Portable Media-blaster
- Thread starter JAW911
- Start date
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Clearly no-one had any knowledge of this kit. When I went to buy it at MachineMart they pointed out that my 14cfm compressor was not up to the job. Instead I bought a sandblaster pot from sandblasters.co.uk. Used it today for the first time - absolutely brilliant. Runs at around 90psi. Very fast rust and paint stripping from steel (restoring a BSA Bantam!) not sure about wood although they say it all strip varnishes etc.
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Richard_C
Established Member
Enjoy the restoration, all good straightforward stuff, no complicated electronics and you can see how it works. Nice. I half owned one (as in, 2 of us shared it, not each owned a wheel) for a summer back in the late 60s. Despite the name, we both had normal length arms. (a comment added to perplex young people).
Brings back memories of numerous MZ bikes enjoyed over the years.
I don’t actually ride motorcycles but having retired I thought it would be a fun project. Lots of ‘school days’ involved; YouTube a friend as usual; certainly a lot to learn regarding the imperial nuts and bolts identification. I am going to nickel plate all nuts and bolts which will contrast nicely with the black paint.
Try D Middleton Stainless. Not cheap but really good quality. You may even find it cheaper to use stainless than to have existing ones plated. He does a huge range of Imperial, and a lot of specialist bike stuff as well. Having restored many bikes I always use stainless nuts and bolts etc.
I have looked at the stainless option but I would prefer to use the existing nuts and bolts. DIY nickel plating is very cheap and easy to do. A bit of effort cleaning and, if necessary, re-cutting threads. A brief polish to give the final nut and bolt-heads a satin/gloss finish. Plenty of YouTube videos online on how to do it. A few nickel anodes, some white vinegar and a dc power source is all you need to make your own electrolyte.
Used to build and tune Bantams for grass track. It is amazing how much power you can squeeze out of them. They did blow up but were incredibly cheap back in the late 70’s.
Easy to do, I just wonder how long the finish will last. Never tried nickel plate onto steel, do you have to copper it first?
I remember once coming up behind some youngster, head down, throttle nailed on his Honda 125 Repsol. He looked sideways at me, I think I'm some amazement, as I breezed past him on an MZ 125. Basically the same engine as the Bantam, although in this case slightly modified
Still have a tricked out MZ 250, love 2 strokes. As you say though, a fine line between going like stink and blowing up
That reminds me of a mate that bought a secondhand Squariel - the exhausts were badly clagged up with oily carbonised deposits and the cast aluminium end-cones could not be unscrewed. So he hacksawed the silencers away back from the cast end-pieces so as not to damage the castings and so the innards could be retrieved and cleaned.I remember once coming up behind some youngster, head down, throttle nailed on his Honda 125 Repsol. He looked sideways at me, I think I'm some amazement, as I breezed past him on an MZ 125. Basically the same engine as the Bantam, although in this case slightly modified
Still have a tricked out MZ 250, love 2 strokes. As you say though, a fine line between going like stink and blowing up
When he refitted them he must have increased the back pressure because afterwards the bike accelerated like a rocket when you hit a certain rev range...
Happy days...!!!
You can copper first but it’s not necessary. The longer you leave the piece in the electrolyte the more nickel is deposited. There are a few USA gunsmiths on YouTube who use this process and their items are actually handled but the plating still lasts.
Agent_zed
Established Member
You may have already looked into this but be careful with which blast media you use and always use respirator etc. I've read you should never use sea sand as it is likely to have a high silica content. Garnet seemed to be one of the better ones as no silica. If you want a less abrasive material walnut shells is a common one.
Many years ago I worked with a guy who drag raced a BSA Gold Star and held the world record for the fastest 1/4 mile at the time …terrific guy who sadly died on the strip - but probably wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
Some of those drag bikes were radical in the extreme.
Checking out doing something you love has got to be the way to go. When I was younger I always thought going during sex would be but great but have recently come to realise I might have to live for a very long time if I want to go that way.
