Duracoat

[Paper Boy]

[Zartan]

1)Wash down with simple green to get most of the surface oil off Aircraft grade won't leave a residue, but then again, you are using tru strip.med(maroon) scotchbrite may be more flexible to get around all the curves
3) Wipe it down with a tack cloth to remove most of the resulting dust koo
4) The day I am going to apply duracoat hit with the tru strip to do the final degreasing. And tape off any arias not getting duracoat. I agree

I'll be doing the same soon. Are you using dummy pins in the pin holes?
I think it will be fine staying in the jar between coats. It's sealed off .
What do the directions say for time between coats?
Air pressure may require a little testing. Adjust it on a piece of cardboard to get what looks right.
oh, and post pics when done.

[Paper Boy]

med(maroon) scotchbrite may be more flexible to get around all the curves
Cool thanks good info

I'll be doing the same soon. Are you using dummy pins in the pin holes?
I have been playing with blue painter tape rolled up tight and stuck in the holes, so far I think that it will work out.
What do the directions say for time between coats?
Do not know, but I figured real world experience would be a good place to start
oh, and post pics when done.
Already started to document everything for write up

Thanks

[general_disarray_prk]

Going to be duracoating an AR in a week or so, here is my plan until the duracoat comes in the mail.

1)Wash down with simple green to get most of the surface oil off
Wash down with Boiling Hot Water and Powdered TSP (Tri-Sodium Phosphate) followed by a boiling hot water rinse.

2) Sand lightly with 600 grit over everything to be finished – over kill? Probably, but why not?
Abrasive Blasting will provide a clean and "toothed" surface - BUT you can sand if you choose.

3) Wipe it down with a tack cloth to remove most of the resulting dust
Blow off dust with compressed air - store parts in clean/not used plastic bags - i.e. 13 gallon tall kitchen trash bags.

4) The day I am going to apply duracoat hit with the tru strip to do the final degreasing. And tape off any arias not getting duracoat.
If you abrasive blast, you do not need to use tru-strip (which can/may leave a surface residue that your eye cannot see). If you do choose to hand sand, I'd do a second wash with boiling hot water/TSP and then do a final boiling hot water rinse - no chemicals which can affect paint adhesion.

Did I miss anything?

Pre-heat parts before painting for better adhesion.

Hope that helps!

Some questions.
Can I leave it in the air brush bottle between coats? Or should my goal be to mix just enough for each coat?
How long are you guys waiting between coats on averidge?
What pressure are you running your air brushes at to get the best results?

Thanks in advance

No problem!

[Zartan]

Ahh! Good point on the pre-heat!

Instead of tru-strip, how about MEK or Acetone? Those flash off pretty quickly.(never used tru-strip)

[general_disarray_prk]

Ahh! Good point on the pre-heat!

Instead of tru-strip, how about MEK or Acetone? Those flash off pretty quickly.(never used tru-strip)

Can't tell you how either would do, because in my mind, I don't want to take a chance of anything "between" the surface of the substrate/part and the paint I'm spraying.

I bought an abrasive blaster, filled it with 50lbs of 100 grit Aluminum Oxide, and use it ONLY for pre-cleaned/washed gun parts.

After I blast the parts, I remove them with powder free latex gloves (prevents hand oil transfer), and blow off the alu-ox dust with clean filtered/dryed/compressed air.

After the parts are dusted off, and if I'm not ready to paint that same day, I place them in a clean, never used, plastic trash bag for storage.

When I am ready to paint a batch of parts, I remove them from the plastic trash bags with powder free latex gloves, heat them in a oven, hang them on wire hangers, and spray away.

Surface Prep is 80% of the job - and is what directly affects the final outcome.

You can search my name on this forum for past posts that are much more detailed.

[CHAD PEZZLE]

Make sure once cleaning begins to always wear rubber gloves. Don't want to contaminate clean surfaces with greasy finger prints.

MEK and acetone will both work well. Cerakote instructions actually recommend soaking your part for 20-30 mins in solvent after you've sanded/blasted to brake up oils or dirt that might be stuck. Once you've soaked them, put your parts into an oven for 20-30 mins to bake off all solvents. If you see wet areas on the part re-soak and heat until part comes out clean.

Personally I media blasted mine because I have access to the stuff at work and you can get a nice uniform finish that gets into all the small areas. Scotchbrite would be my second choice.

Chad

Edit: Here's a pic of the rifle I coated with cerakote. I painted the upper, lower, handguard and barrel.

[Gunsmith Dan]

Hey there,

First off make sure you wear either latex or nitrile ( nitrile better and not that much more) gloves, safety glasses when cleaning and add a particulate face mask ( the 3m paper looking ones designed for sanding) while air blowing off dust, sand blasting or painting the gun.

Skip the simple green and tru strip ... use acetone.

