The Never Ending Refurbishing of a Dream

[clarenceada]

Ok, so you guys have convinced me, I need a sandblaster, my shopping list:

1. Blastcabinet

2. sandblasting equipment

3. large 12cfm air compressor

4. pressurewasher

5. equipment to sandblast with pressurewasher

6. paint sprayer

7. "oven" for powder coating

8. extend garage to house 1-7

The only question I have (out-side of where to get a home-improvement loan) is: what's the smallest pressure washer that would work, one like this campbell-hausfeld electric model:

http://www.pressurewashersdirect.com/Ca ... p1152.html

or one of these Honda gas powered:

http://www.pressurewashersdirect.com/Ca ... p1635.html

If I buy this first I could strip the frames in the back yard, as suggested, sounds like the cheapest way to get started in doing it my self---I am really tried of dealing with so-called professional shops.

Appreciate any opinions or recommendations.

Thanks


Clarence

[G-Man]

Hi Clarence

The Campbell one should be fine. It looks like mine which was made under the name KEW - don't think that they are still in business but it works just fine after 10 years of intermittent use. Only one minor niggle. The pipe to the sand has to be short enough to get good flow but long enough that you can keep it out of the spray. If your sand gets wet - it's all over.....

I've toyed with the idea of making a wet blast cabinet but I think that it would be more trouble than it's worth.

Let us know how you get on....

G

[3BeanCrispy]

the nice thing is that with the right equipment you can make pretty quick work of it. you could probably rent the heavy duty stuff for a weekend and get all the blasting and cleanup done. Unless you intend to do bike after bike buying alot of the equipment always make $en$e <smile>
i painted my dream with spraycans. i painted subsequent bikes with HVLP. if i were only doing 1 i'd use spraycans again!

matt in PA

[Natrik]

Where is the closest Harbor Freight Tools from where you are on the coast?
I live in Eugene, OR and we have one here. I just paid $119 for a blast cabinet that is big enough to hold most of the engine or a gas tank. It came with the gloves, gun and some protective sheets for the window. I put a little florescent trouble light in it, spent $25 on 25lbs of glass bead. I just did my wheel hubs and they look fabulous.
It might be worth the drive to Eugene or Salem if you're looking for shop equipment and don't want to spend a small fortune. They have really good deals on their compressors as well. Just spend the $30 or whatever it is for the unconditional 2 year warranty, if you break it or it breaks on it's own they'll give you a brand new one no questions asked.
If you want to make the trip to Eugene you're more than welcome to check out my setup before you drop cash on your own....

[Natrik]

I would LOVE to find an old Oregon plate like that for mine. Anyone know where one would find an old plate like that?
When we both get done we'll have to meet up to check each other's finished product. As far as I know I'm the only one working on a Dream in the Eugene area, and I'll be taking it for a coast ride I'm sure...

[clarenceada]

Yes, Eugene is the closest Harbor freight from here (Coos Bay area). My son showed me the other day harbor's catalog and I saw the blast cabinet and also a pressure washer which comes with a sand blasting hose. After talking with a local paint company here that does sand-basting, their painter said the dust is so bad that they do it out-side and have a helmet that looks like you could go to the bottom of the sea, with air pumped into it so they can breath and, seeing as how I have asthma already I think I'll let them do the blasting. I still want to try the wet method with a pressure washer, just haven't found one locally, I may have to make a trip to eugene soon.

So with a hefty dose of optimism (this is the fourth painter I have left these same parts with) I left them with this new company---they said the parts would have to be re-blasted--- at this rate there might not be enough aluminum left of the hubs to lace to the wheels! Now the 2 weeks they first told me are slowly slipping into 4 and I am worried I might not get the dream running for this years riding season. The last two years I have only been riding off-road only and worried that I am getting rusty for the road, besides I ain't getting any younger. One of the reasons I started fixing up a couple ct90's, maybe I should just by a cheap road bike in the mean time. (you know... some times I think I shouldn't have took that "stream of conscience" writing course.)

Natrik, as you'll notice on the first page of this thread Sram64 bought a dream from this area last year and he lives in the Eugene metropolis. If you did find an old license can you change it over to your bike with the DMV? I've never tried that.

Thanks for all the in-put



Clarenceada

[clarenceada]

After the fifth paint shop I finely found one in Winston, Or called Don's Powder coating that did a respectable job as you can see in these pictures:









The rim was chromed by a shop in Medford and the spokes I bought at the local Honda parts store after seeing some of the problems others have had with after-market ones I bit the bullet to the tune of $187.00 for the complete set front and rear and $30.00 for the powder coat (I was real pleased at the cost seeing as one of the previous shops charged me $40.00 just for the sandblasting).

Speaking of Sandblasting I did buy a pressure washer with a Honda engine that puts out 2600psi I bought the sand wand that attaches to the end of the pressure washer hose and some sand but I think it is too course as the gun plugs up after a few seconds of use. I'm going to get some finer sand; any body know what grit I'm looking for?

Thanks
Clarence