Harbor Freight Crushed Wallnut Media Blast

[posplayr]

I know some of you have thought about it, but maybe have not taken it on. My brother already had a large Harbor Freight sandblaster and large 220V dual piston belt drive compressor. So here I go. I did some sand blasting on some engine covers but with the engine no where near. As I'm painting everything on the engine black for the GS1100ED a little surface roughness just improves grip. Any way, those pesky fins and head area just wont come clean, so what about media blasting??? Well this is to document my little nightmare with using the wrong stuff.

If you do buy Media Blasting Crushed walnut shells from Harbor Fright (I'm sure there are other sources), then stick with the small stuff 25 grit v.s. the very course 12 grit.
Send back the 12 grit (course stuff) it will plug whatever you put it into unless you have 1" hose and fittings.

Ask me how I know?:sad: Been there done that one of the most miserable and frustrating things I have done on this motorcycle.

The walnut shells are expensive and can be reused as they will go through the blaster very fast. My brothers Harbor Freight blaster was the big one that would hold just over 3 boxes of the crushed shells. Set up a little booth with tarps so that you can catch the shells, sift them through a piece of window screen (I screwed some boards to either side to hold apart the screen on top of the box.

If you use the coarse stuff you will find that it immediately jams inside of the fittings (sorry been they done that) and you have to get rid of every bit of it. I have been stood there shacking the HF sand blaster over my head like a giant pepper Shaker trying to get all of the residuals out from a collar that was holding the last bit in. If you don't get it all out it will plug and you will have to empty the whole thing again.

REPEAT ONLY USE THE FINE GRAIN THE COARSE WILL PLUG UP EVEN ON THE CHEAP HANDHELD UNIT. Ask me how I know

I did my engine with the walnut shells just make sure all of the ports are plugged taped off. I would strongly recommend to NOT SAND BLAST your engine as the dust is finer that cigarette smoke and very abrasive and will probably ruin your motor is short order if any gets in.

The fine 24 grit abrasive is not very abrasive and will clean but will not remove all paint but it also doesn't do any damage.

I plan on sand blasting my GS1100ED frame and painting with Por-15 , this will pit the aluminum so I don't recommend unless you plan on painting.


A thread I started a while back and need to update.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...d.php?t=120529

Good Luck

Posplayr

[scottp8113]

just remember not to use it on your chinook helicopter...

[Switchman]

Posplayr,
I've used POR-15 and admittedly it's good stuff...but I'm curious why you would go that direction with your frame. Why not have your frame dipped in acid and powder coated?

[posplayr]

Switchman

I guess I dont know enough about it, I do have a bicycle frame that is powder coated and it is a beautiful finish but it still scratches so I'm not really sure why it would be more durable. When it chips there is really no way to repair it (PC).

I had also asked Rapid Ray and he mentioned that it was a bit of a pain in that you had to have all of the bolt holes well masked. This is similar to Por-15.

I even considered getting a powder coating machine at HF but eventually decided against because of the expense an trouble of getting ovens.

Part of the prep for painting would also involve acid treatment although not a full bath using JASCO metal etch.

There are three local (within 45 minutes) businesses listed under "powder coating" in the local phone book. I will check on some quotes but I suspect it will cost at least $300-$350 for a frame.

In California we have a whole lot more environmental laws than a lot of the rest of the country and in Santa Barbara in particular, it is difficult for businesses to compete with those laws. With the cost of labor, real estate (rents) and so prices go up and/or businesses just leave. Recently I had to have the roof for my E-350 van painted because the factory paint was peeling. My brother and I had stripped and primed the top and had bought the paint as well. The gun started not running right so long story short, ended up taking it to a paint shop and it still cost me another $650 to finish "just the roof".

I have been having a hard time finding a family owned auto parts store or with someone that works there that knows anything. They have all left. Autozone and the like (chains) are all that is left. So doing anything here is expensive and probably costs much more that what it is worth unless you can find the materials and do it yourself.

Last time I checked around on getting my motor home painted (1981 20 ft Brougham), nobody in town would even tough it and I found someone in Ventura(35 miles away), but it was going to be close to $2500 for a $1500 motor home. I maybe overestimating the value as what does a 8 mpg MH goes for these days ??

At least a couple years back, you paid $35/hr for laborers If you went through a business. You can hire them locally off the street for $10/hr. Painters probably $50/hr which are more than union labor rates in other parts of the country. Carpenters I would guess $60-$75/hr retail. The housing here is exceptionally expensive (median >$1.2M) and rents are only absurd (say $1000/month for a studio or a room in a nice house).

