Polishing ti frames

[Chef]

Hi,

I would like to pollish my lynskey ti frame - it is currently a mat/industrial mill finish (I would have liked to have bought it polished, but couldn't afford the $1000 surcharge at the time).

I would appreciate any tips you have; I assume that it would be a fairly simple but labour intensive process?

What are the potential pitfalls involved, and is there any risk to damaging welds?

Cheers,
Phil.

[damhooligan]

Hi,

I would like to pollish my lynskey ti frame - it is currently a mat/industrial mill finish (I would have liked to have bought it polished, but couldn't afford the $1000 surcharge at the time).

I would appreciate any tips you have; I assume that it would be a fairly simple but labour intensive process?

What are the potential pitfalls involved, and is there any risk to damaging welds?

Cheers,
Phil.

Never polished ti before.
Polishing would not damge the welds.

Can you post a icture of the current finish ?
Mayby look in the yellow pages for a metal polisher and ask for info advice ??

I have read the following, not sure if it helpfull :
http://www.ehow.com/how_5604484_polish-titanium.html

[Chef]

Thanks for the link, but I think that is for restoring the finish to already polished items.

I will put up a photo later showing the current condition, but new it looked like this:


It is currently quite dull, but am sure that a Chrome cleaner will return it to original, but I would love a mirror finish...

Cheers

[damhooligan]

Thanks for the link, but I think that is for restoring the finish to already polished items.

I will put up a photo later showing the current condition, but new it looked like this:


It is currently quite dull, but am sure that a Chrome cleaner will return it to original, but I would love a mirror finish...

Cheers

I would contact a metal polisher first, before you try Chrome cleaner..
Chrome and Ti are very different, better get some advice first.

I have polished alloy before, in a similair way as I would polish paint, this worked reasonably well.
Meaning, it is glossy...
But it also made me realise how difficult it is to achieve a very high result.

There is a massive difference between a diy gloss, and a mirror finish.
If you just want it glossy, you can try that yourself.
If you really want a mirror finish, I personally suggest to have it done by a professional.

[buster]

I've polished both alloy and stainless before.
If Ti is the same (which I imagine it is), you need a "rag wheel" to go in your electric drill or on a bench grinder (find in hardware near grinding discs, cutting wheels)
Also get some metal polish which comes in a green (or maybe blue) stick (its like a big candle).
Turn the drill or bench grinder on, and apply the wax to the rag wheel as it spins.
Buff Ti, re-apply more wax, repeat.

I would not attempt this on a completed frame.

Polished metal is usually polished as tube (or plate) stock before construction.
Once construction is complete, the only bits that then need polishing are where the metal has been worked (ie welds, bends etc)

Polishing metal is very labour intensve!

Welding suppliers would be able to advise. Some one like CIG or Blackwoods.

[GraemeK]

Like stainless steel handrails and the like the way to polish a bike frame is by using an air grinder with a small rag wheel - perhaps 50 or 75 mm.
The wheel is loaded up with polishing compound which comes in a solid bar form which you apply to the wheel while it is rotating - my guess is the compound used for stainless would work well but even the easier to get "Rouge " compounds which are redish brown would work but probably a little slower.
You would need to disassemble the bike to do this and in a factory situation as much of the bike as possible would be done using a 10hp floor mounted polisher ( like a giant bench grinder ) and only the bits that were inaccessible would be done with a portable hand held device but doing the entire frame in this way would not be terribly difficult.

Graeme

[Uncle Grumpy]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=polishing+titanium

Grumps

[Chef]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=polishing+titanium

Grumps

Yeah thanks,

Heaven forbid that someone would ask a bicycle maintenance question on a cycling forum....

[Uncle Grumpy]

Yeah thanks,

You're welcome. Hope you found some useful information.

Grumps

[meridagiantorbea]

Mate, I own all of the polishing equipment people have referred to here and have done a good deal of metal polishing in my time, not just on bicycle parts. I have plenty of experience in the mirror finish you are talking about - mostly on brass uniform accoutrements and swords for military personnel. Those type of products can be finished pretty much perfect with no visible imperfections to the naked eye.

First - just make sure there is no clear coat over the metal already. You wont polish through that in a hurry and you might not even know it is there. If not then go on.

I personally wouldnt bother with the full bench grinder setup as it is relatively expensive compared to hand polishing, you might never use it again and have wasted your money. It also only makes the job quicker but not better. Ultimately all polishing is finished by hand to achieve the best results (as on products above), no different to paint or anything being polished.

I personally also wouldnt bother with a mirror finish for a bicycle. It will be nigh on impossible to maintain for a bike you are using to be honest mate. A very good/bright polish will look almost the same unless you put your eye right to the surface. Thats just my advice though and I'll leave that there.

