Gunsmithing Where are the cerakote gurus?

[Lucreau]

diving deep into cerakoting. Got the starter kit from NICS, and have done 3 lowers, a Glock frame and my truck hitch. All is great just had some questions. My prep is degrease, sandblast with 100g AO, gas out, spray, bake. I had 2 of the lowers come out with these imperfections and can’t figure out what made the marks. I re blasted, de greased and re coated and came out much better but would like to know exactly what causes it. Any ideas?

I’m using acetone for degreasing

Also looking to see what you guys are using for your degreasing tank? Acetone is not cheap and I don’t want to waste any. Also just found a blasting cabinet to save my media

 

[_Windrider_]

@Short-bus is the dolly lama

 

[kthomas]

@Short-bus is the dolly lama

FYI I believe he used KG Cote, but I'm sure he has a lot of Cerakote experience.

Regardless, he's the master at this kind of stuff, as you point out.

 

[buffalowinter]

De-grease after blasting. Always wear gloves and avoid touching parts, even with gloves.

 

[OneMoreNoMore]

What type of air filtration do you have on your blast and spray setup? Oil and water contamination from the compressor can be hard and expensive to get rid of.

 

[Lucreau]

What type of air filtration do you have on your blast and spray setup? Oil and water contamination from the compressor can be hard and expensive to get rid of.

Nothing to really write home about. I have a desiccant bottle right off the compressor, to the line, and then a water/oil separator right before the gun

 

[OneMoreNoMore]

I had a similar setup when doing powder coating. The powder coat would have fisheyes and the cause was contaminated media slightly embedded in the metal or contaminated air blasting on the surface. It was a pain to resolve because the air line, all the media and inside the cabinet was contaminated with oil and water from the compressor.

 

[Short-bus]

FYI I believe he used KG Cote, but I'm sure he has a lot of Cerakote experience.

Regardless, he's the master at this kind of stuff, as you point out.

I dumped KG, not using it anymore unless special request, i'm back to cerakote.

To the OP, it's hard to tell from the pics, but it kinda looks like excessive flow, causing too much cerakote in that spot. It kinda puddles, and gets an uneven finish. All it takes is a brief hesitation, hovering over a spot just a fraction of a second too long, while having the trigger pulled a little too much. Again though, hard to tell from photos. Contaminates in your air line, or the part itself, show up as specks throughout the paint. Ever since I went with an air dryer setup, as well as a secondary water separator, it hasn't been an issue for me.

For degreasing I use some purple stuff from Menards, it works really, really well, downside is it really likes aluminum, so you can't leave those in there to soak or they end up a little smaller when you pull 'em out.

Parts washing setups aren't terribly expensive, but if you're a hobbyist, they're a bit much. I'm doing some shop rearranging to get one in here, but i'm going to be a little fancier with my setup, but then again, I do make a living doing this, so I can justify the expense, and deduct it so poopypants doesn't get more tax revenue from me. You're right though, Acetone ain't cheap.

Branden

 

[Short-bus]

@Short-bus is the dolly lama

 

[Lucreau]

@Short-bus thanks for the insight! After you mentioned they could be from too much fluid I looked up causes and saw it could be the cfm’s on my compressor. May not be filling fast enough and losing pressure. Crappy 6gal pancake

Do you know if it’s Zep degreaser? After you degrease, do you just wipe and then media blast, then gas out?

 

[Short-bus]

@Short-bus thanks for the insight! After you mentioned they could be from too much fluid I looked up causes and saw it could be the cfm’s on my compressor. May not be filling fast enough and losing pressure. Crappy 6gal pancake

Do you know if it’s Zep degreaser? After you degrease, do you just wipe and then media blast, then gas out?

Oh yeah, pressure dropping from too small a compressor can absolutely cause that, poor atomization of the paint, causing that kind of buildup.

I'm pretty sure it is zep, it's purple, I know that, and i'm being a little lazy by not running into the house to see what it is at this moment. degrease, rinse, dry it with high pressure air, then blast, gas out and paint.....but with a larger compressor. lol.

Branden

 

[Lucreau]

Yeah that may be my next investment now is a larger compressor!

 

[Lucreau]

Oh yeah, pressure dropping from too small a compressor can absolutely cause that, poor atomization of the paint, causing that kind of buildup.

I'm pretty sure it is zep, it's purple, I know that, and i'm being a little lazy by not running into the house to see what it is at this moment. degrease, rinse, dry it with high pressure air, then blast, gas out and paint.....but with a larger compressor. lol.

Branden

And I appreciate your help!

