Soda blasting carbon fibre: will it work? Or not?

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P3PO
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Location: Yukon Canada

by P3PO

I live in northern canada where the roads are terrible and the temperature and weather fluctuates quite a bit throughout the riding season, I scraped my frame (2000 Trek 5200) last winter and put about 8000 km on it over the summer. I have had no problems with my frame and it is now 14 years old infact I just retired it for a new one but the frame is still going strong. I would never tell anyone that they should do this but I can say that my frame did lose about 80g and it looked a lot better raw than with its old red white and blue USPS colors. Basically I was prepared for this not to work and I accepted that it may destroy my frame however it so far has worked out just fine for me.

by Weenie


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tharmor
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Joined: Thu Jun 03, 2010 6:20 am

by tharmor

Interestingly only one person has not recommended soda-blasting, although the point of the thread was as such. I completely understand the recommendations of other methods, but by default are you all implying that soda-blasting is not a good idea? I'm still wondering if it can/should be done.

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andreszucs
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by andreszucs

tharmor wrote:Interestingly only one person has not recommended soda-blasting, although the point of the thread was as such. I completely understand the recommendations of other methods, but by default are you all implying that soda-blasting is not a good idea? I'm still wondering if it can/should be done.


I'd say people are recommending the blade on sanding tech because we can do it at home and its cheap (and some good therapeutic time in the garage)...also the reward effect because we did it ourselves.

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andreszucs
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by andreszucs

Sharing a success story: I bought this s-work crank a couple of month ago and stripped the paint off using the blade technique and lastly, the sand paper. First is used a 1200 grade then a last hand with 2000 grade. To end the process trying to reach a mirror finish I polished the surface with headlight lens restorer, it comes two bottles on this box, I used the compound only. To polished I used the setup on picture.

I really liked the end result! its not 100% mirror finish but its pretty damn good! If I eventually decide to strip the paint off my bike I'll do the same process and I see advantages of not having a clear coat, less worry with scratches and of course....about 15g lighter :P

Regarding the durability of naked carbon without any clear coat, I'd say the carbon is already protected by it's nature and production method. The embedded resin doesn't the trick.
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P3PO
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Location: Yukon Canada

by P3PO

That look s really good!

ToffieBoi
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Location: Krakow, Poland

by ToffieBoi

P3PO wrote:I live in northern canada where the roads are terrible and the temperature and weather fluctuates quite a bit throughout the riding season, I scraped my frame (2000 Trek 5200) last winter and put about 8000 km on it over the summer. I have had no problems with my frame and it is now 14 years old infact I just retired it for a new one but the frame is still going strong. I would never tell anyone that they should do this but I can say that my frame did lose about 80g and it looked a lot better raw than with its old red white and blue USPS colors. Basically I was prepared for this not to work and I accepted that it may destroy my frame however it so far has worked out just fine for me.


Do you have any photo as before and after process? I really wonder about the naked look.

I will think about removing the paint of my frame for a few weeks too, since there is no going back...

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P3PO
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Location: Yukon Canada

by P3PO

I do and I will, but I have to be honest I am a newbie on here and I don't know how to post a photo yet...

ToffieBoi
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Location: Krakow, Poland

by ToffieBoi

P3PO wrote:I do and I will, but I have to be honest I am a newbie on here and I don't know how to post a photo yet...


You can upload the photos on Imageshack or other image hosting websites and post here the direct link between

Code: Select all

[img][/img] 
tags.

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P3PO
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Location: Yukon Canada

by P3PO

before
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the pile
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in progress
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Complete
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finished weight 7.39kg (16.3 lbs)

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andreszucs
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by andreszucs

MUCH better!

ToffieBoi
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Location: Krakow, Poland

by ToffieBoi

Looking great. Thanks for the photos!

We are out of topic a bit, so I guess this will not drag it further :D

This is the picture of my current bike that I am thinking of removing the paint.
Can you guys give me opinions about it...
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I am planning to have black/carbon bottlecages too.
I will also have glossy black stickers too, so frame will not stay no-name.
Even maybe lime green handlebar tape or red cables...

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P3PO
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Location: Yukon Canada

by P3PO

With the black Ultegra it will look sick scraped!

I wonder if you will have trouble getting decals to stick on raw carbon? my scraped frame is very dry, I don't get carbon residue on my hands from it but I wonder if the decals will stick with out a topcoat?

I am a fan of all black on a bike but thats just me.

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Fuchspk
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by Fuchspk

Normal decals stick just fine, like this one i have on my bike for example

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andreszucs
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by andreszucs

Work in progress, blade style. I got the say I'm a little disappointed to see the poor quality on the bonding process, I've found so many irregular and ugly areas that I might consider a black coating, I'll also add some Scott custom stickers.

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Thinking on some color combo to brake the full black.
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tharmor
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Joined: Thu Jun 03, 2010 6:20 am

by tharmor

For what it's worth ::

I contacted a local plasti dip shop for a quote for a bike frame + fork, and I was quoted $250. I was a bit surprised by the cost, given that doing it myself would cost in the neighborhood of $20. Doing it myself has obvious downsides, but charging more than 10x the cost was a bit of a let down. I was prepared to pay up to $100 for it.

by Weenie


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