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Posted: 1/1/2016 12:41:57 AM EDT
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I have used Norrells oven cure quite a bit and have recently used Cerakote air cure.
But yesterday I worked with Cerakote H for the first time and am not happy. I base coated an entire disassembled rifle, furniture, and optic in Desert Sand. The prep work was as usual meticulous. After everything received a base coat I flashed everything at 150, lightly assembled to a hole setup, added 2 camo colors over the Desert sand, set the furniture and optic to the side and put all the metal parts back in the oven at 250 for 2 hours. !!! The Patriot Brown and Green mixture seem to have cured to their intended color, but the desert sand seems to have cured really dark, like that of a dark brown and coyote tan mix. What the hell. I then cured the furniture and optic in the aven at about 160 for an hour about 3 times and it cured to the intended color scheme. needless to say the optic and furniture do NOT even resemble the same paint job. I dont plan too do anything about it, but after all that work I'm a bit disappointed. Any idea what may have happened? Thanks... |
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Probably a minute (unintentional) difference in the amount of hardener that was added.
Cerakote is expensive, so most of us only mix as much as we need. Small volumes mean that we can easily be 20% off in the final mix of pigment and hardener. I like how tough cerakote is. It's just too demanding for me to keep using. G. |
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Blindeye,
Thanks for your insight. I did in fact mix a few batches of the base coat, Desert Sand. As you pointed out, by being cheap. But that's not adding up. The polymer and optic did not get coated in a separate mix than the metal components. Maybe one part, mixed with quite a few metal parts. But the fact is that the Desert Sand on every metal component that was cured at 250 cured an awful DARK caramel brown shade. Not even close to a tan or a, sand. |
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Other than the hardener to pigment ratio, I'm stumped.
I have cured cerakote projects at different temps before, but haven't noticed a color change. I have noticed a similar change with the hardener to paint ratio being different between batches. Maybe one batch wasn't stirred/mixed as well as the other? I know what a PITA it is when you have to redo a cerakote project.....I've done it myself. G. |
As you can see in the photo below, the buffer tube to the right is what the Desert Sand cured like as opposed to the same Desert Sand on the stock. 
I guess I'm going to call Cerakote next week. But, I wont be wasting my time to strip and recoat this weapon. I'm not frustrated that it doesnt look how I intended as much as I'm concerned with the process. I dont want to have inconsistencies like this on future coatings. |
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Your efforts look great, but wow, that is a huge difference color/shade.
I can't offer an explanation for that; even being slightly off in the hardener ratio wouldn't make that big a difference. It might be worth trying to replicate: mix some up like you did before, coat 2 different objects, and cure with the 2 different temps and times. Please let us know what cerakote's tech support tells you. G. |
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Quoted:
Still thats a bad ass paint job. Quoted:
Still thats a bad ass paint job. Thanks. Quoted:
It might be worth trying to replicate: mix some up like you did before, coat 2 different objects, and cure with the 2 different temps and times. Please let us know what cerakote's tech support tells you. G. Nope, I used all I had in that color unfortunately. But I will relay what Cerakote has to say. |
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