Make sure during the cleanings you use stiff bristle brushes of different sizes that were soaking in acetone to keep it clean and scrub really good all the way around (wear your gloves and glasses). Plastics need cleaning as well because of the silicon release agents that normall are still on them.

Don't use sand paper more than 320 grit on metal ( scotchbrite on plastic ), a really smooth surface will cause the paint to flake/peel off over time. Always remember sand the surface in the same direction as the bullet leaves the gun, long steady straight strokes, otherwise you MIGHT get swirl marks show through the paint.

I personally would recommend parkerizing or priming the firearm before painting for maximum corrosion protection and adhesion, but not needed if you on a tight budget.

I strongly recommend you DO NOT preheat your firearm before painting for 2 reasons:

a) Heating causes expansion and cooling contraction. If you heat the firearm enough before painting when the metal cools off both the metal and paint will contract at different rates .... so you will end up wrinkling paint.

b) If you are using a air curing duracoat the chemicals keeping the paint wet will dry off to fast and you will end up with overspray, your surface will feel gritty and have dull spots.

While oven curing will be ok under (b) you still can get wrinkles as explained in (a).

Steps:

1) Pour Acetone liberally to on entire firearm (make sure stock is either off or tightly sealed in plastic) brush vigorusly in every single small space then rinse with acetone and let air dry. (even in places not being painted as any oil or particles could get blown out during painting).

2) If the surface is clean and smooth then use the 320 grit only, if light rust or uneven use 220 then goto 320. (or sand blast/bead blast)

3) After sanding/blasting again clean with acetone scubing vigorusly to make sure all sanding material and contaminates are off. Rinse in acetone again and air dry.

( VERY IMPORTANT: time between being dry and parkerizing / priming / painting should happen within minutes as micro rust spots will start to form)

4) Plug the barrel on both sides with wooden dowels or barrel plugs.

5) Parkerize or prime (optional but highly recommended).

6) Hang the firearm and parts longest side going up and down.

7) Paint using long steady strokes up and down making sure you start and stop the paint spraying away from the part (keep the timing the same for each stroke). NEVER start/stop the spray while paint gun is over the part. A typical rifle should not take you more than a couple seconds to go from end to end. Go all the way around and cover all parts first before going over a 2nd or 3rd time. ALWAYS wait a little bit between coats to prevent runing of the paint.

8) Dry according to your paints instructions and enjoy. Rifle wax or really good carnuba wax will keep paint nice looking and flexible for a long time.


Hope that helps you some .......

[CHAD PEZZLE]

I personally would recommend parkerizing or priming the firearm before painting for maximum corrosion protection and adhesion, but not needed if you on a tight budget.

He's painting an AR, you can't parkerize aluminum. Unless otherwise noted in the instructions I wouldn't prime it either. Most gun coatings are designed to spray right over bare metal. If surface prep is adequate primer won't add much if any strength to the process.

Your spot on with the cleaning process, prepping the part and keeping it as clean as possible will keep the paint work lasting a long time. It may seem pointless and over the top but taking time to prep is key. As my shop teacher used to say "If you time to do it wrong you'll have time to do it again".

Chad

[CS Sports]

600 grit is way too fine if you are going to sand it prior.

Use acetone to degrease. Simple green is good as an initial step to get off any really "gunky" stuff.

Pot life is 6 to 8 hours, depending on temp. There is no critical re-coat range, apply additional coats as you see fit.

If you want to force dry it, do not go more than 180 deg.

Pressure is going to depend on your specific gun type, tip size and setup. You have to get the flow and pressure right. Practice on some cardboard or scrap parts. Too heavy and it will run and be glossy as hell. Pressure could be anywhere from 20 to 50 psi depending on your setup.

[Gunsmith Dan]

CHAD

thats why the OR was there .... you can prime aluminum and priming is always recommended over bare metal for adhesion and protection.

besides that last I checked AR barrels are not aluminum.

[Paper Boy]

Thanks for the info guys, I will do a write up when I get everything done

[Chasgee]

Do you scuff the parkerized surface with scotchbrite priorto paint or just paint it as is?

[CHAD PEZZLE]

Duracoat recommends to apply right over bluing and parkerizing. Having read that I'd still probably scuff it with some scotch brite to ensure the coating has a little to bite into.

Chad

[Gunsmith Dan]

To paint over parkerizing the only thing you need to do is soak it in acetone and scrub with a plastic bristle brush and rinse with acetone (since oils love to sit in the pores that parkerizing has) then let dry. There is no need to scuff it up , unless you have a really smooth finish, almost polished .... then removing the parkerizing is best since the layer would be really thin and flake off eventually.

While you can paint over slow rust bluing, black oxide ( cold or hot ), which is also called hot caustic bluing, that has a polished finish should be sanded/blasted just like polished bare metal would be for maximum paint adhesion.