Dry ice blasting

[Tonka]

Has anyone ever had an engine/bike dry ice blasted and if so what was the result?

Thinking of having one of mine done but would like some feedback first

[Pigford]

Isn't that "cryo" stuff for stress relief on casings

[ADRIAN H]

You can buy aerosols of dry ice from Maplins electrical. But would not be a practical proposition. So maybe I should not have posted this.

[Tonka]

If you type 'harley davidson dry ice blasting' in utube you will see what I mean.

[Tonka]

You can buy aerosols of dry ice from Maplins electrical. But would not be a practical proposition. So maybe I should not have posted this.

Actually dry ice blasting can and is used on electrical equipment as it does not cause any damage or problems - just cleans!

[Tonka]

The video on this website shows what can be done.
http://www.aquablast.org.uk/

If you pop an engine out then it looks like it can be cleaned up like new without having to strip anything at all

I have a Z1b that needs the flaking black paint on the engine removing and think that this method may do it without having to strip the whole unit down. the engine could look like new without the expense of stripping it down and sending it for aqua blasting etc. Before I do I could do with knowing if it works.

[Pigford]

Interesting

[ac/dc]

Its a process thats been used on printing presses for a long time now
Years of ground in ink just falls off and the results are very good
never thought about engine cleaning must work i suppose

[Mark Tiller]

Looks like an engine can be done in frame, any idea on cost?

[kev edwards]

Got to be better than bead blasting, a friend has just had his Gs thou head done with disaterous consequnces bent valves and god knows what, i have advised him to completely strip the motor and wash it out thouroghly.

[z1bman]

pity you didn't give him the advise before. that looks like it was never cleaned out thoroughly before it was assembled

[kev edwards]

pity you didn't give him the advise before. that looks like it was never cleaned out thoroughly before it was assembled

had not seen him for a while and only got to know after the damage was done, it's a shame as he has had it from new 31 years.

[paultraci]

Hi guys this is my first post so hi to you all,My bikes I have are a Z1000j2 stripped awaiting restoration and money, a Zephyr 750 ( great work horse) and here we go......... Harley-davidson night train. Not sure if this helps but I work in a foundry making Tank wheels and twice a day the tool needs to be dry-iced the tool has a fine layer af graphite on it about 3 to 5mm build up and yes the dry-ice cleans the tool off as in the video but thats on a hot tool, on a cold tool it's much harder. But on oil new or old it has no or little effect on removing it, I'm not saying the video is wrong but in my 10 years of using ice it cleans water based stuff of but oil based not very good.

Paid member 836.

[spondonges]

Its a process thats been used on printing presses for a long time now
Years of ground in ink just falls off and the results are very good
never thought about engine cleaning must work i suppose

Wouldn't printing inks be oil based, ??? I don't know !!!???

[Pigford]

Whilst walking around Netley Marsh with Uk Kev yesterday, we were discussing this dry-ice method.

We were both a bit concerned at how cold the metal would get Playing Devils Advocate:

Old fatigued materials used on our Zeds may not stand up well to having localized "frozen" spots due to this process Different expansion rates of stuff.

Looking at the vids, it can be set to either just clean off a bit of shite - or - strip paint off metal , so its probably "user sensitive", so if an inexperienced user is doing your bike (like a YTS lad) ... disaster

Although "grit blasting" has its drawbacks, such as debris left everywhere , you wouldn't consider using it to clean a bit of oil/mud off your pristine bike so less room for error on that front