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It’s October and site is still showing no availability... checking weekly. Wonder where they get their anodizing done? Very disappointing since I purchased the SPRM specifically because they supposedly offer the Raptar Mount.
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Everybody in anodizing is apparently various types of screwed up, so the answer is really weird. We're sending the scope mount parts to Maine right now. Anodizers employ people they pay no money to and its common for them to destroy parts. It's not uncommon to have anodizing burn up rates go to 25% or better, or for anodizers to make parts blueish or chalky and grey, or shiny, or partially coated due to poor agitation with air bubbles leaving some areas never touching anodizing. Sometimes they try to stuff racking clips into threaded holes and ruin parts. There are a number of issues that result in us having to attempt different anodizing vendors.
Some of the outfits are run by weirdos who want color coated stickers on every part- individually bagged parts, and the decisions change by the order so every order your doing some different and wierd crap to try to comply with their insane ideas of how parts should be organized.
Simple stuff like using clean water and enough black dye are difficult for anodizers. Blasting is best handled by the Anodizers because if you don't, they will blame their finish issues on your blasting so you give them that work, and then it effects their lead times.
A pallet of CNC machined mounts is a lot of mounts. So when the anodizers sit on it for a long time it effects availability.
Getting into your own anodizing takes a lot of floor space, and creates compliance issues with many entities because the chemicals and processes have various risk factors involving municipal and state governments, federal agencies, and local fire department and zoning approvals.
Anodizing is a part finish. It would be great if more anodizing vendors could realize that and put an emphasis on cosmetic and other types of quality and take some pride in their work and even potentially to develop different finish specifications and to be able to sell them with samples guaranteed to look like the outcomes, but in fact they all act like they have no idea what outcomes will be and make us develop unique finish processes and specifications with each vendor, so it's all the more frustrating when their low paid morons find a new and unique way to prove they can destroy our parts so that we have to find a new vendor and start all over.