FINISHED! Another Pace RC200 Rescue Thread

Re:

You'd have to ask Danson about the details, but I gather he had Acorn do the anodising so I'm sure they could advise what's what
 
who re anodised it in the end and how did u finish the frame pre anodising?
It was Acorn Plating who did the anodising job. https://www.acornplating.com/
They were the only company I could find who had the capacity (or willing) to handle something as large as a bike frame, and in red.
There were a few more who could handle clear (Silver) or black, but not colours.
They did a great job, cost around £110 + shipping.

As for prep...Firstly I had to remove any steel parts in the frame.
On this pace that meant the drilling out the bottle bosses (rivnuts) and extracting the steel helicoils in the seat clamp collar and chainsuck plate mounting.

Having found an anodiser, the approach to the surface finish was going to be more critical than if the frame was to be painted.
The anodising around the areas where I welded had had the anodising removed with a careful application of a strong caustic soda solution.
Anodising is not weldable, and, as it is a hard surface, it is difficult to remove mechanically, especially in tight corners such as the BB area.

I removed the anodising by hand, rather than a general bath, which the anodisers had.
A full bath etch would preferentially corrode the new bare tubes and the exposed aluminium around the welds in preference to the previously anodised areas.
This sort of uneveness of etch would be very obvious in the re-anodising plating.

It is pretty easy to see when the anodising has been removed as the black deposits from the alloying elements are deposited on the surface.
The removal of the anodising can also be inspected with a multi-meter, as anodising tends not to conduct electricity, but the underlying aluminium does.

I cleaned the weld areas with a commercial brightening de-smut solution, which is mostly nitric acid.
This helps to lift the alloying deposits from the surface.
You can see here where the new head tube and areas near the welds, where I used the de-smut prior to welding, are much brighter.

After welding, the whole frame was placed in the de-smut solution to clean it off.

Finally, I went around the frame and filed off any small burrs or nicks in the material.

All the best,
 

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Just read this through... after spending the morning in Paces back yard (Dalby Forrest) it’s got me thinking.....
 
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