an old ball burnished Zaskar that I owned.

Wet & Dry, something like 1500 up to 3000 grade) in the bath with loads of warm soapy water. Start with the 1500 and work your way to the 3000). The longer you spend and the more gradual your upgrades, the better the finish you'll acheive. Just make sure that you keep the paper and frame wet all the time – it'll keep the finish even and prevent dull spots which can be hard to remove. Once you have an even and super-smooth finish (it'll still be matt, though), then use something like Autoglym Metal Polish with a heavy cloth and separate off and buffing cloths. Again, take your time and be fastidious.

I didn't want to get a full-on mirror effect on my Big Hit, so as you can see it's still a little flat. Still very shiny, though…

Your a nutter three fish that must have taken a very long time. Respect!

Can you get a mirrorish finish from a good spray painter, as getting it polished professionally will cost a lot.

Wow three fish that looks ace, top job fella 🙂 I've got a few weeks off riding due to injury so lokos like this will keep me busy 😉

One of THESE kits would make it a lot easier.
Finish will go dull over time though, but quickly buffs up again. You could always polish then lacquer over. It takes a bit of the shine off but it wont go dull. Advantage is that you can lacquer go over any graphics you put on to seal them on. Nowt to stop you buffing the lacquer up to a high shine also I guess.

Keep thinking of polishing my Ventana. Every time I go on the web site I find myself drooling over this lovely…

Looks a bargain price to me, will have to do some reading up on technique but fancy giving it a go 🙂

Thanks very much. I forgot to mention that the quality of your strip makes a big difference. I've always used Nitromors for stripping, but the first time I did it I was impatient and resorted to trying to scrape stubborn paint off with a blade and a screwdriver. As careful as I though I was being, a left a few nicks and scratches and these came back to haunt me when the time came to polish. Any stubborn paint, which will usually be either around decals or around welds, just needs longer to sit under the chemical stripper. Even if it means leaving it for a half hour or so, rather than the usual five to ten minutes, the time and trouble it will save you later is considerable.

Aluminium oxidises so quickly that dulling has never been an issue for me (one previous and two current bikes with stripped finish, although my current frames are more of a matt works finish acheived with a slightly tedious polish and wire wool method. But, the higher the polish, the less surface area there is and the less of an issue dulling becomes. A clear coat will actually dull and damage much more easily than a bare metal finish. On high polish, a slightly used 'off' cloth is usually enough to restore the sheen, although a full polish every once in a while does offer some protection and help prevent light scratches and scuffs from developing.

noice

I've got a big pot of Nitromors sat in the cupboard so will get busy with that a little later on. Would you recommend using a multi tool polishing kit or going with the graded wet/dry approach?

fontmoss: niche tastic 8)

That Big Hit officially looks RAD. Must have been a complete nightmare to do around the welds, no?

I would absolutely go with the chemical stripper. It simply has to be quicker whilst still leaving however an even finish the frame was manufactured with. Specialized have a rather nice brushed finish, which is what led me to refrain from doing the full polish on my next frame (SX Trail). You won't know until you get the paint off what kind of finish the frame has, but using rotary tools is only going to increase the chances of an uneven finish. I did use a Dremel to tidy up some of my tool scratches on the Big Hit, but I really would not have liked to have done the whole frame mechanically. With strippers, around 80% of the paint will simply drop off after about ten minutes.

It takes me about fifteen minutes to strip the bike of parts and dismantle the frame, another thirty or forty to mask the bearings (needs one mask of plastic tape and two masks of paper (masking) tape) then, with lessons learned from the Big Hit, maybe about three or four hours to entirely remove the paint. My hardtail frame (SubZero) was done in about two and half hours. It would have been less, but Orange use powdercoat and the thicker stuff around welds is very stubborn.

The trick with welds and stubborn parts is just to be patient. Apply stripper, leave it work for five minutes, then use a toothbrush to disturb the paint that has broken free. Keep applying a little stripper to the area and leave it to react with the paint. Basically, the longer the paint is in contact with pure (unreacted) stripper, the quicker it will lift.

Three_Fish

Where did you get the mount that appears to be attached to your wall and holding the frame up?

Sorry three fish I didnt mean using a dremel for removing the paint I meant using it to polish the frame instead of using the wet & dry paper. Good tip for the bearings though as I hadnt thought of them 😉

The frame itself was resprayed about three years ago so hopefully it shouldnt be too difficult to get off.

Sorry three fish I didnt mean using a dremel for removing the paint I meant using it to polish the frame instead of using the wet & dry paper.

My mistake, beg your pardon. Having used Wet & Dry for finishing car paint and for polishing metal, I'd say it was quicker, cleaner and more even than using a tool. Perhaps you'd get a better mechanical finish if you used a larger tool, or just if you had better skills than mine, but I find the W&D with soapy water method to be as simple as it is effective.

Where did you get the mount that appears to be attached to your wall and holding the frame up?

That's a Park Tool PRS4W (CRC link). Not cheap, but fanatastically well made and entirely dependable.

Simple is good for me three fish lol so will go that way. All I have to do know is time it right so I can get it all done and cleaned up before Mrs stayhigh gets home from work 😉

All I have to do know is time it right so I can get it all done and cleaned up before Mrs stayhigh gets home from work.

Pick up a couple of big towels or a small rug from a charity shop to put your frame on in the bath when you do the Wet & Dry. It's incredible, and unfortunate, how much damage a bottom bracket will do to the enamel on a bathtub. Hope it all goes well, I'll look forward to seeing the result…

Good thinking with towels, will grab some from asda as they do them for a couple of pounds. I shall get busy over the next week to get the frame stripped and then let the polishing frenzy begin.

Cheers for the advice three fish, I'll update stage by stage 🙂

Shiny, shiny, shiny (professionally polished Ti)

If your looking for a mirror finish don't use Autosol on aluminium. It's really meant for chrome and as such is too abrasive for softer metals. It works, but it leaves fine scratches. 'Belgom Alu' for the final buff is more suitable and leaves a wax protectant as it goes.

One advantage of drill mop kits that the polishing-shop sell is speed. Once I'd stripped my cranks back to the bare metal it took about 5 mins with the drill to get them to a mirror polish with very little effort.

I use brasso on stuff I want to polish nicely, especially alu- had it mirror finish. But it rarely lasts as I always forget to clearcoat it, the surface oxidises and it all looks a mess again.

Anthony: will check out the Belgom Alu you suggested, does the wax protectant interfere with clear coating the frame at all and how big a bottle would you use?

I'm not sure about using clear coat yet. I may just copter tap over the decals once there on?

It'll just oxidise and get steadily more dull unless you keep polishing it. Different alloys dull faster than others, but you'll still have that problem.

regular polishing is the order of the day then. Well, that and a day off so I can get on with this lol