I have one of the original Ti Inbreds which has the painted(?)/laquered finish and not raw Ti.
As it isn't being ridden at the minute I thought I may strip it all down and polish the frame back to raw ti. I was thinking of just using wire wool, but has anyone else done a similar thing and if so how did you go about it.
Ta!
get it gently bead blasted to remove the existing coat - for £20 or £30 it'll save a lot of effort and give an even result.
You can then use green washing up scrubbing pad things to create an different finish if you don't like the bead blasted effect.
I did my original Tinbred myself years ago. I used Nitromors and then a very light sanding.
A not particularly helpful picture in my sale advert [url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-on-one-tinbred-18-geared-frame ]HERE[/url]
When I were a poor lad in days gone by I tried stripping and polishing a frame.
Never again I'd gladly pay the £20ish for someone to beadblast it.
Green Scotch Brite pads are great for re-finishing titanium.
Ta! - I have time on my hands with this one so I'll try Nitromors and a bit of light sanding.
...and finish with Scotch Brite.
I've recently been considering the same. The advice I got when I asked Mercian Cycles (who may know a thing or two about frames)if they'd bead blast it was that their bead blasting kit was set up for steel and would be too harsh for Ti. They said just to use Nitromors & elbow grease with a scotchbrite to buff it up.
+1 for paint stripper. I would very very scared of taking off too much titanium with any kind of blasting. Soda maybe, anything harsher not unless the person really knew what they were doing.
So... I've got all the lacquer stripped off and now left with a slightly patchy bare metal.
I was wondering about using those polishing disc you stick in a drill - but I've no idea what grades/types I should be using! Can anyone offer any advice.
Ta!
I would be very cautious about using a powered sander, no matter how fine the grade of abrasive disc used.
How does the scotchbrite pad technique fare?
I was wondering this, my downtube had a fight with a dmr vault pedal and I managed to scratch the black paint, wondering whether to touch up or strip down.
Try polishing the frame by hand using a green scotchbrite pad.
Wrap the pad around the tube and go around it rather than along it and definitely don't polish it in circles.
In my youth (yes, that long ago) this stuff was the bees knees when it came to polishing;
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then maybe follow up with
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for a real nostaligia trip?
When I did my tinbred, the Nitromors got most of the paint off with a couple of goes. I used a wire brush for stubborn bits. Then a 3M polishing pad to finish.
And a bit of manual effort! Came up quite nice though 😀
Getting there! A bit more buffing up then time to rebuild...
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That's come up really nice 8)
What did you use in the end?
Paintstripper, Scotchbright and now Autosol - just got to decide how shiny I want it now. Tempted to keep polishing!
I think the greater the shine, the higher the maintenance to keep it that way and keep on top of general marks such as from cables etc.
That looks spot on to me.