Anodising frame prep - made a boo boo

[d8mok]

Right I’m on an another attempt to have a test frame (Zaskar) anodised. I’ve been here before with a frame fully ready and then was let down but I’ve found another place willing to try.

Almost finished the prep and the time has come to remove the bottle bosses. Bottle bosses removed and dropped inside downtube (I’m getting good at this he thinks to himself ) and then boom…. This Zaskar hasn’t got an exit hole in the headtube like every other one I’ve got (it has very tiny holes but not big enough)

Any ideas how to get them out ? Anything that dissolves steel but not alloy ?

I’ve tried magnets but can’t get them back out the holes.

I’ve got a GT Maraca as a friend pointed out.

 

[ishaw]

The holes are not structural as far as I know, I think they are there to vent weld gasses really so the only thing I can think of is make them bigger with a Dremel or something.

Water dissolves steel, but you'll be waiting a while.

 

[d8mok]

The holes are not structural as far as I know, I think they are there to vent weld gasses really so the only thing I can think of is make them bigger with a Dremel or something.

Water dissolves steel, but you'll be waiting a while.

All the other Zaskars I’ve got to hand have holes.

I’ve closed the garage door for today as the temptation with a dremel is too much but I think it’ll go that way yes.

 

[Betsy]

Use the magnets to position the bosses over the hole.. thread one end of a length of fishing braid (30-50lbs) into the frame and through the boss.. feed quite a lot through then use a vacuum cleaner to suck the braid out the other hole .. then move the boss down the line and feed the other end of the braid through the hole.. then try sucking that end out the other hole giving you both ends of line with (hopefully) the boss inside the frame on the loop.. they yoink them out the way they went in.. hopefully this makes sense

 

[d8mok]

Yep that makes sense mate. I’ll give it a try

 

[ishaw]

All the other Zaskars I’ve got to hand have holes.

I’ve closed the garage door for today as the temptation with a dremel is too much but I think it’ll go that way yes.

I had a similar issue (caused by colourtech who botched a boss repair on a ti frame then tried to cover it up by gluing the boss remnants in at the BB. It came loose. Sent it back to get sorted, they then filled the down tube with expanding foam to try and further hide their bodge.

I'll never tire of resurrecting this story and urge anyone to avoid them like COVID, not just because of the bodge twice, nor the fact they didn't treat the frame with care, it came back scratched and covered in paint overspray from whatever else I'm sure they were ruining. But more scary was they simply didn't give a sh*t about it.

I sent the frame to enigma, who sympathetically sorted things out, and they did enlarge the head tube/downtube hole just enough to get the boss remnants out.

They were excellent, and if it's good enough for them and a ti frame, no doubt ok for a Zaskar.

 

[Suprachrgd82]

No hole in the bottom bracket either?

 

[Betsy]

You could also try needle point surgical tweezers


Peen the ends over


Grind/file so the fit through the hole


Twist the tweezers so the pass through the boss.. maybe add a blob of epoxy


When the epoxy has set.. try and wiggle them out.. personally I think you’ll have more success with the loop method but this is also worth a try.

 

[d8mok]

No hole in the bottom bracket either?

Pin size hole in BB and a small exit hole at headtube but not big enough for the boss to exit.

 

[d8mok]

I’d like to say I used a well thought out and delicate method. But I used the dremel in the end ti widen a hole to more like the size of all the other frames I’ve got.