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PostPosted: Fri Sep 02, 2016 2:46 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2011 10:09 am
Posts: 74
Location: Tucson, Arizona, USA
Ja-Moo wrote:
Beautiful job. It's funny to me how times changes opinions, as I hated this paint job for many years. But for some reason, now I like it! :wtf:


I know what you're saying! Same with the triples frankly, back-when I thought they were lurid, now they look Cool As Hell.

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Nils Menten
Tucson, Arizona, USA

I do vapor blasting! http://www.restocycle.com
Ikon Shocks: http://www.ikonshocksusa.com


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PostPosted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 6:06 pm 

Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2014 3:45 am
Posts: 796
Location: Cen Tex
Great job Nils, you make it look so easy! Your friend is a lucky man...

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PostPosted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 7:18 pm 

Joined: Sat Dec 03, 2011 10:32 am
Posts: 600
Location: Jarrettsville, MD
Absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!

Great job! :thumbup:

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PostPosted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 7:39 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2011 10:09 am
Posts: 74
Location: Tucson, Arizona, USA
Thank you guys!

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Nils Menten
Tucson, Arizona, USA

I do vapor blasting! http://www.restocycle.com
Ikon Shocks: http://www.ikonshocksusa.com


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PostPosted: Sun Sep 11, 2016 2:54 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2011 10:09 am
Posts: 74
Location: Tucson, Arizona, USA
Let's talk about wheels - we have been doing some interesting wheel projects mixed in with everything else.

We are restoring a 1981 Honda CB750F on the other side of the shop and those normally wear skinny Comstars stock. Those are OK but my customer wanted to do something a little more custom so we hunted up a set of 1100F wheels, plus an 1100F swingarm and front axle and put that all together. But they were a little tired-looking, so a quick trip through the vapor blaster for cleaning and to roughen the surface in preparation for paint was called for.

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We pulled the rotors off and sent them off to TrueDisk for grinding and drilling.

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Then we masked them up for repainting, using the truing/balancing stand to hold them as we worked. Note that we did not remove the factory paint, it was stuck down there quite well, we just cleaned it and degreased it and painted over it. Worked great, saved steps.

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Then we masked up the balance stand, brought it into the spray booth, and painted them.

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Finally a new set of bearings and spacers were installed, you know, WHILE WE WERE THERE, and of course new tires and stems, slightly wider doe to the wider wheels. Bueno. This all worked really well. The wheels and rotors look new, and were easier to prep and paint because they were spotless including in all the crannies and crevices.

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Last week a customer bought a set of vintage Lester mags for a custom SOHC bike he is building. These Lesters were in great condition, straight with pretty much zero in the way of dings or flaws, but the paint and the aluminum was tired-looking. He's a big fan of the vapor blast finish as is, and so the project was to strip the original paint all the way off, and then clearcoat them. So that's what we did.

The patient(s):

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We vapor blasted them, stripping the paint in the process:

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Then these got sprayed with Eastwood's Diamond Clear. This photo is actually a test wheel from a Yamaha that we were playing with - we shot clear on one side and matte on the other, and the consensus was that the glossy clear over the satin vapor blast finish was gorgeous.

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Presto: They look fantastic.

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We did the brake panel and sprocket carrier while we had them, and also blasted his brake rotors, which are also getting cleared on their centers. Check out the brake shoes too, put those babies right back in that wheel.

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Rotors before and after:

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Happy wheels!

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Nils Menten
Tucson, Arizona, USA

I do vapor blasting! http://www.restocycle.com
Ikon Shocks: http://www.ikonshocksusa.com


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PostPosted: Wed Sep 28, 2016 7:54 am 
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Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2011 6:43 pm
Posts: 316
Location: Tampa Bay, FL
Noblehops wrote:
jcsnook wrote:
Have you tried blasting old plastic parts yet? I hear that it brings old sun dried and faded plastic parts back to life.

I've got a set of old RG400/500 mirrors that are weather beaten and faded, and would love to see them restored to their former beauty so I could use them. They look sad now.

PM me if you think you can help.



OK Jim, thank you for sending those, that was an interesting thing to experiment on. For those of you playing at home, Jim sent me two mirrors from a Suzuki Gamma, not quite unobtanium, but scarce. They looked like 30+ year old plastic mirrors sometimes do: faded, crusty in spots, etc.

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I ran some tests first using a set of old Napoleon mirrors from my hoard, played around with a few techniques, arrived at a good gentle process that would peel off the cruddy stuff without screwing up the surface or obliterating the lettering (not present on the Suzuki mirrors). The "done" mirror of my Napoleons is to the right.

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Masked Jim's lenses and the threads...

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Ran them through the blaster, then a treatment of peanut oil (really!)