 

[Simonsza1]

Just throwing this in on this thread cause it seems everyone on here so far knows cerakote. If i have an arca rail cerakote will it hold up cosmetically as well or better then the anodizing? Looking to modify a 12” 419 rail for a manners lrh stock and wondering if I should cerakote after or just touch up where I modify with some alumablack and call it a day. No hijack intended, thanks

 

[hino895]

I’ve been a Cerakoter for 8 years now and have done hundreds of firearms over the years.
Dump the HVLP gun and learn to use a airbrush.
I use a Badger 155 double action brush.
Also Cerakote is advertising the new Iwata Neo brush which I bought a few weeks ago.
I like it a lot but wish the paint bowl was larger.
I bought mine on line it was around 135.00 and worth it.
Save your HVLP gun for acreage like stocks.
Depending on your location humidity and temperature factors in.
My last cleaning is with denatured alcohol.
Put the alcohol in a spray bottle.
Hang your pieces to be done and spray saturate really well.
Do not blow of with compressed air.
Put the pieces in the oven for 5 minutes or so just enough to flash the alcohol off.
Let cool to room temperature and shoot your Cerakote.
If shooting Elite Cerakote reduce air pressure as it goes on a lot thinner

 

[Lucreau]

@hino895 nice! Do you degrease first with acetone, then gas out, then spray with denatured?
How is the air brush with doing receiver sets and rails? Any streaks or does it lay pretty even?

 

[hino895]

Degrease then blast.
Blow the dust off with 100 lbs of air pressure.
Saturate with denatured alcohol, flash that off in the oven.
It is very seldom I use a hvlp gun.
Just learn to use your airbrush.

 

[Lucreau]

Just picked this up, going to use it tonight to do a receiver set and rail in bazooka green. Should be the ticket!

 

[Lucreau]

@Short-bus I think the compressor was the trick. Didn’t have any of those marks on this one

 

[Hobo Hilton]

Cerakote is a good product. However it is like growing a successful garden. A lot depends on Mother Nature like humidity, temperature and equipment. The guy's who are really good at it have adjusted for their location / environment. What works in Tampa may not work in Seattle. The instructions are written in a controlled environment at their factory. Don't beat your head against the wall trying to make something work just because it has worked for others.
Practice makes perfect.
Best of luck.

 

[Danny1788]

I’ve been a Cerakoter for 8 years now and have done hundreds of firearms over the years.
Dump the HVLP gun and learn to use a airbrush.
I use a Badger 155 double action brush.
Also Cerakote is advertising the new Iwata Neo brush which I bought a few weeks ago.
I like it a lot but wish the paint bowl was larger.
I bought mine on line it was around 135.00 and worth it.
Save your HVLP gun for acreage like stocks.
Depending on your location humidity and temperature factors in.
My last cleaning is with denatured alcohol.
Put the alcohol in a spray bottle.
Hang your pieces to be done and spray saturate really well.
Do not blow of with compressed air.
Put the pieces in the oven for 5 minutes or so just enough to flash the alcohol off.
Let cool to room temperature and shoot your Cerakote.
If shooting Elite Cerakote reduce air pressure as it goes on a lot thinner

i just bought the Iwata Neo trigger air brush and it works very well. I have the same complaint as you though, i wish the paint bowl was larger.

 

[Wannashootit]

Dump the HVLP gun and learn to use a airbrush.

^^^
Dunno about "dump it"- but I use my Iwata airbrush prolly over 90% of the time. The HVLP gets used for stocks or other large parts, only.
Airbrush allows MUCH more control than an HVLP. Especially on parts like skeletonized upppers, where you need to get inside parts, with great control of flow and direction so you don't overspray, puddle-up and ruin the part. Not to mention waste- shooting a barreled action with an HVLP means you're wasting more than you're using.

I use the Eclipse BCS; siphon feed so I'm not limited to the small, gravity-feed cup. I have 30ml, 60ml, and 75ml bottles for it, depending on how much product I think I'll be needing. When using multiple colors (which is most of the time), no cleaning out needed. I just change out the bottle, spray a bit to clear out the last color, and go to town.

I use a Brownell's steel bluing tank half-full of acetone with lid that I fitted with solvent-proof gasketing. No loss to evaporation...
I confess that I rarely gas-out, and have never had enough issues to justify that extra step and time for the parts to cool down.

After 1-2 hours in the acetone tank, into the blast cabinet (which, incidentally- is not used for anything else). As I pull each part from the blast cabinet, it's promptly sprayed down with a can of non-chlorinated brake cleaner. Removes all the dust from blasting (I believe this step is critical), and on the rare occasion of contaminants- I'll see it after spraying the brake cleaner, and then it's back into the soak tank if needed.

OP didn't mention what he's using for a heat-cure oven; years ago before I started doing it professionally I played around doing small parts in a countertop oven. I'd seen similar discoloration on small parts I believe, due to being too close to the heat source. I built my own spray booth and curing oven from 6' tall commercial enclosed sheet pan racks, oven has digital controls and even heat distribution.

Ain't no way a pancake compressor doesn't generate enough CFM to run a small HVLP or airbrush at only 20-25 psi. That's all I've ever used- spray booth is at the other end of the shop from the main compressors, so a small pancake sits in the bottom of it.