Repainting a frame

thomas_cho

Hi all,
Anyone have any recommendations for shops who will do sandblasting, and powdercoating of bicycle frames in Canberra or Sydney?

If you have any experience with getting a frame repainted, please share as well.

Thanks
Thomas

anthonyg

Hi Thomas,

I'm intending to have a frame sandblasted and powdercoated myself but haven't had it done yet. There is a sandblaster in Wycombe street Queanbeyan who I have been told sadblasts bicycle frames and organises to have them powdercoated. There are several other paint shops in Queanbeyan who will powdercoat or respray bike frames as well although I am yet to shop around. The sandblaster was reccomended to me by Brian of the BikeShed group.

Regards, Anthony

thomas_cho

Hey there Anthony, any idea what the ballpark cost will be like? I have a Reynolds 753 frame that I am thinking of sandblasting and powdercoat/respray. Will sandblasting cause any damage to a 753 frame/fork?

Thanks for the heads up, perhaps there might be a discount for doing two frames/fork at once? same color?

Keep in touch
Cheers

anthonyg

The ballpark cost I heard was about $120 for sandblasting and powdercoating which isn't much but I need to get a current price. Sandblasting won't hurt the frame at all and infact you have to remove any decals first because the sandblasting won't remove those. I have a realy cheap steel frame that I wan't to build as a commuter and for the sake of longevity I need to repaint it although I haven't totaly commited myself to it yet.

I'll try and find out more next week.

Regards, Anthony

Bigbananabike

If its a very thin walled tubing bike frame getting it media blasted(walnuts or plastic pelets) might be safer than having it sandblasted.

I had an aluminium frame(Trek 1200) and fork sandblasted and etch primed. The guy who did it always gives me a good deal - I think it was about $20, and does a good job. I've got my motorbike frame and swingarm with him at the moment(restoring it).
Happy painting etc, Paul

thomas_cho

Hi Paul, thanks for the suggestion, I have read about media blasting as you put it. Is this commonly available? I do not know for sure, but I would assume that Reynolds 753 tubing would be relatively thin walled.

Would this be overly expensive?

Also does anyone know how much chroming would cost, and what is the procedure of doing it? I was looking at some of the restoration projects, and they had the lugs chromed, including the bottom bracket shell. Looked very good!

Bigbananabike

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Hi.
Plastic(its usually reusable plastic pellets) media blasting is pretty common - car restorers and people like that use it. Yellow pages?
I think(no expert!) that 753 would cope with sandblasting - make sure the guy gives it a few lighter sweeps rather than concentrating on an area for too long.
It shouldn't cost much(see above).
I had a fork chromed on my beloved TI Raleigh years ago. Can't remember how much etc. I wouldn't do it again - chroming a whole frame or fork apparently(I didn't notice it) some of the 'life' out of the frame.
I agree chromed lugs look great on a classic(and people think carbon looks sexy - hoo humm) but how a chromer would do them alone beats me....

Hope this helps, Paul

matagi

A chromer wouldn't chrome the lugs alone - in the case of rear lugs, the whole frame gets chromed and then you paint over the bits you don't want to be chrome. Same with the front - the whole fork gets chromed and then you paint over the bits you don't want to be chrome.