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...and tomorrow they will be on their way back home to Jim.

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Conclusion?

This works well, I'd say these are a solid B+. Tons better for sure. Using the vapor blaster gently I can resurface the plastic and remove the greyish oxidization and crud effectively without distorting or changing the texture if I work slowly and carefully.

It still needs some type of dressing when finished. I used peanut oil because I think it's the best, many guys love Mother's Back to Black.

I think these are also a candidate for a light broiling with a heat gun to flash the dyes and plasticizers and restore the black color that way, but I wasn't feeling like I ought to use that particular technique with these :-).

I'll probably do this when I need to. It's a good alternative when paint isn't going to do enough with the crud. Thanks for the suggestion Jim, and look for these in your mailbox in a few days.

Best,

Nils


Nils,

Apologize for the late reply, I don't get on the forum enough :?

But many thanks for the great job on these mirrors, they do look much much better. I've heard of the heat gun treatment, but have never tried it. Practical Sportsbike Mag had a write up about restoring plastics this way. Interesting.

Great work your doing there by the way...

husson73 wrote:
your RG Mirrors are japan market only better looking than wordline ones :mrgreen:


Husson, yes Japan spec mirrors. Ones you can actually see behind you with. Those short UK/Euro spec ones are about useless I thought. Nothing but shoulders in the mirrors :roll:

Jim

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PostPosted: Wed Sep 28, 2016 9:04 am 

Joined: Thu Jun 09, 2011 11:25 am
Posts: 3137
As I have said all along, really nice work. The best I hVd seen. Good on you, sir.


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PostPosted: Wed Oct 05, 2016 9:59 am 
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Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2011 10:09 am
Posts: 74
Location: Tucson, Arizona, USA
Jim, no problem, and thanks again for the suggestion. I have experimented further with plastic refinishing and it's a great use for the process.

H2R, really appreciate the good words :-)

N.

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Nils Menten
Tucson, Arizona, USA

I do vapor blasting! http://www.restocycle.com
Ikon Shocks: http://www.ikonshocksusa.com


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PostPosted: Sat Nov 19, 2016 12:46 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2011 10:09 am
Posts: 74
Location: Tucson, Arizona, USA
Are you at the IMS show in Long Beach this weekend!? I'm here showing my wares with Ikon Suspension at booth 878. Come visit and say hi, and get yourself a big fat discount on a great pair of Ikon shocks or springs!

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Nils Menten
Tucson, Arizona, USA

I do vapor blasting! http://www.restocycle.com
Ikon Shocks: http://www.ikonshocksusa.com


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PostPosted: Sat Dec 31, 2016 6:24 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2011 10:09 am
Posts: 74
Location: Tucson, Arizona, USA
Excited to announce some news for the new year that we have been hatching for a little while.

FREE SHIPPING ON VAPOR BLAST PROJECTS BY RESTOCYCLE!

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Effective 1/1/2017 RestoCycle is now offering free return shipping to our vapor blast customers for their projects, as well as deeply discounted inbound shipping. We would not be able to do this without the support of our shipping partner UPS, as they have extended additional discounts to us in order to make this possible.

Here's how this works:

Visit our website to get an idea of what your project might cost by viewing the representative projects gallery, or better yet, complete the online ordering form and request a quote. You can easily upload photos of your project right there on the form and we will get right back to you with a firm quote.

On the order form, include the weight and dimensions of your box(es). We will use that to generate inbound shipping labels that we will email to you, which will cost about half of retail shipping costs at places like the UPS Store, or PakMail.

Print and tape the label to your (well packed) box and drop it at any nearby UPS Store or depot for free. The closest drop off locations will be in the instructions on your label.

We will bill you at cost for the inbound shipment, along with the charges for your project when it is complete, via an emailed invoice. Click right in the emailed invoice to pay online with a credit card, and your parts (and shipment tracking info) will be on their way back to you just a few days after we get them.

Click here to see a gallery of representative projects and their pricing: http://www.restocycle.com/what-does-vapor-blasting-cost

Click here to request a quote on a vapor blasting project: http://www.restocycle.com/vapor-blasting-order-form

THANK YOU ALL for your support of our business these past two years. Your support and the great feedback we have received along the way has been fantastic, and we are very excited to be able to offer this to you moving forward. Please be in touch anytime with questions or comments, we're always glad to hear from you.


Sincerely,

Nils Menten
RestoCycle LLC
Tucson, Arizona, USA
nils@restocycle.com
http://www.restocycle.com
(520) 308-3705

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Nils Menten
Tucson, Arizona, USA

I do vapor blasting! http://www.restocycle.com
Ikon Shocks: http://www.ikonshocksusa.com


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