The Teardown

Unfortunately, I didn't take enough pictures of this stage of my build. But like any frame-up build, the bike had to be totally dismantled for blasting and powder coat. Since I'm doing this build on a college student budget, I try to save money by doing  work myself whenever I can. So after I set my sights on getting my frame and a-arms powder coated, I decided I would do all of the sandblasting myself with my dad's Harbor Freight sand blaster.

Anyone who knows a thing or two about tools know that a Harbor Freight sandblaster isn't the ideal tool for a project like this. Add that to the fact that our blaster was a bit old, and the ceramic tip that controls blasting pressure was very worn out. This leads to wasted sand and air pressure; both of which I did not have an abundance of. Needless to say, blasting my frame took a FULL weekend in the hot July sun. The sand got EVERYWHERE... But eventually the job was finished. I loaded the frame and a-arms up in my car and made the drive to the local powder coater; about an hour drive from school. I got an incredible deal, and I was blown away by how great the finish turned out!

For reference, I have on close-up picture of how my frame looked before powder. This was during the tear down. Notice how dull the spray paint finish looks.

And this is what the finish looked like when I got it back from powder.

Quite an upgrade I'd say!

Stay tuned for the next update. I'll be writing about my homemade polishing stand, and more progress is on the way!