dropouts eff-up

[mander]

With apologies in advance for a nooby question:

I just took a nice old road frame of mine with lovely old 80s Campy dropouts in for an all too cheap powdercoat. I left what I thought were pretty clear instructions to mask off the raised shiny surfaces of the dropouts. What I got back was completely powdercoated front dropouts, and rear dropouts that were masked all the way out to where they meet the stays. Before I got there, they realized that they had ****ed up the front dropouts and so they have already ground off the powdercoat, and with it the shine if the dropouts and the sexy "Brev. Campagnolo" lettering. Anyhow, I'm sort of pissed off about the whole thing and I'm just wondering if anyone knows offhand if those front dropouts will have to be chromed to make them shiny again, or if just polishing them with a dremel will be OK, or what. Basically, will the dropouts rust if I just polish them without chroming?

:(

[LoveParkRIP]

It depends.

If the dropouts are stainless (or if they have stainless faces) then you can polish them with a dremel. If they're plain steel then they'll rust.

Give it a shot. Polish them and ride it for a couple weeks. If rust starts to form, then the dropouts aren't stainless. Then you'll know if its worth getting them chromed.

Good luck

[mander]

Thanks LovePark. Now I am wondering whether anyone knows off hand whether 80's campagnolo dropouts (the rear dropouts on this frame look a lot like the Campy 1010's in Sheldon's glossary, if that helps) are stainless/ stainless faced. I guess riding them around for a while is the obvious way to find out.

[LWaB]

I don't think that Campag even produced SS dropouts and certainly not in the '80s.

[dy123]

I would bet the farm that the drops are not stainless.

An easy way to check is a magnet. Magnets will not stick to stainless (or if they do just slightly). They will really hold on to steel. It is easy to tell the difference.

[mander]

Thanks guys. I will see about having the ****in things rechromed.

[Nessism]

Your best bet at this point is to paint the dropouts and call it a day.

[mander]

So I can either paint the rear dropouts too and feel like a tard, or leave them mismatched and feel like a tard. :(

Edit: Brainwave! I will polish them and then clearcoat the snot out of them. It's just front dropouts, a clearcoat ought to hold up OK under nutted axles if I don't touch them too much. :)