Removing paint from a TI frame

[padawan]

I recently purchased a used Aquila 6/4 TI bike. It was built for a local racing team so the titanium frame (which are usually left bare) was painted with the team colour and some decals/stickers were added as well. I want to remove it all down to the bare titanium.

I was considering sand/bead/walnut shell blasting but I was concerned about the process weakening the frame or the welds. Does anyone have any experience with paint removal from a titanium bike (or any bike)? Specifically, if you've ever sand/bead/walnut shell blasted a bike frame I'd love to hear from you about how well it worked.

Thanks!
Pad

 

[CAMPYBOB]

glass bead at a low pressure will not do any harm. it leaves a satin matte finish that can be ridden as is and it provides a 'toothy' surface for any paint to adhere to.

my litespeed has a factory glass bead finish (no money spent on polishing out the tubes or welds).

cobb-blasting or any other soft media should yield similar results, albeit taking a bit longer to strip perhaps.

 

[padawan]

glass bead at a low pressure will not do any harm. it leaves a satin matte finish that can be ridden as is and it provides a 'toothy' surface for any paint to adhere to.

my litespeed has a factory glass bead finish (no money spent on polishing out the tubes or welds).

cobb-blasting or any other soft media should yield similar results, albeit taking a bit longer to strip perhaps.

Thanks C'Bob!

I did go with glass bead. Worked beautifully! Quick question for you (or anyone that wants to chime in). If I did want to polish the TI, is there a product I can use, some sort of cream/polish like there is for brass or silver? Could I use silver polish? I definitely want to keep the natural TI colour but would it be advisable to clear coat paint it to protect it from scratches (not that I ever crash )?

Pad