I specifically need to know if the fluid used will have any effect on gun finish... Both blue, matte blue/ park and brushed stainless... I have a collectible gun I need to have this done to before I shoot it.

Thanks!

I'll ask my NDT guys tomorrow if you can wait  that long.

I am in no hurry... Took me 20 years to find this damn thing..I can wait. I dont have my downloaded 10mm ammo  yet anyway.

Bump for the night shift.

The sample must be ferromagnetic thus this technique can not be used on most stainless steels.

I am not compleatly sure about blue/park but I would guess that maga and most dye penatrants wont be good for the finish.. Your best bet would be to x-ray the parts..

actually, the fluid used is common diesel.  

we magna-fluxed thousands of tool joints on drill pipe while in the texas oilfields years ago.

diesel, a good eye, and a blacklight, and cracks come alive.  

a finish will not be disturbed by diesel, i wouldn't think, but you can replicate the process w/o hardly any $.  get a magnifying glass, a blacklight, paintbrush and a half-pint of diesel, and see for yourself.

magnaflux inspectors look for stress in steel, which manifests itself in tiny cracks.  the ultra-fine tiny, tiny, tiny stress flaws manifest themselves quickly in this process.  

go to wal-mart, get a blacklight bulb, and check it out on a piece of steel you know is stressed.  the slegehammer in the garage, for instance, or the wood-splitting wedge, or your oldest hammer.  

mag-na-flux.

you have to come up with a really, really great name instead of calling it:

Visual Blacklight Stress Test.

You still need some sort of magnetic partical and a magnetic source.

Diesel or kerosene are the most commonly used vehicles for floting the particals to the void. I don't know how these react with different finishes. The majority of the parts we see are blasted and akaline washed.

Zyglo may be a better choice and cheaper than an x-ray inspection. It is water based and will work with most any metals and even some plstics and cermaics..

It shouldn't have any negative effect.

I do a fair amount of NDT, including magnaflux.  

We use Stoddard Solvent, which is pretty close to diesel/kerosene/Jet-A.   It hasn't caused any problems to iron-blacked parts, cadmium plated parts, or even the mill scale finish of new steel.

Be sure the operator keeps strong electrical contacts between your gun and the magnaflux machine.   He'll probably be sending  hundreds/thousands of amps of current through it.   Weak contacts can cause arc burns that could mar your finish and create weak points in the gun.

Zyglo is an alternative flourescent penetrant method that does not use electricity, but it does not have the ability to detect discontinuities that are just under the surface, like magnaflux does.

Like he said ^

Make sure they have good contact, you can get an arc when you energize the part if you are lazy.

Why don't you find a guy that can do a dry mag particle test on it.  This would not interfere with your finish.  If there is a crack there a good technician will find it.  

Got it done by the local speed shop....Guy let me in the shop to watch.. Pretty cool process... My slide is  crack free, and I can safely shoot my safe queen occasionally....