Might I suggest you buy a lot of soft rags and get started by hand, even 10 minutes effort a day will yield results quite quickly you will find. You wont have to strip the bike down until you get to fiddly bits around bottom brackets, headsets, brakes, seat/chainstay joins and derailleurs etc.
Three products I would suggest are - Brite Shine: It comes in a small yellow metal tin from car care places/hardware and is a cotton wadding impregnated with a metal polishing agent.
- Wicked Products, Lightning Shine Metal Polish: Liquid polish in a plastic bottle (like car polish size) from car care places most likely.
- Reflection Metal Polish: Cream polish in a toothpaste sized tube with a cardboard box packaging around it from a better hardware store most likely.

Make sure the area to polish is very clean to begin with as any dirt particle will sit in the cloth and be scratching the surface at the same time you are trying to polish out those scratches.

Any of the products above will work fine in this application and once you have used one tube/bottle/can you will get a feel for how much you will need for the whole bike. Generally most people will be wasteful with the products and use too much - you will be amazed how far each of the products will actually go.

The "Refelction Metal Polish" may be the hardest to get but will ultimately be the best finish. I would probably use the less expensive Wicked polish first then finish with Reflection.

The better the finish you want you may also have to change polishing cloths. A good quality fine microfibre cloth would be more than fine in this application in my opinion. Cotton wool and even good quality tissue paper is what it can take to achieve perfect type results.

The polish will go black almost immediately you start rubbing - just keep rubbing and you only need apply more at the point it stops being a lubricant and is basicaly dry and goes sort of chalky (you'll see what I mean). Dont keep going without noticing the change of consistency in the product or again you are fighting the process of polishing itself.
No need for any particular action like circles or anything. If anything just polish in one direction in an area - ie along the length of the top tube and all the way around. When you get to fiddly bits you may find you need a particular action to get an area.

Dont be put off - have a go in small bits and you will be amazed at how addictive it is to achieve a better finish - regardless of how sore your arms get!!

I hope this helps mate.

[Chef]

Thanks for that - sounds like a good idea.

There is definitely no clear coat, so that shouldn't be a problem - think I'll start with the seat stays and see how I go.

Cheers

[geoffs]

cut and polish will give a nice shine depending o how much elbow grease you apply. I did part of my Ti frame and got thoroughly bored with it.
All the Ti Sevens that we sell have a brushed finish and are very easy to keep clean

[h3ndry]

Any chrome plater should be able to do a polish job for you; after all, everything that gets chromed needs to be high shine finished prior to the chroming process.

Expect to pay through the nose though.

Email Andy at Fyxomatosis, he has a polisher for some of his retro frames in Melbourne, but might know the goods in Perth as well.

[Chef]

Hi,

Job done; used a Microfiber cloth and some Autosol - took about three hours including the re-build....




Very happy with the results - not exactly a mirror finish, but you would have to look prety closely to tell.

Cheers

[munga]

nice. it takes me about three hours just to get the cables right

[Comedian]

Massive thread dredge, but has anyone polished lettering onto a Ti frame? The stickers have fallen off my Lynskey and I'd like to polish on the lettering.

[P!N20]

Quang is your man: http://bicycles.net.au/forums/viewtopic ... 6#p1411616

[hamishm]

Since we're piling on to this old thread... I've got a few spots on my Ti frame that need a bit of repolishing where things have rubbed against it. I'm told this can be done with a Scotchbrite, but I could never find out which grade of Scotchbrite to use... suggestions anyone?

[QuangVuong]

Massive thread dredge, but has anyone polished lettering onto a Ti frame? The stickers have fallen off my Lynskey and I'd like to polish on the lettering.

Yep check out the thread P!N20 linked.
IMG_2020 by Quang Vuong, on Flickr

Here's a GIF too.


Polishing titanium is hard. Titanium (3al 2.5v) is has a hardness of 256 Brinell, compared to 4130 steel at 197 and 6160 T-6 aluminium at 95. Aluminium is by far the easiest to polish. It is the softest material meaning the polishing compound will cut in without a problem. Steel is twice as hard as aluminium and does take more time to polish as more grades of sanding/polishing is required. And titanium is the hardest there. I wore through many sanding discs just trying to get the brushed finish off the HT, then slowly got it up to a decent polish on the bench grinder buffing wheel.

If you've never polished metal before, I would suggest against starting with titanium. Maybe just go with brushed logos in the other direction to the frame.

Since we're piling on to this old thread... I've got a few spots on my Ti frame that need a bit of repolishing where things have rubbed against it. I'm told this can be done with a Scotchbrite, but I could never find out which grade of Scotchbrite to use... suggestions anyone?

Your choice of words contradict. You cannot 'polish' something with Scotchbrite. If you're trying to rebrush your frame, then Scotchbrite is the way to go. All the different manufacturers have different brushed finishes. Some are finer than others. On my particular frame, green Scotchbrite was a good match. You gotta look at your frame and determine how fine or coarse the finish is, and decide for yourself which pad suits best.

[cooperplace]

wow, XACD only charged about $50 surcharge to polish my frame....

[Comedian]

Thank you QuangVong.

What everyone seems to do is polish the tube, cover where you want to remain polished, and then brush the rest. On my frame I only wanted to polish the letters onto an existing brushed finish which doesn't sound like a good option.