Gunsmithing seeking professional advice on Cerakote finishing

[komishe]

Well I got my Iawata mini hvlp spray gun last week and a fridge full of Cerakote. I figured since you can learn anything on th' enternet, I'd be an expert by the time it arrived.
The amount of poor advice on this subject is astounding. I decided to break down and get training direct from NIC, since they're only 4 hours away. However, I can't get proper training from them until June 28th. Having a terribly obsessive mind, this equipment is screaming to be used. I'm going to go ahead and take the plunge at home.

Upon researching other forums

I've noticed a trend of people who don't agree with NIC's ratios for achieving proper matte/gloss. I do live right on the coast, so humidity could be an issue for me. I was wondering how the pros weighed in on this.

I'm also curious if there's a suitable hi-temp masking material that comes in sheets. The idea is to laser cut stencils at my friends sign and graphics shop.

Any advice or threads pointing me in the right direction would be most appreciated. In the meantime I'll just stick to coating junk parts and nuts and bolts as suggested. I'm pretty skilled in the painting department and I've got all I can from the NIC instructions, but I do dread the thought of a nice baked on layer of 'kote with the wrong finish.

Thanks for taking the time to read this

 

[ugsly]

Re: seeking professional advice on Cerakote finishing

You buy high temp vinyl and use a stencil cutting machine, I wouldn't bother with trying to laser cut hi-temp tape.

As far as mix ratio for matte finish and gloss, in my experience some colors have more gloss then others at a 18:1 ratio. Sometimes you need to go to 16:1 to get the gloss your looking for. I run my gun at 20 PSI for a 2" fan and for tight spots drop the pressure, close the fan and cut your flow down.

You can read all you want about it, It just comes down to getting trigger time. I took a class at NIC, it was very helpful and they're great people. The more you spray the better you'll get

You must not be very far from me. I'm about 3.5-4 hours from NIC

Kc

 

[LRI]

Re: seeking professional advice on Cerakote finishing

Applying ceracoat isn't tough. As with any finishing product the real work is in the surface prep.

Case in point. Recently did a pair of 1911's for a gent in San Diego. One of the slides had deep pitting either from rust or inclusions from the castings. What to do? Leave it or fix it?

I fixed it by sweating low temp silver solder into the pits prior to coating, then draw filed them smooth, blasted, and shot it.

Another example. Spend a month on this site and you'll eventually run across someone trying to sort out how to coat bolts/receivers without them locking up/being sticky afterward.

Remember this: ceracoat goes on at one mill film. For a bolt it'll grow by .002".
The receiver bore then shrinks by .002" as well.

That's a .004" change. (A lot)

I personally like a minimum clearance of .0015" all the way around the bolt. That's a .003 diameter difference.

Total it up and your bolt NEEDS a .007" difference.

Not many have the stones to buzz that much off a bolt on a $1000+ action.

Just what I've learned. . .

Good luck.

C.

 

[komishe]

Re: seeking professional advice on Cerakote finishing

Thanks for the info. esp. the stencil cutting. My friend purchased the whole shop turnkey.I'll have to check and see if he's gut stencil cutting capability.
Definitely agree on trigger time and thanks again. I was a little nervous about some of those really really tight spots.
Your advice makes a lot of sense
I'm up in nor-cal.
Ma's family is from Bandon

 

[komishe]

Re: seeking professional advice on Cerakote finishing

any advice on where to procure said high temp vinyl? My city is pretty rural, so it's most likely going to be bought on the 'net.

Thanks again

 

[komishe]

Re: seeking professional advice on Cerakote finishing

thanks for the tip on solder.
I'll be practicing quite a bit before hosing anything important.
I'm not really crazy about the idea of a cerakoted bolt anyways.
I'll leave that to the experts.

 

[smschulz]

Re: seeking professional advice on Cerakote finishing

Be sure to keep us updated on the progress- interested to see how the stencils work out.

 

[komishe]

Re: seeking professional advice on Cerakote finishing

sure thing
My buddy has the stencil cutter, but finding a stencil vinyl that comes in sheets and high temp resistance proved a bit daunting. I googled till my eyes bugged out.
My sign painting buddy pointed me towards a powder coater/hydro dip guy who lives about a half hour away. He's got some experience in this area and the proper tools to do the job as well.
I'll be contacting him after the holidays and keep you posted.