So the bottom line, is that I just sort of learn to do things myself and one thing that looks like a viable and semi-professional route is use high quality materials and spray them myself in a homemade pressurized booth. I have two bikes and I dont want to put another $1500-$2000 is costs for doing the various finishes on the two. In in SB "professional" means "pricey".

I'll check as on the local prices as the frame is a bit ackward to deal with,

Posplayr

[Switchman]

Yes, I understand the pricey part you're talking about. I live up here in the San Francisco area where an 800 sq. ft 2 br house goes for $650k...if it needs lots of work.
I've painted my frame 3 times now. The first time was mainly wanting a different color. Did it in imron...turned out great. I lived in Hawaii for 5 years and started getting a bit of corrosion at every little nicked spot. Repainted...again with imron. 5 years later started to get little spots coming up under the paint, even though I also had washed it down in naval jelly..then Jasco..then mineral spirits... So time to repaint again... stripped it down with a bead blaster. again very thorough wash and prep. must've had about 100 hours prime..wet sand prime ...etc. Then a guy at the place I worked suggested powder coating, since thats what he did for a living doing electrical enclosures. Of coarse, all my 100 hours of prep went away in the acid bath. A guy down in Clovis..by Fresno.. did the frame for $200. Sure to be $350-$500 by now since that was 94 or 95. The frame still looks perfect. A very white white. Which looks great with that black engine. The little slips of a wrench or road flingers that would chip regular paint just have not happened.
Whichever way you go..make her pretty and have fun doin it

[posplayr]

Switchman

Por-15 has several different products and below is one of the ones I have been debating about.

For a contrast with the OEM "pearl red" 83 GS1100ED body, I was thinking either the light Grey or the dark Grey (not sure I would go all the way to White White).

http://www.por15.com/prodinfo.asp?grp=HN&dept=5

Alternatively if durability was not such of an issue, I would stick to the engine enamel in "Aluminum" (almost white) to match the look of the GS1150 frames.

http://www.por15.com/prodinfo.asp?grp=EE&dept=7

I would put either product on top of the corrosion inhibiting ; with this product there is only a minimum of prep required.

Time spread out over a few days with a bare frame (just a guess and life is never so simple):

4 hrs to sandblast (with silica not walnut shells)and clean up
2 hrs acid etch and degreece
2 hrs masking
5 hrs painting (with time between coats)
------------
13 hrs total

http://www.por15.com/prodinfo.asp?grp=1&dept=1

I'll make a couple of powder coating calls as well.

Decision, decisions 8-[

Posplayr

[posplayr]

Switchman

'83 GS1100ED that I've had since it was new in the box.
'83 GS1100ED that I just picked up for parts and experimenting.

Just noticed you've got great taste.

Posplayr

[SqDancerLynn1]

It is dificult to junk a big motorHome in Ca. Salvage yards will only take the chassis. I have been trying to sell a running 78 Southwind 31" in need of complete rehab, good 440 motor for $750 - no takers. I had a pair of door sills from my old Dodge I must have painted them 3 time, could not get a good finish. I had them powdercoated

[80GS750]

powdercoating a frame around here will run you around $500

thats why i just used por-15

[renobruce]

powdercoating a frame around here will run you around $500

thats why i just used por-15

HOLY CRAP! Why so much? I was just quoted $225.00 for my frame, fork tubes, steering head, footpegs, and a few little odds and ends. That's blasted and powder coated.

You might want to shop around! :shock:

[Billy Ricks]

Just saw a guy on Ebay that will do a set of wheels for $100, any color.

[Smokinapankake]

Don't know about POR-15, but I do know powdercoat. I had my homemade bicycle repair stand (3" o.d. x 1/4" wall pipe, welded to a mounting plate that bolts into the floor) PC'ed about 10 years ago. After hitting it with my truck, dropping tools on the base, and general abuse, there may be a nick in it somewhere, but I cant find it.
PC'ing around here will set me back about 200 bones for just the frame, and they do all the masking. That includes blasting, too.

Powdercoat it and never think about it again.

My .02.

[posplayr]

OK Now I know why you should powdercoat a Frame

The Frame is a total PITA to paint with a sprayer. I did Por-15 silver engine paint and that was even worse. It was way too much work and would have been worth even $300 to get the frame done powdercoated. Mine will be presentable, but it took a whole lot of time, screw ups, sanding and redoing and clear coats.

If I had stuck to the Por-15 Hardnose paints like Black or the light grey it would have been much easier and a much better result as those paints flow so well. So if you were going to go for a glossy black frame, I would probably still go for Por-15 Hardnose if the cost was prohibitive for powdercoating

Posplayr