DIY cerakote job

[Killswitch Engage]

Here's one of my personal cerakote jobs. Just got my 308 back from my smith and it needed some clothes so I ordered up some mil spec od green. Blasted the barreled action down with 80 grit alum ox. Soaked for a couple days in acetone and dried out. I have cerakoted a few times and each time we come up with a little something to make it easier. This time I decided to try a preval self contained sprayer and it worked excellent. No clean up, no pressure to dick with, no filtered air yada yada. Here's some pictures of the project. Needless to say the results are great and easy to do your self.

Blasted action

Preval sprayer and a Keef stone for good measure.

Picture of my hillbilly double wall oven

Final product

 

[Wardy]

Nice! I'm diggin the oven you have...doubles as a turkey fryer too?

 

[propeine]

That turned out very nice. Going to have to look into that Preval. Looks like a slick setup!


*edit*
Those preval's look sweet. Easier than messin with the airbrush. Definitely going to be picking up a couple of those. Any thing to watch out for with them?

 

[den42]

looks really good man, Love your setup for your curing oven man.. thats a great freaking idea, wish i had thought of that.. instead i found a smoker at gander moutain somebody has brought back due to a small dent in the top of it was marked at 265, got it for 150, it has the wheel with meat hooks at the top so i use that to hang my parts on to cure, I cerakoted my wifes and mine ar's (first anything i cerakoted) did hers in FDE, Medium brown, mine in McMillan Olive, if you have time check out my album and tell me what you think, always interested in some feedback good or bad..

 

[Killswitch Engage]

That turned out very nice. Going to have to look into that Preval. Looks like a slick setup!


*edit*
Those preval's look sweet. Easier than messin with the airbrush. Definitely going to be picking up a couple of those. Any thing to watch out for with them?

Only thing really is keeping the sprayer at no more then a 45deg angle. It's a suction set up. Make sure you spray your critical areas first like the muzzle and inside the action. Anywhere you need to paint where it doesn't work well vertical. That's about it. The spray pattern is quite nice and even for a set up like this.

 

[BigJim375]

Will have to check out that sprayer. I've been using hvlp guns and it can be a mess. I've been using cerakote for a while and just recently started trying out KG guncote and duracoat just to compare its durability and so far cerakote is the best I've tried. Cerakote applys the best too, no problems with running which guncoat seemed to do a lot. Nice oven!

 

[herro_prease]

dude, that sprayer is a good idea. Is it a one shot deal? How much volume can it spray before it's gone?

 

[herro_prease]

Also, what did you use for a barrel plug?

 

[Killswitch Engage]

The sprayer will propel 16 fluid ounces so four refills of the glass jar. You can do probably 2-3 barreled actions on a jar.

As for plugging the barrel I have a an assortment of plastic and rubber plugs but you can simply use an ear plug. Just pull it out before you bake. I use a fired piece of brass in the chamber

 

[herro_prease]

That's awesome. Thanks.

 

[hermosabeach]

With the sprayer, do you need to thin the cerakote? If so, what ratio did you use?

 

[Killswitch Engage]

You don't thin cerakote. Follow the directions for normal application and the proper amount of hardener. The sprayer will handle it fine. Cerakote is water thin almost anyhow.

 

[mscott]

I've been looking for an old school type locker for just such a project. For now I'm happy with Duracoat.

 

[Killswitch Engage]

Really the double wall pipe is just as cheap and easy to store. Turkey burner gets it up to temp in no time and holds very well. I was gonna use a smoker but it just wasn't big enough inside.

 

[BigJim375]

Cerakote, duracoat and KG guncoat require no thinners prior to use. Cerakote goes on easiest and I have never experienced any issues with runs. It really is quite easy to use. Duracoat too. KG guncoat gave me all kind of problems withs runs and thin patches. Cerakote- most durable and easiest to apply, costs the most but worth it!

 

[propeine]

Some great tips here. Thanks for all the ideas killswitch.

 

[PJ BAD]

My experience with Duracoat is it does not work well out of a Prevail sprayer.

 

[Killswitch Engage]

That's why we're spraying cerakote...

 

[normbal]

Nice work.

I just used one of those Preval units to spray Durakote on a Rem 700 5R, an SAS suppressor and the DBM.

I used a Badger 350 airbrush for the smaller parts, bolt/shroud and other bits and pieces.

ONLY thing I didn't like about the Preval was the amount of paint left inside and how much it spattered when it got down to the end. Wound up wasting more durakote than I'd like, but it was a good experiment/experience.

Like your oven.

 

[mscott]

I've got a 10" square piece of duct work I can use, but just haven't gotten that far.

I bought a Paache single action air brush and have a compressor.

I only used those preval POS things once a few years ago and apparently got a bad one. I'd rather load ammo on an old LEE hammer actuated loading set than deal with that mess again.

 

[BigJim375]

I've been using a convection toaster oven for a while and it has been working pretty good. I am in the process of building a curing oven using sheet metal and insulation, an old stove element and a pid temp controller. I use a micro hvlp gun from harbor freight and love it.

 

[Killswitch Engage]

Can't say I had any issues at all with the preval mike. It really sprays cerakote very well. Don't know what the consistency of duracoat is so I can't say how it would work with it. At this point I don't feel it was cutting any corners using it as opposed to an airbrush. A tip is to have plenty in the jar and don't let it run low as with any painting application.

 

[Jumper]

Where can you buy the Preval air cans? It looks like a good idea for someone who just wants to Cerakote a couple of guns.

