TOPIC:

missionkz wrote: Looking forward to hearing what Pinsol does to your carburetor bodies.
It turned my carbs a very dark charcoal gray and it took forever to get them back to an aluminum color buy soda blasting!

Not sure why they turned black, tons of info and pics online using it with no issues. I did a set of Z1 carbs that were sitting for 15 years, came out great.

Interesting...I may just have to experiment with my spare set of '75 series VM28 Mikuni's.

Kidkawie wrote:

missionkz wrote: Looking forward to hearing what Pinsol does to your carburetor bodies.
It turned my carbs a very dark charcoal gray and it took forever to get them back to an aluminum color buy soda blasting!

Not sure why they turned black, tons of info and pics online using it with no issues. I did a set of Z1 carbs that were sitting for 15 years, came out great.

Well - it's been quite a while since I had any time to work on the bike. I finally had some spare time this weekend - and a couple of helpers at hand so I decided to take out the engine/trans and get it bolted into the K & L stand.

I'm going to tear it down to the bare casings over the next week so that I can strip the silver paint off and vapor blast them back to the original raw aluminum finish.

Feels good to be working on her again!

Had a few hours of free time this weekend, so I finished the tear down (all but 1 selector fork - it's getting late).

Next will be stripping off that ugly, stained silver paint on the casings, courtesy of one of the POs, then vapor honing to return them to the original raw aluminum finish.

Another weekend of free time, so I finished stripping the old paint off the top casing, and spent about an hour with the vapor blaster to get the aluminum back to 'raw' as it should be. Here's the 'before and 'after'. I'll still need to do another pass to clean up a few spots, but I'm pleased with the results so far.

Before:




After:

Very nice.
Steve

BritGuyUSA wrote: Another weekend of free time, so I finished stripping the old paint off the top casing, and spent about an hour with the vapor blaster to get the aluminum back to 'raw' as it should be. Here's the 'before and 'after'. I'll still need to do another pass to clean up a few spots, but I'm pleased with the results so far.

Before:

Attachment UpperCase1.jpg not found

After:

Attachment UpperCase2.jpg not found

We're running straight water with 170/325 glass bead in our vapor blaster. What media are you running?

Have seen somewhere in print that adding a small quantity (3%) of wetting agent/surfactant can result in a somewhat glossier finish.
Are you running straight water or with a wetting agent/surfactant?


Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

Slmjim:

Ditto. I'm using a straight (filtered) water with Potters 170/325 glass bead slurry in my vapor blaster. I do add a couple of tablespoons of garden lime (in the 20-gallon hopper) to act as an anti-caking agent, but no surfactant.

The 'after' picture really does not do the finish the justice it deserves. It's a very bright satin sheen

I also cleaned up the cam cover, - this pic gives a better representation of the finish that I'm getting with this set up.

Looks great !! Ed

BritGuyUSA wrote: Slmjim:

Ditto. I'm using a straight (filtered) water with Potters 170/325 glass bead slurry in my vapor blaster. I do add a couple of tablespoons of garden lime (in the 20-gallon hopper) to act as an anti-caking agent, but no surfactant.

The 'after' picture really does not do the finish the justice it deserves. It's a very bright satin sheen

I also cleaned up the cam cover, - this pic gives a better representation of the finish that I'm getting with this set up.

Hi BritGuy USA,
Thanks for the response.

That's about the results we're getting too. Still learning the vapor blast process. Small differences pressure seem to make a surprisingly significant change in finish, as does the angle at which the blast stream strikes the object.

Interesting concept on the garden lime. We see caking if the cabinet sits unused for longer than a week or so. We talked to the guy from VHT at their vendor display at Mid-Ohio during the VMD's last July, and he said the slurry might be too thick. He suggested running the pump for 3 min., then disconnecting air and filling a graduated 1000 ml. cylinderical beaker with slurry. After settling, 200 ml. should be media. We might have the slurry too thick. Next Amazon order will include a plastic 1000 ml. graduated beaker.

Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

The machine I'm using is from VHT (800-P). Your slurry should be at 20% solids or so. When I refill the machine to the overflow valve, I add 20 lbs of the Potters 170/325. I'm running about 85-90 psi to get the finish, and you're right, getting the angle and distance from the blast gun to the surface 'just right' will speed up the process quite significantly. It's a process of trial and error.

I just cleaned up the oil pan - took about 20 minutes inside and out, and took the photo outside. My shop lights tend to dull the look of the result.