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Ti Frame restoration


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I have a beautiful Lynskey Ridgeline Ti frame - got if from a dear friend


 


Obviously the typical brushed Ti look.  The frame carries a large and deepish scratch on the headtube and a few minor blemishes to the finish on the rest. 


I'm not sure how to restore this.  Not wanting to make things worse, I don't want to attempt "brush" the blemishes out.  Using the wrong grit will ruin the frame.


 


So I thought to change the look altogether. Is it possible to buff the entire frame to a more polished look?


 


Looking fwd to a few suggestions.


 


THANKS


 

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I've got a shined-up Lightspeed Ti frame. looks the bomb. polished up with a regular polishing compound and elbow grease. If you have the appropriate tooling it will go faster.

 

But yes, it looks awesome when its shiny.

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You can replicate the brushed finish using various grades of scotch pads by hand. First test on a piece of stainless tube with the different grades. Green= fine, brown= medium and black is coarse. Unfortunately to get it 100% like original will be highly unlikely, you might need to then brush the whole frame again in the chosen grade. Polishing will be best done with a buff and polishing soap. Dirty job and need to apply decent pressure to get a deep mirror finish. Astro holdings in sebenza edenvale will polish for you.They might even assist with a titanium stain treatment that is similar to the electro plating process. Hope this helps you.

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As above scotch pads, we use the green one usually on the stainless I doubt strongly you would need one of the other (mostly available is usually green and brown) if it's a deep scratch you can sand it a little with 320 and 600 grid wet it and a little sunlight soap and then go over with the green pad.

You get metal polish works easy, I do my car's rims polished lip about twice a year because the polished finish of any metal goes duller over time, so just something to keep in mind if you go in that direction.

Although if it's a MTB I would not polish it.

 

Tip for the ones wanting to polish but don't own a buff (also the buff doesn't get in everywhere) after smoothing the surface with 1200 or finer, you can use brasso and newspaper to give it a mirror finish.

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Or you can think outside the box and go crazy by making a unique bike. Depending on where the scratches are that you want to get rid of, you can cover it with a splash of paint and make an artwork of it. Raw Ti with a bit of colour of the head tube can look great. If there is a bit of an artistic design as well, it can be fantastic.

 

See Ds old Orange Explosion Alpina in gunmetal and orange.

 

See MC Escher inspired art bike

 

Let Google find you ideas

post-17716-0-14378500-1580014748_thumb.jpg

post-17716-0-65166900-1580014881_thumb.jpg

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:drool:  :drool:

Or even something like this. Looks amazing in polished Ti and a colour of your choice.

 

http://si6.mtb-news.de/fotos/data/500/legend_ti-1.JPG

http://si6.mtb-news.de/fotos/data/500/legend_ti-6.JPG

:drool:  :drool:  what a bike

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You can replicate the brushed finish using various grades of scotch pads by hand. First test on a piece of stainless tube with the different grades. Green= fine, brown= medium and black is coarse. Unfortunately to get it 100% like original will be highly unlikely, you might need to then brush the whole frame again in the chosen grade. Polishing will be best done with a buff and polishing soap. Dirty job and need to apply decent pressure to get a deep mirror finish. Astro holdings in sebenza edenvale will polish for you.They might even assist with a titanium stain treatment that is similar to the electro plating process. Hope this helps you.

Thx for Astro.  I will certainly not attempt his myself!!

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Or even something like this. Looks amazing in polished Ti and a colour of your choice.

 

http://si6.mtb-news.de/fotos/data/500/legend_ti-1.JPG

http://si6.mtb-news.de/fotos/data/500/legend_ti-6.JPG

You were reading my mind to add a bit of colour and perhaps a clear coat.

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As above scotch pads, we use the green one usually on the stainless I doubt strongly you would need one of the other (mostly available is usually green and brown) if it's a deep scratch you can sand it a little with 320 and 600 grid wet it and a little sunlight soap and then go over with the green pad.

You get metal polish works easy, I do my car's rims polished lip about twice a year because the polished finish of any metal goes duller over time, so just something to keep in mind if you go in that direction.

Although if it's a MTB I would not polish it.

 

Tip for the ones wanting to polish but don't own a buff (also the buff doesn't get in everywhere) after smoothing the surface with 1200 or finer, you can use brasso and newspaper to give it a mirror finish.

I'm a total noob at the this, where do I get hold of some scotch pads?

 

The reason not to polish a MTB frame?

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