SOHC.co.uk Forums > CB350/400
Vapour blasting engine cases
royhall:
--- Quote from: Trigger on April 23, 2015, 05:57:02 PM ---
--- Quote from: royhall on April 23, 2015, 12:55:28 PM ---Hi. guys. Just deciding what to do about painting or blasting the engine cases/barrels/head on the old 350. VHT paint tends to go a bit brittle over time so seriously thinking of getting it all vapour blasted and leaving it at that. Leaves a really nice satin silver finish but am a bit concerned about how durable its going to be. Has anybody tried it?
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Vapour blasting engines does have a small problem. If i vapour a crank case i always get the customer to sign a dis-claimer that i am not responsible for any glass bead left in the oil ways. Cases are a lot easier but, make sure the media is a very fine grade because it can cause pitting in the alloy ;)
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Good point that Trigger, guess it's the same with any type of blasting. What's the finish like, does it stand up to being handled with oily hands etc, and will it go black in time. Any advice on this would be great as its looking like vapour blasting or stove enamel. Don't want to go down the VHT paint route again as it ends up too brittle and easily damaged. Cheers all.
royhall:
Anybody got experience with the vapour blasting thing? Cheers.
andut:
Hi Roy,
I've just received my crank cases back from wet blasting, and they look fantastic - I'll add some pics later tonight ! I'm planning to leave them as they are now without any lacquer etc - my thinking is that the bike will not get lots of use, hopefully not in adverse weather and I'll keep on top of the cleaning.
Years ago my uncle used to run a shot blasting and wet blasting company aimed at bike / car cleaning (still going with new owner in north Kent) and he had quite a large collection of bikes that would have had their aluminum engine parts wet blasted with glass bead / high pressure water and they all looked great without any further coating. They were mostly classic & vintage race bikes that were definitely used, but obviously nowhere near as much as road bikes could be.
I think it probably depends on your intended use of the bike - if it's going to see a lot of miles and salty roads etc, then I'd be considering a coating of some sort that can be hosed down / degreased, but if it's a 'sunny days' type of bike, and you're not committed to total factory finish originality, I'd be tempted to leave the wet blast finish.
I'll echo posts from Trigger in making sure you clean the parts and then clean them again to flush any blasting media out - that's my job for tonight !
Hope that is of some help !!
Andy
AshimotoK0:
Does anyone know the best grade of glass beads to get for dry blasting alloy parts? I got two 1 kg samples free from Vixen (same makers of our blast cabinet) (will post spec. of beads later) but I need to get a 25 kg bag of the best one for my application (cylinder heads/barrels, covers.) I know vapour is best but I have loads to do and it's bloody expensive and I hate trusting rare parts with other people and I don't trust them to not get media in the internals. Saving grace is I do have access to a large industrial polishing machine and the compounds to polish with. Just need to crack the prep before lacquering now like Vic World does (chromate treatment).
Ash
Trigger:
--- Quote from: royhall on April 30, 2015, 07:02:40 AM ---Anybody got experience with the vapour blasting thing? Cheers.
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This has been vapour blasted but, it is british alloy. For the same price i would go for stove enamel ;)
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