[Closed] Rawing a frame with a wire brush/anglegrinder

wire brush is likely to remove a lot of metal + leave scratches that won't polish out.

you will need nitromors or something

It takes ages and the finish is crap.

Get it sent off for vapour blasting if you want a good finish.

Polishing is never as good as you imagine and its really hard to stop the polisher slipping and then gouging the frame.

Not worth the effort in my book

A wire brush on a grinder is very abrasive and not suited for fine work at all. You'd almost certainly wreck the alloy frame, and you'd need to spend ages cleaning up all the recesses.

If you find somewhere local that does powder coating they would be able to blast it for you fairly cheaply.

As already mentioned, you'll get an awful finish doing what you propose.

Media blasting or a chemical strip are the realistic options.

However, the 'raw' finish still may look crap. I'm not sure the unfinished steel will ever look good. The alloy may polish up but will tarnish rather quickly. Raw alloy frames are usually ball-burnished to preserve their surface. A frame that was intended for powder coating may not have had much in the way of surface treatment.

[i]I'm not sure the unfinished steel will ever look good.[/i]

Well, it'll certainly rust.

Well, it'll certainly rust

OP mentioned 'sealing'. Not sure what method he proposed, but I suspect anything you try will end up looking fairly agricultural.

Possibly a clear PU coat might be ok?

I've often thought the 'raw' look is one of those things that looks good, once, before it sees a trail, or has change to dull.

Intense make a good job of it, but we shouldn't confuse their 'Raw Look' with bare metal/alloy, because they're certainly not.

Scotch brite wheel for angle grinder /drill. Or have it blasted.

The Alloy frame is for a rat/pub bike and not worth the expense. The steel is more of a dream, so may not happen.

With the steel, how are people sealing/painting it with clear coat or a varnish?

Also how did On One do their Raw frames on the Scandal?

Cheers for the replies so far!

3 options
1) do nothing, aluminium is quite soft though so expect a lot of scratches and abrasion. Raw frames are usually bead blasted to harden the surface, this is what gives most bars and seat posts their matt texture (rather than the polished look of Thomson). It's not just superficial, it's hardening the surface which is what stops them cracking. Some lightweight frames have a similar finish.
2) clear powdercoat or paint (PU or 2K varnish), can look slightly yellow, downside is it will still be slightly porous and pick up chips, which will corrode, it's not bad, but you'd not see them on a painted frame.
3) paint it silver.

It's a horrible job to DIY it, it's either worth the £20-£30 to pay someone (make sure it's being blasted with something soft like bicarb or nut shells, glass or shot will turn an alloy frame to swiss cheese), some places dunk parts in solvent tanks first to soften the paint, or it's not worth the effort.

Rawed a Subrosa steel frame a while back. Paint stripper worked OK the retail stuff has had its active ingredient removed but you can get the real deal from a car body shop. Even though the frame was reasonable the paint hid all kinds of manufacturing horrors in terms of details and finishing and welding burns. It looked OK in a prototype kind of way and didn't even rust that much unless provoked with actual water but I wouldn't do it again

Good luck

My personal favourite method requires only two things....Screwfix No Nonsense Paint remover ( http://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-paint-varnish-stripper-500ml/17091) and a Pressure washer.

Drench the frame in paint remover gunk, do it again, do it a again...leave for a reasonable while. Think mine was about an afternoon. Then blast that filthy paint off using pressure washer.

Maybe not the most classy way but having messed around with brushing, sanding, grinding, this was my favourite method!

As i already had the washer, all it cost me was a fiver (although still half a bottle left) for the gunk.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/evil-sovereign-frame-clear-powder-coated-large

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/mid-life-make-over-raw-steel-content

Methylene chloride based stripper (old school nitromors-not the new child friendly stuff) combined with a brass hand wire brush is the best way (have done loads of frames this way).

The steel frame worked okay raw but required a lot of care and had to be cleaned and waxed after every ride. Got fed up doing this so had it clear powder coated. Then sold it.

So, will I die if I strip it back and not ball burnish the alloy?
Its painted in black hammerite, so I may just give it another coat; its pretty agricultural looking anyhow

As per leegee a scotch brite wheel will do a really nice finish on an alu frame. Still worth a coat of lacquer too mind.

Have a look [url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/raw-bike-show-me-and-tips-please/page/1 ][b]here[/b][/url].

It took a while and was fairly tedious but i enjoyed it in a [i]once every 20 years[/i] thing. If i was doing two frames i'd pay to get it done.

On the alloy frame
Nitromors wood paint stripper (as it neutralises with water)and then polish up with wirewool and solvol autosol,can get to a very good finish (mirror like) if you can be bothered?