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Posted: 11/9/2012 11:14:14 AM EDT
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In preparation (anticipation) for a full 1911 build I will be doing soon I decided to refinish my current carry gun. I never liked the 2 tone but it fit my criteria when I bought it (aluminum frame, commander length, bobtail, internal extractor). I also filed down some sharp edges on the frame and thumb safety and fixed some ugly machining on the magwell. I will be doing the next pistol completely in Alumahyde II where as this one I just did the frame, small parts, and barrel. I left the slide alone because I didn't have my sight pushing tools at the time, and really the color difference is too small for the work involved. The color variance is even less noticeable in person.
I have already learned a few lessons. I might bake the next pistol at a low temp for a few hours to help speed up the cure time. It is an air cure system but I have read that some people have done this successfully. It might help to knock a few days off the week long cure time. I think I may also fill some of the holes in the frame before painting. I had to remove some paint because the tolerances were too tight. As you might notice there are some imperfections. I am ok with it being my first try and all. This is a carry gun so it will see some holster wear and rounds fired anyway. Any suggestions, comments, concerns? This is what I started with: 
Here is the finished product: 
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| Whoa! that SOB looks sex-say!! Looks like a quality finish. I'm about to do a small Alumahyde Coyote project myself. Do you mind sharing the exact details from prepping to curing? I dont want to screw up my project and would love for it to end up lookin like yours. Any and all helpis appreciated. |
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I cleaned the frame and parts really well, getting into all of the tight spots. It is recommended that the parts be media blasted before coating but I didn't have access to a blast cabinet. From this point on I wore nitrile gloves for everything to keep the oils from my hands off the parts. I did an acetone soak and brushed the parts with a clean toothbrush to get any remaining crud off. Then I laid the parts out on a clean rag to dry. I would recommend hanging them if you could. I then masked off the parts I didn't want painted (trigger bow, lower lugs of the barrel, etc) and hung everything else with wire. I stuck the pins and small parts through a stiff piece of cardstock to hold them. From here I just did about 4 light coats flashing them between coats with a hair dryer. I then hung all of the parts for about a week to cure.
Here is a video from Brownells that has some good information. 
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| Good stuff man. Thanks for the insight. I'll be doing my little project here in about a week or so. I really hope I get the same turn out as yours. I'll post up a before and after just like you did. One last thing, what do you think about "baking" the parts for the cure process? At low heat of course like 175° or so? |
| I have read that people have had good results baking at a low temperature for a couple of hours. It won't be fully cured afterwords though. You should be able to handle it, but I would still wait a few days before you assemble the gun. Thats why I chose to just hang it and wait the extra couple of days. |
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