Showing posts with label Acid Dipping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Acid Dipping. Show all posts

Wednesday, 13 August 2008

Back from the dippers



So the big day has finally arrived...

The frame and panels and bits have just arrived back from the dippers and they look good. The total bill came to £120, which I thought was quite reasonable.

The entire scooter fits in the back of my hairdressers LandRover (a freelander), so I didn't have to mess around hiring a van. Carol had to go to work on her scooter though, which was a bit of a pain for her. Sorry! To make amends, I'm going over to meet her and I will buy her a nice coffee on the way back. It's the least I can do!

There is some work to do on the legshields, though... I have perforations where the rust has eaten through and another couple of spots where it has been welded up in the past by a nine year old Indian boy...

To be fair, though, he's a better welder than I am! The subframe has also had a touch of Indian welding behind the numberplate, so this section will need to be replaced before it goes to the painters as you can see daylight through some of the joins.

The top bearing race has taken a bit of a beating in the dipping process, but I was going to replace that anyway, and I will do the bottom one as well, even though it looks (and feels) OK.

Time is now of the essence... The longer it hangs around unprotected, the more likely it is to start to rust.

Unfortunately, I have not got too much spare cash lying around at the moment, so donations would be gratefully recieved... I had a car boot sale to raise some cash for the respray and we got £200 for some stuff out of the attic, which was nice... Still a way short for the full amount, though.

Tuesday, 29 July 2008

Sent away for acid dipping

Took the bits into Preston today for dipping... The downside is it's probably going to cost a little more (£120ish), and I noticed that the area behind the number plate is in need of welding...

The people there told me it will be ready in about ten working days, so it's going to take a little longer than I anticipated. They also explained the process... The parts are baked in a large oven over a period of several days, and after that, they are immersed in a large tank full of a really weak acid which dissolves the flaking paint. After that, the parts are pressure washed in a detergent which contains phosphor to prevent flash rusting. It all sounds very technical, but they seem to know what they're doing...