Refinishing Titanium and need some advice

[dyna-ti]

Righto. Ive stripped down my Ti and im making an attempt to wet&dry out the bigger scratches then run through the grits to 1200 or above if I can find any then 0000 grade steel wool then autosol and a soft cloth and paper to finish .

Problem im having is the 320grit ive started with has taken off the mirror finish and most of the slight scratching,especially that from the bare wire cable on the top tube. But its not touching cross grain scratches :? I can work on them but im not keen on concentrating on any one area
With the 320 i get a reasonably fine brushed appearance and all the wet&dry does is orientate the scratching so it looks clean and uniform.

Questions-
Should i continue working on the cross grain scratching(right angles to the tube direction) or leave them alone in case its overdone ?.

Plus. Is 1200 ok for the last wet&dry before moving onto the polishing compound ? or does anyone recommend finer, though i admit ive not seen finer im sure there will be.

And is wet&dry for automotive the best thing to use ?. Hell of a hard metal to be sanding.

I should really do a thread on this

Ta

 

[dyna-ti]

Bump :shock:

WHAT ???. None of the literally thousands of Ti owners have bare frames, all have them painted ???

Oh well , STW it is. :facepalm:

 

[02gf74]

320 is oretry course. If you can feek scratch with finger nail it wikk taje a fair bit if sanding to get rid of, it be a fractuon if a mm so wont weaken the tube.

For mirror finish, youd need finer than 1200, wil need polishing compound.

Why not go for bead or soda blasting will give you a uniforn slightly matt saurface that should mask most of the big scratches.

 

[wadsy]

Re:

I'm assuming the frame is already polished and you want to retain this finish?

Otherwise, as suggested above, a brushed finish isn't as much work!

I've used red-oxide cloth (240 grit iirc) on a block to remove scratches. Otherwise, Garryflex blocks are good for lighter scratches and Scotch pads for brushed.

You could then progress through the wet and dry grades. An alternative may be to get a metal polishing kit that will fit into a drill and save a bit of time and effort.

Cheers

 

[syncrosfan]

Polishing Ti is a giant pain in the behind. I did it with my Moots because I wanted a polished and media blasted look for the graphics on it so I sanded the sanded some more then went into polishing it. It works and I was using professional grade power-tools for sanding and polishing but I wouldn't do it again. Now I know there's a reason there aren't too many polished Ti frames out there (way too much work). I did go up to 3000 grit before moving into a coarse polishing paste the finished with a fine polishing paste.

 

[dyna-ti]

Thanks for the replies but this could now prove to be academic

Found a crack.. Hidden under the seatclamp.

 

[Mr Crudley]

Found a crack.. Hidden under the seatclamp.

Oh no, but once you have that minor problem sorted out, go for a brushed finish.

The 3M Scotchbrite pads that may have the best sounding name over all other pads do the trick for me. A slight buffing with this brings it up nicely.

http://www.shop3m.com.au/scotch-brite-g ... grade.html

Polished Ti is the schnizz but looks like a big fingerprint magnet.
Hope you sort out the seatclamp crack.

 

[dyna-ti]

Fingerprints aye, a real horror there. Worse is when its back from the lbs.
Dont they ever wash their hands :shock:

I might as well continue with the polishing as its come on not bad and although not quite mirror yet its not far off it.
Took it to 1200 and then 0000 steel wool then the same with autosol. I crtainly looks considerably better than it did and especially around the top tube where the control wires has heavily marked it ,from leg action during pedaling.
Ill be addressing that area with a length of helicopter tape and then heat shrink tubing that you get from maplin for electrical connections covers the cable really well and as the cable only moves an inch or so all you need to do there is leave the ends free.

I'll do another pic as to what its like now and still got the seat tube to do so the difference is marked clearly.


Crack isnt an issue. It could have been so so SO :shock: much worse. I'll be having that sorted professionally, by a ti specialist.