I am stripping my frame trying to take care of many years of abuse from previous owners and some parts of the frame show quite a bit of rust so I am thinking about glass bead blasting the entire frame and then galvanize it before I paint it. Has anyone galvanized the entire frame before? Can it be done (are all tubes open in both ends so I don't end up with a lot of Zinc in some places where it can not escape from)?

Excellent input. Thank you very much.

Before I went any further I'd test the frame to see if it retains a new bearing race. I've no idea what the rust did.
A really careful inspection of the frame would be in order.

If you're hot dip galvanizing - then you need to drill a bunch of drain holes atleast 1/4" diameter. They drop the whole frame in a molten zinc and it will get in the frame rails and needs to get out.
And prepare for huge sections of it that will be filled with zinc that has solidified. Frame goes in 20lb and comes out 100 lb. So I guess weigh it so you know if its come back 1/ filled with zinc.
Now the outside will be that chunked up highway guard rail look, its pretty OK … but remember its still only about 10yrs before it rusts again.
If you painted or powdercoated it, you will easily get 20+ yrs of it looking beautiful without even worrying about it.

But if you do hot dip galvanize it, we definitely wanna see pics of it.
Cool.
Srinath.

Good powdercoaters basically blast it with emery dust, or a similar dust free abrasive, the rust will be a distant memory. They do not acid dip it, I don't like that method, it would get inside the frame and can eat it inside out.
BTW I have powdercoated several frames and am not regretting it cos I want to cut 2-3 of em to mod them, will look stupid.
One frame I did in silver with a multi color flecks in the clear, looked awesome, sadly I cant even find that fleck mix any more and I have already cut that frame.
Cool.
Srinath.

I’ve had great success with powder coating motorcycle frames. For spot rust I use POR-15.

batman wrote on 02/17/20 at 09:45:06:



The zinc sacrifices itself so the base metal structure remains intact, even a motorcycle frame is no different.

I'd wrap a board in a rag and put it against the frame and give it some goodquick raps. See if rust rattles inside.

It's not uncommon that the Uncommon solution to a problem is uncommon because it's not a good solution.

Powder coating is very popular..
Galvanizing,, not,,
Maybe you could be a trend setter.

Cathodic Protection
Cathodic Protection
Cathodic protection (CP) is a technique used to control the corrosion of a metal surface by making it the cathode of an electrochemical cell. A simple method of protection connects the metal to be protected to a more easily corroded "sacrificial metal" to act as the anode. The sacrificial metal then corrodes instead of the protected metal. For structures such as long pipelines, where passive galvanic cathodic protection is not adequate, an external DC electrical power source is used to provide sufficient current.
Cathod