Cerakote at home?

[PADoubleX]

Does anyone have experience cerakoting themselves? I'm a car guy who has painted and powdercoated. Kinda just looking to have a dialog with someone who has actually cerakoted.

I'm not sure if this is the correct forum for this question but it looked like the most appropriate.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Armorer 101]

Yes, they make an air cure version, that Brownells sells. It is best applied with a gravity fed touch-up gun at 60-90 lbs. It is very thin, like water. It will not stick to itself when dry, so the second coat is applied wet. I do 1/4 turns and just keep turning for two full turns to get full coverage. It takes about 5 days hang time to cure. Prep is sand blast and degrease with acetone, three baths.
Comes out very nice and as hard as woodpecker lips.
I use it now instead of other coatings, for “weather proofing” on the guns I know need some help in their future.

 

[Ranger99]

I've only done the cera-krylon-kote
myself. It's always worked to hide
the glare, which is what I wanted

 

[LoonWulf]

I did it for a while before the air cure stuff came out, the prep and process had to be followed pretty specifically or youd have issues. Ive even seen a few issues with factory done guns.

Ive since switched to duracoat, which isnt as hard, but is still quite durable. Its also less sensitive to screw ups, and since i dont have a big curing oven the air cure is nice.

Once im out if my current duracoat batch ill try the air cure cerakote.

 

[Kp321]

+1 on Duracoat. With proper prep, it is very durable and easy to apply. Although it drys to touch quickly, it continues to harden for several days. If you are patient, it’s hardness rivals Ceracoat. I have Duracoated a 1911 22 conversion and a S&W M& P 15-22 that are shot in a weekly match. Each has approximately 20,000 rounds and the only finish wear is on the sharp edges of the grip and thumb safeties on the 1911. Blue or Ceracoat would show the same wear pattern after that much use.

 

[PADoubleX]

Thanks for all the answers and advice. I'm going to try traditional cerakoting but also I'm going to try the duracoat. Did you guys dry at room tent or try to make a tent with say a heat lamp to speed up the process. The faster is cures the less chance it has to have my fingerprint in it. I know me, "I wonder if this is dry....patience is not one of my virtues"

 

[LoonWulf]

Thanks for all the answers and advice. I'm going to try traditional cerakoting but also I'm going to try the duracoat. Did you guys dry at room tent or try to make a tent with say a heat lamp to speed up the process. The faster is cures the less chance it has to have my fingerprint in it. I know me, "I wonder if this is dry....patience is not one of my virtues"

Keep your grubby paws off of it for 20 minutes and duracote is dry to the touch
Actually if you flash off the carrier duracoats dry within just a couple of minutes but it's still fairly soft so anything beyond just a light touch will leave fingerprints or smudge the surface.

Small stuff like handgun parts or whole handguns.... I'll stick in a little toaster oven that I've got specifically for coating. 30 minutes at 200° theoretically brings it to a day's worth of curing, and I have assembled guns at that point with no issues.
Preferably though I would let it sit for at least a week or two before assembly and at that point the duracoat will have reached pretty much its maximum cure/hardness, tho it will continue to cure for up to a month or so.

Interestingly, blasting cerakote out of the crevices of a 1911 slide was easier than trying to blast durablue out of the action rails of Remington 700.

Traditional cerakote on the other hand is pretty much ready to go immediately after the second baking..... I still used to let the parts sit for as long as possible before assembly, but that's always sort of just been my thing with any kind of painting I've done.

 

[PADoubleX]

So I've watched a bunch of videos on duracoating.

None that I've watched involved any blasting of the parts, some used sand paper, one use 100 grit (hmm), some 600 grit, most used nothing. How do you prep a synthetic stock, just a scuff with a scotchbrite or wetsand with 220?

Some used brakecleen, most used the degreaser that came with the duracoat.

What is your method of prep? I'm a little gun shy about sanding down a firearm only because I've never done it. I don't know why I find it intimidating, like I'm going to "ruin" it. Common sense says I won't, but....

My paint and prep experience comes from the hot rod world. I wouldn't think twice of taking sandpaper to a corvette.

 

[LoonWulf]

So I've watched a bunch of videos on duracoating.

None that I've watched involved any blasting of the parts, some used sand paper, one use 100 grit (hmm), some 600 grit, most used nothing. How do you prep a synthetic stock, just a scuff with a scotchbrite or wetsand with 220?

Some used brakecleen, most used the degreaser that came with the duracoat.

What is your method of prep? I'm a little gun shy about sanding down a firearm only because I've never done it. I don't know why I find it intimidating, like I'm going to "ruin" it. Common sense says I won't, but....

My paint and prep experience comes from the hot rod world. I wouldn't think twice of taking sandpaper to a corvette.

I degrease the part, let that dry.
Sand blast with 120 grit either garnet or aluminum oxide.
degrease and dry again, then paint.

This last gun I worked on I tried using a heat gun on it before and after an acetone bath.... Don't know if it helped any

 

[dfariswheel]

The reason for bead blasting the metal is to give the surface a "tooth" for the coating to bond too.
This just provides a more durable bond with the metal.

The Cerakote process is rather involved, but it works equally well for most any of the paint type gun coatings.
The key is getting the metal 100% Plus clean and degreased, and using the correct type of bead blasting media to prep the sutrface.

Do a read of the Cerakote application process. The details on cleaning and repeated baking to insure a perfectly clean surface is excellent........

https://images.nicindustries.com/ce...ing-manual-dt20200115005711425.pdf?1579049833

 

[herrwalther]

Last thing I used Duracoat on only has one wear spot. On the barrel seat of a 1911. I picked Duracoat because it was much easier to apply when reading the instructions and watching a few tutorial videos. Eventually I want to setup an outbuilding to do better finishing work like Cerakote, hot salt bluing etc. If you have the means and equipment to try Cerakote, go for that first.

Cerakote has plenty of videos on their website. Good study material if you feel like going down that rabbit hole.