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Technical & Reference Section => Tech and Restoration => Topic started by: mivvi on December 14, 2012, 10:12 PM
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Hi all, after a bit of info. I am looking to polish an alloy frame and then lacquer it, to keep its shine. I have done this in the past and had a real mirror shine and then i got it clear powder coated.......it lost all its shine. The frame currently has the mirror finish but is now over ten years old and I wish to restore it but just dont know what the correct process is. It really looks like chrome but just dont know how its done? I have heard of ball burnishing or am I barking up the wrong tree? Cheers all ???
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Ball burnished is a different thing altogether , it also goes duller in time .
If you want it to stay like chrome , without sounding funny , have you thought of getting it Chromed or chrome powder coated :daumenhoch:
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If you want a mirror finish to your frame then get a polishing kit, either for an electric drill or bench grinder/polisher this will give you what you want.
Ball burnished is when a piece is placed in a vat of moving ball bearings, which hit the frame repeatedly and this is action is used to polish the piece.
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Ball burnished is a different thing altogether , it also goes duller in time .
If you want it to stay like chrome , without sounding funny , have you thought of getting it Chromed or chrome powder coated :daumenhoch:
The problem with getting chrome powdercoat is that you need a clear over the top of the powder which then makes it a very shiney silver.
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I think he wanted the bike to be like chrome and like a mirror finish , Sean ???
Like chrome and shiny :-\
He was complaining he'd got it shiny ,,,,but then went duller when it was clear laquered ,,rather than maintaining a permanent shine :-\
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Having being envolved in Metallurgy its the quickest way of weakening a parent metal that is known :shocked:
Hence they break , snap and crack >:( No idea in that factory in my book :uglystupid2:
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Thanks all for your replies. Well I never knew you could get alloy chromed? I thought it was only steel that you can chrome, possibly thats what the finish is now then? I didnt know you could get chrome powder either? Well I have a few options now, getting it proper chromed could be the way to go....excited now. Cheers all :daumenhoch:
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Having being envolved in Metallurgy its the quickest way of weakening a parent metal that is known :shocked:
Hence they break , snap and crack >:( No idea in that factory in my book :uglystupid2:
Yea, its a mountain bike 24" frame and its very thin alloy as it pings when you flick it. I suppose they are just strong in all the right places :-\
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I think he wanted the bike to be like chrome and like a mirror finish , Sean ???
Like chrome and shiny :-\
He was complaining he'd got it shiny ,,,,but then went duller when it was clear laquered ,,rather than maintaining a permanent shine :-\
Sorry Christian wasn't actually having a go there mate, I wrote it on my way to do something else and didn't word it nicely.
I actually didn't know that you need a clear powder to go over the top of chrome powder, it was something SBD told me recently.
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OrgasmDonor, there is no need! :LolLolLolLol:
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i'm just at this very moment deleting all traces of that search from wor lasses computer :daumenhoch: :LolLolLolLol:
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This is how it looks now, you can see its the front end that is chrome:
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/b157/mivvi/Scott24.jpg)
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it would be reflecting more light if it was chrome, it may be bare lacquered ally or gloss silver !
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Yep, it has lost it's shine but its quite an old bike now but love it, do its staying with me. I think it may well be lacquered alloy?
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Didn't think you were being funny Sean :angel: ;),,, and I learnt something new myself ,,didn't know Chrome powder needed a top coar roo :)
Daz you need a nice Selle Turbo , your current one is making a reeeyt nasty mess of your sac :shocked: :D
Nice Scott MTB Mr Mivvi :daumenhoch:
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probably get it light grit blasted so it is bare then polish the hell out of it with PEEK but you ll have to do it every few weeks !
you ll prob need a dremel and special polishing bits.
send bmx a pm. hes the polishing queen(some say he has a sweatshop full of oompa loompa's)!
i dont like the look of it ! :daumenhoch:
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Didn't think you were being funny Sean,,, and I learnt something new myself ,,didn't know Chrome powder needed a top coar roo :)
Daz you need a nice Selle Turbo , your current one is making a reeet mess of your sac :shocked: :D
Nice Scott MTB Mr Mivvi :daumenhoch:
some mid school chrome bikes are lacquered not our o/s !
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Didn't think you were being funny Sean,,, and I learnt something new myself ,,didn't know Chrome powder needed a top coar roo :)
Daz you need a nice Selle Turbo , your current one is making a reeet mess of your sac :shocked: :D
Nice Scott MTB Mr Mivvi :daumenhoch:
thats one unfortunate freudian slip dude :LolLolLolLol:
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i thought hed gone all ɹǝpun uʍop on us ! :LolLolLolLol:
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Didn't think you were being funny Sean,,, and I learnt something new myself ,,didn't know Chrome powder needed a top coar roo :)
Daz you need a nice Selle Turbo , your current one is making a reeet mess of your sac :shocked: :D
Nice Scott MTB Mr Mivvi :daumenhoch:
some mid school chrome bikes are lacquered not our o/s !
Who said anything about O/S or mid school :)
, it's a mountain bike that is already polished and he wants to maintain it's shine by putting a clear coat on or alternative permanent finish ,
so then he doesn't have to keep polishing it :)
That's the way I read it ,, I could be wrong :)
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he wants super bling at all costs !!
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Thanks for all the comments guys. Yea, before I even start stripping this back, I wanted to know is I can achieve the same effect. And yes Bobbbbbbsy, yr spot on. I want it bling and never have to polish it again lol
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There is now a painting process that will make it look exactly like chrome. That or get it wrapped. Thats if anyone is good enough to do it to a bike
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There is now a painting process that will make it look exactly like chrome. That or get it wrapped. Thats if anyone is good enough to do it to a bike
Getting a bike vinyl wrapped is possible and has been done on here :daumenhoch:
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/o305/virtualmeuk/BOTM/Aero/ssDSCF1185ss.jpg)
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/o305/virtualmeuk/BOTM/Aero/ssDSCF1186.jpg)
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/o305/virtualmeuk/BOTM/Aero/ssDSCF1191.jpg)
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To be honest I'm surprised there aren't more gonads in this thread
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you just added one griff ! :D
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i think polishing it will look best. paint and wrap will be costly and not look great ! message super bike dan and see what he can do !
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When i was in London last week i saw a card in a telephone box advertising ball-burnishing.... ;)
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When i was in London last week i saw a card in a telephone box advertising ball-burnishing.... ;)
Did you ring it?
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wow , all i see cards for prozzies !! :D
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Polish it = £elbow grease
Chrome it = £big bucks
Know which road i'd be going down. :daumenhoch:
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;D quality. 'Aero' reflex. Loving it!!