Vapour blasting

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Jonesz
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Vapour blasting

#1

Post by Jonesz »

I have a buddy who recently bought a 79 CBX 1000 and is in the process of bringing her back to life. He needs to get rid of a fair bit of corrosion on the engine fins , carbs etc. to make the bike pretty again. Has anyone anyone here had experience dealing with vapour blasting and wondering how expensive the equipment is to get into this process. We are not a commercial concern and are trying to clean up the engine as best as possible with the least amount of cash outlay. Anybody here have some advice. Up till now we have both been GL fans and have not had to deal with cooling fins etc.
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Lucien Harpress
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Re: Vapour blasting

#2

Post by Lucien Harpress »

I know Robin (robin1731) started dabbling in it not too long ago. Might be worth reaching out, unless he swings by on his own.
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Re: Vapour blasting

#3

Post by pidjones »

You'll want to find someone local (with references) to do it. I'm looking for someone to blast paint off of the cast wheels of my '76 RD400c (not supposed to be painted) myself. I'm looking in the Knoxville, TN area. I've seen examples of it done on engines, and it looks quite nice.
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Re: Vapour blasting

#4

Post by desertrefugee »

Coincidentally, I had some vapor blasting done on my dearly departed 79 CBX. Fellow’s outfit down in Tucson, Restocycle, is no longer in operation, but I got to know the gentleman down there pretty well. During the course of having some stuff blasted, I talk to him about the equipment needed. In addition to the actual rig itself, he told me that a serious, high-volume compressor is needed to support it. We didn’t go into specs, but it was a pretty big two-stage monster he had.

Those are the only real comments he had about it, and he got in fairly early as the process was taking off. I can tell you for sure that the surface of raw aluminum left behind is a very nice texture. Coating it is recommended because that texture would be difficult to polish up if corrosion were to set in.
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Re: Vapour blasting

#5

Post by pjlogue »

I built my own vapor blasting set up when I restored my '76 750K. The biggest outlay would be a compressor with enough CFM output. I already had a 5hp ~8.5 CFM compressor. I bought a Harbor Freight blast cabinet and assembled it using silicone seal on all the joints. I used a length of vinyl tubing as an extension on the suction line and ran it down and out the bottom trap door and into a bucket where I had the R/O water glass bead slurry. This did an adequate job of blasting parts. The biggest problem I had was the CFM of the compressor was on the low side and I had to take brakes to allow the compressor to catch up. The larger parts were awkward to handle inside the cabinet.

Another approach is to use blasting soda. The finish is a little duller than vapor blasting but is excellent for prepping for painting/powder coating. The soda is caustic and will burn your lungs and kill and grass/plants the dust settles on if it isn't hosed off right away. The upside of the soda blasting is you can flush (dissolve) all traces of soda away with water.

The down side of vapor blasting is it is messy by my above method. The glass beads will get out of the cabinet if it isn't vented to a catch container. The other down side is the glass beads will bind tightly to any oil/grease on the part so very thorough cleaning with degreaser/detergent before and after blasting is a must. Threaded holes need to be chased with a tap, oil gallies need to have a bore brush passed through them.

In both types of blasting I found that once the part is blasted, quickly washing the part and rinsing with distilled or R/O water and then drying greatly reduces flash rust on steel parts. The distilled or R/O water does not conduct electricity like tap water and hence does not allow as much galvanic action on steel so the parts ruse much more slowly.

For large parts like engine casings or jugs it might be better to ship them to a vapor blasting outfit if you can afford it. I found the large parts were time consuming with my set up. Small parts were quite easy to handle and blasting went fairly quickly on them.

-P.
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Re: Vapour blasting

#6

Post by robin1731 »

To give you an idea of price look here. https://vaporhoningtechnologies.com/micro-vapor-hone/

That is the unit I have. Very good for carburetors and small parts. A GL valve cover is about as big as you could fit in there and be able to work easily. There are much bigger units but the price gets high.

Yes, you need a big high cfm compressor. With a good air dryer. Mine will stay ahead of the blaster. Meaning it cycles on and off as I work without having to stop.

