Gunsmithing Cerakote mix ratio change???

[Jeremybj]

Greetings,

I purchased a quart of H series graphite black which was delivered last week. I have been spraying cerakote for about 5 years now and I have figured my preferred shine ratio is 28:1 by weight. Its a satin/matte finish in the end.

Anyways I fired up the cerakote oven yesterday and was going to paint an AR and a bolt gun. Sprayed both, everything went good, threw them in the oven and waited.

2 hours later I turn off the oven, let them cool, and pull them out. HOLY FUCKING SHINY. The parts would look at home on a freshly painted Corvette. Basically they look terrible. So I reprepped and tried repainting one of the barrels did everything the exact same but used some hardener that I had on hand rather than the stuff that came with the quart of graphite black as I was trying to eliminate variables.

Same story Shiny as hell.

Has Cerakote changed the mix ratio recommendations lately or does anybody have any other ideas?

It was about 42 degrees yesterday, which is slightly cool but I sprayed FDE the other day in the upper 30s, which went fine.

Thanks for your help,
Jeremy

 

[dang472]

I’ve always ran a 20:1-22:1 ratio. This last black that I shot was a little on the shiny side. I checked it after 15mins and had to pull the action out. I added some more color to the mix and sprayed it again. Not sure what the ratio ended up being but I definitely had to change it up. It seems like anymore I have to do a quick flash in the oven to double check the sheen before finalizing the paint job.

 

[flatland1]

I haven't checked into the new CK Elite series - anyone know what the recommended ratio range is for those coatings? Wonder if there's a chance they sent Jeremy some Elite by mistake?

 

[ugsly308]

I had a batch of Grahite Black not long ago that was same way. I mixed 22:1 and it came out really glossy. I ended up at 30:1 to cut the gloss down but it still wasnt a matte finish.

 

[Jeremybj]

For elite it is 1:18, no range, it is that and only that. Which honestly was a big turn off to me because the samples they sent me were kind of glossy and I like a more matte finisg.

Ugsly, curious what your batch number is on that cerakote, mine is 3471.

 

[Jeremybj]

Just did some 1:34 by weight and it's in the oven. I'll give a review after it is done and cooled....

 

[SharpsNitro]

No changes to mix ratios that I’ve heard. Have you contacted NIC? It’s possible there is an issue with that lot. I haven’t noticed any differences in how that color performs but my most recent bottle is several months old.

 

[Jeremybj]

I'm gonna call them tomorrow on the issue. But I thought I'd try to make it work in the meanwhile.

 

[Jeremybj]

So 34:1 by weight is a good shine level for bolt guns, but is pretty glossy for an AR. Right is the original 28:1, middle is 34:1, which I'm happy with, matches my nucleus pretty well (unfortunately that is my ar10 barrel), left rail is my seekins handguard with factory finish.

So what sucks is I probably went through almost 4 ounces of cerakote to figure this out, but I have 28 left so worse case scenario I guess I'll use the new mix ratio till this bottle is gone.

I'll update tomorrow after I speak with cerakote.

Jeremy

 

[SharpsNitro]

The AR barrel looks like Graphite Black at the 18:1 volume ratio. The one on the right looks like Gloss Black. Maybe a labeling mixup?

Edit: Last year I got a pint of Titanium that was so thick you couldn’t strain it. They had an issue with that lot and sent me a replacement bottle.

 

[SharpsNitro]

Not sure if it helps but I’ve gotten into the practice of flash curing everything at 175F so I can inspect the result before the final cure. This way i can usually make a repair without having to start over.

 

[Jeremybj]

As far as I know graphite black is as glossy as black gets. And it's not midnight blue, it's definitely black.

Hopefully I'll get some answers tomorrow.

 

[SharpsNitro]

The sell H-109 Gloss Black as well.

 

[Jeremybj]

Guess I didn't know that they sold gloss black

I talked with Josh at cerakote today. He said that he believed I wasn't shaking it enough and was getting a solvent rich product. I'm not sure if I believe that because when I shake it then hold it at an angle I can see the light through the top, so I don't believe there is anything settled on the bottom.

But in fairness I'm going to shake it for 10 minutes like he recommends and try it out

Jeremy

 

[hino895]

I had the same problem a couple weeks ago with graphite black, came out as gloss black.
Went back to 36cc of product and 1.75cc of hardener.
It turned out ok with that mix.