First of all I’m not doing this for a business. So I have been painting a few of my Glock slides for practice and experimentation. Doing single colors I’ve

been doing fairly good. I’ve learned how to use the hardener to create glossy or flat finishes and how to use my spray gun correctly for the most part. I get

a smooth finish but sometimes it may be too thick. Not to thick where it won’t function properly just thicker than I’ve seen from other professional

applicators. I have however run into some questions now that I know what to ask. So if you guys could help I’d appreciate it.

Well on my first multi-cam job I ran into a few problems. Going from one color to the next at the point where the stencils are answerable it transitions from

one color to the next I’m getting a noticeable line. You can feel it and see it. Am I spraying it too thick?

Do you guys pull your stencils off after tacking it the last time and before the final cure? Or do you leave them on the whole time?

Also I think I tracked out my coats too long or too hot because when I went to take the stencils off for final curing I had a couple of spots where the

cerakote kinda tore off instead of the stencil just coming off. I’ve read that over tacking can harden the finish too much and prevent the next layer from

bonding to the layer underneath. Is this what happened?

Another thing is I did find out that I’m tacking out too long because I originally read 12-15 min at 185 but now I’m seeing 8-12 min. So what are you guys

using?

Also like I said I’ve learned how to use the hardener to change the finish of the cerakote but not which one is the best for wear. I feel like the more

hardener the stronger the finish but it is also very glossy. So I’ve been using 12 to 1 but I think I should go to something higher. What are you guys using?

Any other help would be appreciated.

I've been shooting cerakote for a few years now so perhaps I can help.

Lines caused by stencils can be mostly avoided by spraying very light coats.  However, avoiding them entirely is almost impossible; especially with a 5 color pattern like multicam.  The finish tends to build up on the vertical edge of the stencil after a couple coats and there's not much you can do about it.  I have found that lightly running a fingernail over the buildup after final cure will remove it.

Flash curing at 150*-180* for 15 minutes and removing all stencils before final cure should work great.  Cerakote also has a 4 hour window for application.  Exceed that and it's very likely that your last coat will not adhere properly to your first.  I wonder if this is what you're running into?  This timeframe can be tough to meet with a pattern like multicam but it can be done.  You just have to have everything planned out before hand and ready to go before starting.  I try to plan my colors so the I'm going from the darkest to the lightest.  This makes it so I'm not constantly fighting to cover lighter colors and am using less material.  Only shooting the color where you need it instead of coating the whole gun with every color will help.  This helps avoid stencil edge buildup also.

I love the multicam pattern but hate applying it.  It takes me a full day to this pattern on a typical AR.  This is from initial teardown to final assembly.  I never could understand why guys charged so much for complicated camo patterns until I started doing a few.  I got it now!

Adding more hardener will not make the finish tougher; just shinier.  I typically use 18:1 and it holds up fine.

You didn't state if you were blasting your parts with 100 grit ALOX before finish application.  If not, this is an important step for the overall durability and adhesion of the finish to the part.

Hope this helps.

Yeah I’m using 80 grit Garnett right now and it’s working fine. My problem is the air compressor. Need a bigger one. Still I get it sandblasted fine. I did all my spraying in about 2 hrs for 3 colors. That’s counting tacking for 15 min and cooling down after before stencilling. Just realized though I’m spraying at about 40-50 psi and to keep from getting a dry spray I was using more cerakote out of the gun. I’ve since cut back to 20 and it’s doing better. I also think my oven is running hotter than i thought and at 15 min tacking it was over 200 and getting to cured.

Cutting back to 20 psi was wise.  Anything above that will drive you nuts with dry spray.  Also, if your oven was 200* during flash then that's is likely the culprit.  Get yourself an oven thermometer and place it inside the oven when heating to get a solid determination of temp.

Good idea. I’ve been using a laser thermometer and have to open everytime I check. One in the I’ve. Would keep the temp steady