 

[22lr southpaw]

I saw the preval sprayer on the shelf at my local walmart in the paint section. I thought... why would I want that? Now I know why i need one!

Sent from my SPH-M830 using Tapatalk 2

 

[athhud]

I haven't had the greatest experience with the Preval junk. The first experience was ruined by a defective can or something. It just wouldn't do anything but dribble out of the end. After screwing with it a little bit it started spraying in some fucked up pattern and wouldn't stop. After coating everything between my buddy's 1911 and the trash can, he called up Midway and asked "WTF?" They sent him a new Preval setup and another jar of Duracoat. They said that some of the Preval cans are just fucked up.... The second attempt worked well enough I suppose. I just wasn't very impressed. I prefer to have a little more control than the Preval will allow.

 

[Killswitch Engage]

Again another bitch for using a preval with duracoat. Again I can't attest to using it with duracoat and apparently they are different enough to cause an issue. I recommend spraying a test piece so you don't screw up your good work. I can't say and haven't said this is the way to do it but it worked great for me. I wouldn't and haven't used duracoat. I've seen far too many guns that looked like shit and it scratched and wore off quite badly for my taste. Cerakote does not do that. In fact there is no substitute for it in my book. Not kg gunkote either. Do whatever works for you but this worked great for me.

 

[normbal]

Where can you buy the Preval air cans? It looks like a good idea for someone who just wants to Cerakote a couple of guns.

Amazon dot com's got 'em pretty cheap.

They're priced right for experimenting.

Here's a tip for degreasing home projects: those $4 industrial-sized janitorial cleaning solution spray bottles, sold under various name brands, ZEP being one that comes to mind.

I put some acetone in one, MEK in another and let them sit around in my garage for weeks. Months now. The polyethylene container AND the internals have held up very well, NO leakage, and the sprayer head lets you adjust from a stream to a very light mist.

Be VERY careful if spraying indoors OR on any warmed metals. The flash point of low molecular weight ketones is VERY low and you might light yourself up, but for cleaning/degreasing, this works amazingly well.

 

[athhud]

It wouldn't have mattered what was in the jar in my first experience. There was something wrong with the preval can. I agree that Duracoat is shit. Once we had a functioning Preval can, it worked fairly well with the Duracoat. No complaints with the Preval unit on the second attempt. It seemed to spray the Duracoat just fine. of course it was only a short time later that my friend's 1911 looked like shit because the Duracoat sucks. I just don't trust the Preval to be reliable based on that 50/50 experience. With the price of these fancy coatings, any that goes to waste is a significant loss. Of course, I'm a krylon guy when it comes to firearms....

 

[stump1860]

What's your prep. Process?? Bead blast? If so what type of media do you use in your blast cabinet?

 

[Gunfighting Inc]

Great job. I'm stealing that oven idea!

 

[wilbur300wsm]

killswitch, diy'ers must think alike. here are pics of my homemade setup. i use a propane burner from a fish frier. i installed a thermometer in the side of the oven to moniter the temp. ive got around $220 in making the oven, and have already recovered that in profit for doing side coating. ive coated quite a few parts. not just gun parts either. i got the sprayer setup from hobby lobby for $15. the bottle is small and takes about 1 1/2 to 2 bottles to coat a barrel/action. ive yet to use the cerekote. but ive done a lot with the gunkote. my experiance is if you heat the part to 150 to 200 degrees and spray while hot, there's less chance of runs. sure as hell saved me a lot of money so far. your project looks good btw

 

[Tonmarchelli]

Very cool. Might have to try this

 

[bharvey574]

Looks good. I'm going to make an oven like that. Thanks for the idea.

 

[jon910]

Projects always turn out better when you have keystone light. Looks really good

 

[willlongrifle]

The DIY page is a great resource. Keep them coming.

Thanks

 

[Tomg]

What kind of pipe is that? Id like to get one a make the same type set-up.

 

[BenY 2013]

How was the oven built? What was the heat source? Thank you!

 

[limige]

wow, fantastic!

 

[herro_prease]

Tried out the Preval sprayers. A few thoughts:

- Overall, they work ok.

- The simple sprayer's lack of different pressure settings and spray direction means that you only have one atomizer "setting". This was ok for big stuff, like blades (and probably barreled actions, which I didn't do), but resulted in a lot of challenge not to get the stuff to drip when doing more intricate stuff like pistol frames and AR lowers.

- In general, the preval sprayer lays it on a bit too thick for my taste. As noted above, it's very easy to overwet a part, and if you miss a small section, it's extremely difficult to get it without overwetting adjacent sections.

- I noticed that as the sprayer charger went on, it had less power, which meant an inconsistent atomization from when it started. I note that the spray pattern from later in the session was different than at the beginning, and it "spit" more then too.

My overall impression of this is that these are very handy for less complicated jobs, and can save a boatload of time cleaning spray gun parts if you just want to do something quickly. However, with smaller or more complicated parts, or longer sessions, I'll probably stick to to spray gun.

Great thread though, I learned a lot from this exercise.

 

[Ravenone]

what did you use as a burner to heat up the oven? was it set up for propane gas? and where can acquire one?

 

[DroidSniper]

What kind of pipe is that? Id like to get one a make the same type set-up.

I used a 6" piece of air duct inside a 8" piece. Insulation in between. Bought a cheap electric burner from wal mart. You have to be super careful dropping large objects in as they tend to bounce of the wall.