Yes, the finish is very nice.

Yes, you need to clean very well when done blasting.

IMO it isn't aggressive enough to remove paint unless it is nearly ready to fall off already.

Yes, you have to clean/degrease parts before blasting them.

The last thing you want is for grease or paint to get into the media. You would have to change it very often if you did. And the unit I have uses an air operated pump for the slurry. I wouldn't want to chance hurting the pump.

There are a lot people I've read about building their own unit using the HF blast cabinet. I would worry about the cabinet rusting. My unit is plastic for this reason.

Now, I have used my bead blast cabinet to blast engine cases and heads. Cleans them up nice. You can then paint them or even get them powder coated. Clear powder works great for that. They still need to be cleaned of grease before hand. Nobody wants grease mixed in with that either.
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Re: Vapour blasting

#7

Post by 5speed »

Another option is blasting it with aluminum oxide. I've been using 120 grit for the past 15 years to remove rust and bluing when I refinish a firearm.
Unlike silica sand, glass beads it leaves a jagged "cut" on the substrate that paint adherer's to extremely well.
Having said that, the surface feels extremely smooth to the touch. the "cuts" are microscopic.
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Jonesz
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Re: Vapour blasting

#8

Post by Jonesz »

Thanks to everyone for some very good info. Will pass the thread along to my buddy. Looks expensive to get set up and hard to do with a large 6 cyl engine block. Sounds like a good cleaning and paint job is the easiest route for the project.
Appreciate all the input. Also some good info when scrolling down to similar threads
Jonesz

1983 GL1100 Aspencade named "Freki" currently undergoing change to a standard. Sold
1999 Valkyrie CT 1500 goes by the moniker "Valerie"
1978 Gl1000 "Loki" new project going to be a Cafe Convertible
1979 Suzuki GS850. Sold
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Re: Vapour blasting

#9

Post by Rednaxs60 »

Rebuilt the engine on my '85 1200 Limited Edition GW last year and had the cases and all parts that attach to it vapour blasted. Does a very good job. I was told that the vapour blast finish could not be painted but should have a protectant applied. The fellow recommended ACF50 but this is a fluid film and would collect crud/dirt and be hard to clean. Did some additional research and found a CERAKOTE product MC5100 that is formulated for all aluminum finishes including vapour blasting. Used this as a protectant for painted parts as well.

Used this product on the underside of fenders, swing arms, and a host of hard to clean parts - cleans up easy when you get to these.

Cleans up well with a damp cloth, can be applied with spray gun or brush, one coat application and is air cure. Once applied to a part, nothing sticks to it. My local paint guy tried every tape product he had and nothing would stick.

No affiliation but very impressed with the product.
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5speed
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Re: Vapour blasting

#10

Post by 5speed »

Rednaxs60 wrote: Tue Oct 19, 2021 11:23 am Rebuilt the engine on my '85 1200 Limited Edition GW last year and had the cases and all parts that attach to it vapour blasted. Does a very good job. I was told that the vapour blast finish could not be painted but should have a protectant applied. The fellow recommended ACF50 but this is a fluid film and would collect crud/dirt and be hard to clean. Did some additional research and found a CERAKOTE product MC5100 that is formulated for all aluminum finishes including vapour blasting. Used this as a protectant for painted parts as well.

Used this product on the underside of fenders, swing arms, and a host of hard to clean parts - cleans up easy when you get to these.

Cleans up well with a damp cloth, can be applied with spray gun or brush, one coat application and is air cure. Once applied to a part, nothing sticks to it. My local paint guy tried every tape product he had and nothing would stick.

No affiliation but very impressed with the product.
cerakote is very big in the firearms refinishing industry.
1982 1100 standard. (sold)
1986 Yamaha FJ1200
2000 Yamaha Roadstar
1976 GoldWing. running but not on the road
1978 Goldwing. future cafe project.
2019 Can-Am ryker (boss's new ride)

2002 Shadow American Classic(sold)
1983 Shadow 500. (sold)
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