Getting started Duracoating/Cerakoting

Flashpoint

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I am a complete noob to using a paint sprayer of any kind. I just acquired a 20gal air compressor for general use so I thought I'd try my hand at it. From what I've read a good place to start for firearms is a HVLP touch up gun with a .8mm tip. Well it just so happens I found exactly that at Harbor Freight so now I have one. Does this sound like a reasonable setup?

It seems to be a narrow tip for very thin paints, so I'm hoping it's the correct one. What would you recommend for paint that will work well with this size tip that I can use to practice with before I plunk down high $ for the good stuff?

What kind of solvent and/or cleaning techniques work well?

A major challenge I have is a dust free environment. I don't have one. I have an open barn, open carport, and an old dilapidated garage with doors I can shut but all have loose dirt floors. Any suggestions other than hanging and laying down tarps, etc? Everything around here gets covered in red dust just from walking through the barn, etc. I guess I may have to build/buy a shed, or maybe remove about 12 kayaks from the basement, lol.

Any tips/suggestions are very much appreciated!
 
Start here.
https://www.cerakoteguncoatings.com/resource/downloads/

A 20 gallon air compressor will certainly be undersized for media blasting, but it will get you started. You'll find that you need something that can deliver a minimum of 12 cfm. Tank size and max pressure aren't what makes a good compressor.

The harbor freight HVLP guns suck at atomizing the paint and spraying a nice even pattern.

Build a small spray booth with studs, plastic sheet, a cheap box fan and cheap home air filters. Get a good respirator, too.
 
I have been doing Duracoat for a few months now on my own stuff. I have a small pancake compressor and I use air brushes to apply. Cleaning is easy, use simple green to clean and tru-strip from Duracoat to degrease. Mixing is easy and a little goes a long way. I mix it one tablespoon at a time. The mix is 1 Tablespoonful of paint to 1/4 teaspoon of hardener to get a 12:1 ratio paint to hardener. Clean up is not easy but Duracoat reducer makes it fairly easy. You will need a booth with a strong exhaust fan to keep the odor from getting too strong in the paint area. A good respirator is required. Lots of practice with basic air brush paints first will make the learning curve much quicker. PM me if you need more information.


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Thanks for the replies. It looks like I'm woefully unprepared to start something like this and will have to decide if I'm up for the time, effort and expense to make the preparations to even begin, environment probably being the biggest hurdle. Truthfully I don't think it's worth it just to be able to paint a gun or two every year or two. Again thanks for the dose of reality.
 
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Duracoat also sells their product in aerosol cans.
No quite as good a finish as a good airbrush can do but a lot cheaper way of you experimenting to see if this is something you want to get in to.
 
Acetone works just as well as duracoats tru strip to degrease and it can be used for the cleanup greatly reducing your costs.
 
I don't think it's worth it just to be able to paint a gun or two every year or two.

Ceramic Engine Paint

High-Temperature Silicone Coating Spray. I tried this type paint a few years ago with interesting results because it was sorta like a Hogue Grip.

 
Flashpoint I’ve done a few ARs and have pics up in the AR picture thread, if I can answer any questions for you let me know, I’m by no means an expert but I’ve jacked up enough stuff to tell you for sure what doesn’t work haha

I use nothing but HVLP guns now because I had nothing but issues with 3 different Airbrush guns, uneven application, dry spray, clotting nozzles etc etc, all 3 airbrush guns I’ve used were el-cheap-o units but I’ll only ever use them again for very detailed stuff.

I have a Harbor Freight HVLP gun with the .8mm nozzle and have had very good results with it, proper adjustment is critical and it takes practice, it also goes through coating like crazy!!! I found an inexpensive HVLP at Jerry’s Artorama with a .6mm tip and it’s become my go to sprayer.

https://www.jerrysartarama.com/creative-air-spray-gun

The biggest thing to remember about any type of painting or cerakote in this case is that it’s 90% prep work and 10% application, If you do not nail every aspect of the prep work the end result will look like crap every time.

I’m still learning but the difference between my first AR and my second one is night and day, I learned a ton by doing the first project and applied the lessons learned to the second one and it shows.

I would highly suggest finding things to practice on, scrap metal or even toy guns, you’ll learn all kinds of little things like how to move the coated items from the spray area to the oven without banging it on every surface between the two areas, and things like properly spacing the parts while you’re spraying so you don’t over spray a part you just finished coating while you’re trying to get coating into all the books and crannies on the next one.

Then you have the issue of measuring the catalyst properly to get either a glossy, satin or matte finish, I have found that weighing the liquids is easier, I’m getting the exact finish I want this way, but you have to know the correct formula so you can do the math the right way.

The whole process of properly doing cerakote has a bazillion and 1 steps that you won’t think about until you’re up to your elbows covered in lovely patterns on coating lol.

Check this thread to find the proper math formula for mixing everything, this process works very well, the only bitch I have is the scale I bought caps out at 20 grams and when you’re doing something as big as an AR upper, lower, buffer tube and 15” hand guard you need to mix 60+ grams so I have to measure each color 3 times, it’s a PITA so I’ll be buying a different scale soon, for small items like a handgun slide, 20 grams is plenty unless your HVLP gun has a larger tip.


https://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=660769#/topics/660769

If I can help in any way let me know, I would be happy to come out and help get you started.
 
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Good info, I have not tried this but you guys lay out the process well. The 1911 article was great too....simple like I like it!

R
 
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