GT Edge Aero TT --> paint pron tarck conversion attempt

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btw @malandro the sourdough is going well:

and I did get a banneton (as you can see in this loaf):

Doesn't seem to be as half-baked as the bike! ;)

Love this thread. Can't wait to see how the frame turns out!

I decided to buy the real deal: 5 litres of 99% pure dichloromethane. When it arrived, I realised:

this chemical is incredibly toxic and can't be done anywhere near my baby girl (only a few months old at the time)
it is way too thin (liquidy) and evaporates too quickly to actually stay on a surface of the bike long enough to react with the paint so it can be stripped off.

Exactly my experience with the stuff, absolutely deadly if you accidentally breath it in.

So my solution was to cover the bike in rags soaked in the dichloromethane, and then wrap that in cling-film to keep the chemical on the surface of the paint as long as possible

Did think of this, but haven't had a chance to test it. How well did it work?

Not amazingly if I am honest. In some larger surface areas it really did blister off the paint quite well so it came off with ease, but I think part of the difficulty was down to the colour changing paint. I have heard this tends to be thicker or something. In the end I had to rely rather heavily on the wire cup attachment to "brush off" the rest of the paint. This actually resulted in more abrasion on the aluminium than I had hoped for, but I should have probably foreseen this.
If I were doing it again I would probably try to find something to thicken the dichloromethane so it is like a gel (like nitro or something). Alternatively, for a few frames at once, creating a shallow bath dip and just giving them a soaking one after another could be a good approach (anyone want to organise a frame-stripping party? I still have about 4L left!).
Also note that gloves are ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. I got some of this on my skin (through two pairs of latex gloves), and it was very irritated!

that looks delicious!

I looked into thickening agents, it was a rabbit hole of organic chemistry that I didn't full understand. People kept saying thinks like 'apparently paraffin wax will thicken it' and I had visions of my neighbours muttering 'apparently he gassed himself to death trying to thicken paint stripper' as the hearse drives off.

My mum always mixed in wallpaper paste to keep bad chemicals clinging to shiny surfaces

worth a shot I suppose!

^^^I think you're heading to A&E sometime soon at the very least or maybe the 2017 Darwin Awards. There are whole labs dedicated to testing different ingredients in paint and paint strippers to make the best product. A Heath Robinson approach to making paint stripper really isn't that wise. Look after those hands....

I used a heavy duty bag full of acid to remove rust from an old frame once. If you remove all the air, seal and lay it on its side, you can use weights to displace liquid into areas you want soaking.

No idea if it'd work with the above stuff, probably dissolve the bag...

There's supposedly another paint stripper, available from proper decorator trade places (ie not b&q) that does what nitromors used to do. Can't remember the name of it but if you have a decorator mate, they'll probably know.

Along the lines of what TM is saying, I may have posted some negativity in this thread previously, I'm over that and really looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

Nitromors is terrible. My dads workshop has some incredible stuff used for cars that will strip paint off a bike frame in minutes. Love that shit. Will find out what it's called.

Also this thread is great fun, still!

Yesss!! Keep us updated

Neat DCM works best if you can completely immerse your component in it. As you've found out, it wicks straight through latex and nitrile gloves and burns your fingers! You'll need something like camatril gloves to stop it.

Love how this thread finds new ways to be dangerous at every turn

Needs moar pics

It's taken me two days but I've just worked my way through this. Wow.

Keep the updates coming!

The filling in on the gussets is a bit slow going, but this is after 2 or three layers (can't put it in too thick or it will not dry properly and crack, so I have been building it up and sanding it smooth after each layer).

This is the toptube - downtube - headtube intersection:

I think that will be good for primer after one more layer of bondo probably. You'll notice some aluminium peeking through around the cable routing inlet on the DT - I ground this down quite a bit, but I didn't want to push it too much as the walls of the actual tubing here are incredibly thin, and I also am not sure if it the chunk of aluminium would have been welded on top of the tubing or into a hole in the tubing... In any case, a slight bulge in this area smoothed out with the filler won't make a difference, especially as it merges into the aero profiling from the head tube.

The downtube-seattube intersection will likely need a few more layers of filler:

this one is a bit messy around the area where the front derailleur hanger was (on the ST), and there is quite a bit of smoothing to do between the DT, ST, BB shell and chainstays. Also the gusset comes right up to the tapped hole for the bottle holder, so I am not sure whether to bring the gusset down a bit so it ends smoothly before that, or just go right over it. Since this is meant to be a tarck bike, and not HHSTTB, bottle cage is kind of out of place anyways #amiright?

bottle cage is kind of out of place anyways

Have a big glass of water before you leave. Im sure the dropouts will fail before you feel thirsty again

Also subbed, this is rad

Not if you want to ride it for more than an hour in alleged summer. You can always get an aero bottle.

Keep up the good work!

This needs some trick, aero trips!

You could do it with paint, but while you've got your gusset game on...

I had hoped to bring this over to the 10th anniversary event tonight, but a series of mishaps prevented it (smashed finger, forgotten wallet, etc). I have progressed with the filler and fiber fix, and just added the first layer of primer... looks best in silhouette for now!

Unfortunately, I learned how unforgiving primer is - every spot missed with a bit of filler was brutally exposed, so I will probably have to go back to another coat of filler for my sins.

Hi build primer is your friend. You puff it on then sand it back like filler.

It makes absolute sense to spend hours getting a perfect paint finish.

It makes absolute sense

Those words dont apply here.