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Sandblasting aluminum frame? Pictures needed

By MR2turbo4evr,
in YZ400F/426F/450F/450FX

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MR2turbo4evr

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Hey guys,

My YZ450F's frame looks very poor as seen in this thread: https://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=819459&highlight=frame+corrosion

I'm going to strip the bike down to the bare frame soon. I bought a bunch of wet-or-dry sandpaper and figured I'd sand the frame by hand, however I'm worried that it'll make the frame look shiny, even when using coarser sandpaper. I definitelly want to keep the dull, factory finish/look. I'm wondering if I can achieve the factory look by getting the frame sandblasted. I've searched on this forum and on google, but I can't find any pictures of a sandblasted frame. I'm sure someone on here has had his/her frame sandblasted and I was hoping that person could post a few pictures.

I'm also wondering if there is a way to protect the white sticker in the front with the serial number on it. I would really appreciate some tips and advice on sandblasting.

Thanks in advance!

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ghkj21

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:foul:every time I try to reply TT reloads and I can't get it out!

We operate several blast facilites here @ work; your finish depends of the material hardness of the frame and the type of blast media used.

cover vin sticker with blast tape. the people who do your blast should have some or get some for you. contrary to common beilf Auminum is still suseptable to corosion just not in the same way as steel and usually not as dramatic. ONce blasted give it a few good coats of flat clear, that will take down the shine and hopefully give you that the "dull" aluminum finish you are looking for.

Edited by ghkj21
one sentace @ a time b4 reload
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MR2turbo4evr

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:foul:every time I try to reply TT reloads and I can't get it out!

We operate several blast facilites here @ work; your finish depends of the material hardness of the frame and the type of blast media used.

cover vin sticker with blast tape. the people who do your blast should have some or get some for you. contrary to common beilf Auminum is still suseptable to corosion just not in the same way as steel and usually not as dramatic. ONce blasted give it a few good coats of flat clear, that will take down the shine and hopefully give you that the "dull" aluminum finish you are looking for.

Thanks for the quick reply! Any recommendations to which type of blast media to use to achieve the factory look (YZ450F with aluminum frame).

Thanks!

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ghkj21

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Is this site buggy? my reply sreen keeps going blank every 30 sec and I have to re-load and start over>

not glas or 'sand'.

plasic based media of medium or fine density is whats healthiest for aluminum try to find a somone who specializes specifially in aluminum (softer metals) blasting. but I don't know the material composition of your aluminum frame. IF you could find the metal type and hardness (ex 6061 t6, 2024 t81 etc.) I could blast a scrap of the same type here and tell you what it looks like.

Looking @ the pictures of that bike I imagine a blast finish will be dull/fogy like original.

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mikey34

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Is this site buggy? my reply sreen keeps going blank every 30 sec and I have to re-load and start over>

not glas or 'sand'.

plasic based media of medium or fine density is whats healthiest for aluminum try to find a somone who specializes specifially in aluminum (softer metals) blasting. but I don't know the material composition of your aluminum frame. IF you could find the metal type and hardness (ex 6061 t6, 2024 t81 etc.) I could blast a scrap of the same type here and tell you what it looks like.

Looking @ the pictures of that bike I imagine a blast finish will be dull/fogy like original.

We use aluminium oxide powder or as the plastic drum says "50 micron alumina grit". And nitrogen at a low pressure. Only problem is it made the surface look more gray in colour. Plastic media would be the way to go like you said. Interesting cause I was just saying to someone today I wouldn't mind painting my CR250 frame a semi gloss black.

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MR2turbo4evr

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You might consider buying a used frame. There are always a few on Ebay. It might save you a lot of hassle of refinishing your frame. You could also sell your frame to make up for some of the cost.

I don't really mind the hassle as I have nothing better to do in the wintertime anyway. This also gives me a good oportunity to re-grease all the bearings, etc.

I am very picky however and I am worried that the frame will look worse (to me) after it has been sanded or sandblasted than it did before. From what I've seen by looking at pictures, etc, is that sandblasting doesn't make the frame look shiny at all, which means I'm probably going to be happy with the result. I just phoned a local shop and they told me it would only cost around $50-$60 to sandblast my frame.

They only use sand however, no special aluminum medium for blasting. Will this be a problem?

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ghkj21

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They only use sand however, no special aluminum medium for blasting. Will this be a problem?

Again it depends on how hard the aluminum is;

We never use any glass/sand based media on aluminum and recently somone destoryed a $2400 aricraft wheel because they loaded the wrong media., I suppose if they turned the preasure down it would be ok.

but that still leaves one concern... In our career we are very anal about corosion, we use separate booths for aluminum and steel because "a particle of steel from prevous blasting could imbed in the aluminum." I have not actally seen the corosive consequeces of it but like I said we are pretty anal about that...

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MR2turbo4evr

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Thanks everybody for responding and helping out. After doing some more research, I decided to get the frame powder coated silver and add clear coat. It's going to look pretty much factory with the exception of the finish of course. I stripped the bike down to the bare frame and I'm going to be sanding the frame these coming days to get the deeper scratches and little dents out. I'm planning on getting it sandblasted to get an even finish and then getting it powder coated. There is only one shop around here that does sandblasting, and they only use sand, no media or beads. The other shops are probably in Winnipeg, which is about 80km from where I live. I'll just talk to the person who is going to do the blasting and tell him to be extra carefull, maybe turn the pressure down, and hope for the best. I'll pick up some color samples in the next week or so and hopefully drop off the frame to get worked on soon after. I'll definitely post pictures once it's done.

One a side note, how do I know when to replace the steering head bearings? When I took the steering stem out, water was dripping out. The bearings look fine and roll like they are supposed to, however the race for the bottom bearing looks like it has markings where the rollers touched the race. I can't feel these markings at all when I run my finger or fingernail around the race - it feels super smooth. I tried snapping a few pictures, but the markings don't show up on them. Again, the bearing works and looks fine, however some rollers look slightly bronzed, however only when you look really really hard in the right lighting. I'm wondering if I'm just too picky or if I should replace them. After reading up on a few threads about replacing steering bearings, I was hoping to be able re-use the old ones.

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