Cleaning titanium

[Brucey]

The list you post can all be any colour the designer wants. Most of the alu parts on a bike are anodised silver, though some are bare. They can be anodised in any colour other than silver.

yes but even though they could be, they are mostly not made daft colours, just like Ti frames are mostly not. Which was kind of my point, really.

I have Blackburn Ti bottle cages and they are lacquered grey. Why, I don't know, but I often think about stripping them and seeing if I can polish them to a shine, or even spray paint them.

what makes you think they have a coating of any kind on them? If they are real Ti it would be unusual for them to be coated, especially in any kind of paint.

cheers

[Mick F]

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/bla ... g-ec039151

When I bought them, I thought I'd be getting just like what the piccy showed. I suppose they are, but there's no info regardng the finish.

They are Ti as per the description, but they are lacquered in a grey coating, some of which is worn off. I was tired of using lacquered Alu bottle cages cox they mark the bottles as they wear, so getting bare Ti sounded a good idea.

Mistake. These mark the bottles too.

[Mick F]

Just spent five minutes with some wet and dry on one of the Ti cages.
Here's the result. Original coated one is on the right.

[grani]

I have a titanium railed Spa Nidd saddle where the rails are coated with something that looks virtually identical to that coated bottle cage.

I would be quite curious to know why it has been coated at all.

[Mick F]

That's my point.
Ti doesn't need to be coated, except for cosmetic reasons.
If it can be coated "gun-metal grey", it can be coated any colour you want. Therefore why only un-coated, or gun-metal grey?

Personally, I prefer traditional "bling shiny" for components and a nice bright colour for the frame.

I wonder if some Ti frames are reputed to be bare and un-coated, but in actual fact have a hard gun metal coat on them?
Perhaps by doing it, they hide any machining marks whilst still looking bare?

[tod28]

The Ti hasn't been coated - it's the natural oxide passivating layer that occurs on reaction with oxygen and nitrogen in the air - as happens with pure aluminium (but not with aluminium alloys which require anodising to achieve the same effect). The reason your Ti bottle cages mark the bottle is the passive oxide/nitride layer is rubbed off (as in polishing) onto the bottle and the surface of the Ti simply re-oxidises (extremely quickly) to be rubbed off again. If you polish off the "coating" and leave it, it will reappear over time.

[reohn2]

Mick
If you want them really shiny 0000 wire wool lubed with GT85 will take out all the scratches the W n D has left
I agre with the previous poster re marking bottles,I've just recently bought a Couple of Elite 'Cannibal' bottle cages(plastic) to stop scratches and marking of bottles.

[tod28]

The "gun metal" coat is how shot or bead blasted Ti surfaces appear due to the passive oxide/nitride layer. Polished surfaces have a shiney appearance due to the much smoother surface. The passive oxide layer is still there - same as with pure aluminium and anodised aluminium alloys.

[Mick F]

Ti simply re-oxidises (extremely quickly) to be rubbed off again. If you polish off the "coating" and leave it, it will reappear over time.

Bet you it doesn't!

My Blackburn cages are coated in some sort of lacquer. (one of them isn't any more!) You can see the coating. It ain't oxidisation. It's "painted" gun metal grey.

This is the one not cleaned off. It hasn't been used for quite some weeks and been languishing in the workshop. You can see where the coating has worn by the bottle and is still shiny.

[Mick F]

Mick
If you want them really shiny 0000 wire wool lubed with GT85 will take out all the scratches the W n D has left

I was going to use Brasso.

[Brucey]

I think your Ti bottle cages had a bead or grit-blasted finish and now one of them doesn't at all, and another one just has worn patches.

I see no signs that there was any 'coating' per se; if there were you would be able to chip or flake it off etc, and where there is wear the edges of the wear would look different.

Almost any metal can become matte and appear several shades darker when blasted with certain media. Different media = different finish.





the Moots frame above has a bead blasted finish all over and then highlights in a grit-blasted finish over the top of that. The pic above that has several different blasted finishes lad over a mirror polish. If you didn't know what you were looking at you might be forgiven for thinking that there was an actual coating of some kind; there isn't of course.

cheers

[Mick F]

I'm sure you know what you're talking about, but you cannot see or feel my bottle cages.
I am certain that they are/were coated. You can FEEL the plasticky coating.

If you feel the one I cleaned off, it feels - and looks - metallic.

If it eventually "skins off" and goes like it was before, how long do I wait?
I'll put a note in my diary for today, and if/when you say it'll skin off in the future, I'll photograph the two cages and post on here then,
If what you say is true, they will be the same.

As I said, I bet they won't.

[Mick F]

Humble pie.

Electrical continuity.
Why did no-one suggest this?
My coated cage has continuity just like the polished one. Therefore the coated one isn't coated at all!
(unless it's very thin - I can scrape gently with a sharp penknife and see a powder)
Try the same test with anodised or painted stuff, and no continuity.

However, in my defence, why is Ti not polished?
Does it skin off?
If so, how long should I wait?

[CREPELLO]

However, in my defence, why is Ti not polished?

That would simply be down to cost.

A bit OT, but why are stainless steel saucepans so hard to buy with a polished interior? Again, it would be down to cost. But they come highly polished on the outside. Yet a polished interior would make them substantially more non stick.

Well I reckon it's a conspiracy by the big saucepan makers . Make inferior SS pans, so people end up buying teflon coated pans, even though they need replacing more often.

[tod28]

"why is Ti not polished?" - cost

If polished and the passivation is controlled with anodising you can get a miriad of colours on titanium.