BAD cerakote experience. Now,...how to remove?

[IrishPat]

Long story short, the right color was applied to my Glock 17 frame, but in an exceedingly sloppy manner. I had stripped the frame of all internals, but no effort was made by the service to isolate the coating to the exterior of the frame. Now, I have cerakote on the inside where I not only do not need it, but where it is causing the internals to bind up or not fit at all without considerable effort and lube where none should be needed. As a result, the pins are hard as hell to put in/remove, the magazines all bind up, and all of the previously flawless internal dynamics are changed for the worse.

Any idea how to remove cerakote from polymer? I'll keep it on the outside, but I really need to remove it from inside the weapon. Given a second chance, I would NOT get it coated again.

Thanks,
Pat

[sealocan]

I'm not sure on polymer but I was led to believe that on metal it is almost a permanent thing.

[Gunsmith Dan]

HI there I am a Certified Cerakote applicator.

I am sorry about your experience but Cerakote as we apply it and even the Cerakote Factory applies it is to all surfaces. I have done hundreds of Glock frames inside and out and except for the top rear area of the mag well that has a tight fit, you should not be having any issues. The only time there is tight fit issues is when the parts themselves are coated to thick ( like pins) and will not go in, but if just the frame was coated then they should go in the same.

It sounds like the applicator does not know how to apply the Cerakote correctly or they cured it at to high of a temp in the oven and caused either your frame to shrink or warp.

You should contact the shop that did the work and have them fix it for you.

If you want to do it yourself here is what you can do:

The only way to remove Cerakote without melting your Frame would be to sand blast it with Garnet or Aluminum oxide of 100 to 120 grit between 35 and 40 PSI. Then after cleaning it with Acetone then oil all or your parts and insert them into the frame, including magazine with the spring removed. Then hanging it with a wire not to close to the elements put it into a oven at 180 degrees F for 45 minutes then remove it and let it cool off before removing parts. That should put everything back into shape and should not be so tight when putting them back.

Sorry you had a bad experience

[IrishPat]

Thanks for the informative reply, Dan.
I'll bring it back to the shop that subs-out to the cerakoter and show them first. I stripped the frame completely before bringing it to them, so that's all there was when it was coated.

Thanks again for replying,
Pat