DuraCoat Preparation

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I am going to try out a DuraCoat paint job and I was looking for some recommendations for preparing the metal, more specifically getting rid of those stubborn rust stains. Any tips and tricks would be great, thanks!

DownWind Outdoors
 
Just be careful spraying the duracote it runs real easily. The best success I have had has been to spray 2 or 3 light coats waiting a couple of minutes in between each coat. Great stuff if you ask me, also make sure the metal has been very well degreased prior to painting.
 
Do not blast it with glass beads...It will peen the surface and make it difficult for the duracoat to adhere well, You need to create "tooth" on the surface to give the duracoat something to grab, Ideally you would want to blast it with Aluminum Oxide at a pressure of 60-80 PSI (This is the pressure I find works best) I have found that duracoat is not all that good as far as corrosion resistance and abrasion resistance.... there are much better options out there
 
degrease and blast with aluminum oxide (120 grit), then degrease again. Spray in light coats using an airbrush, it dries pretty quickly. Surface Prep is the key with anything like duracoat. It is great for surfaces that don't rub on each other.
 
hypothetically speaking; if an AK (or AR for the matter) were to be duracoated, would you strip it (FCG and all) and coat the inside too? do you coat all the components (aside from springs and the like)? wouldn't that extra layer make everything tight/increase friction?

never done anything like duracoat before but just saw a couple quick vids
 
Yes the thickness of the paint will cause fitting problems. I have only coated the exterior sarfaces in the guns I have done. I did an 870 pump that was very easy as it has very little on it that would cause fit issues. I just finished doing a 1911 slide and small parts and there were a few issues with fit. Next time I will do a better job of masking areas the could propose fitting issues...
 
I found original guncoat to be the best....in the end I found more problems with not getting the parts super clean vs getting all the rust off.

I had little success with the air dry coatings....
I dont know how it is to apply but greg derr of derr precission did a ceracoat for me on my CZ82 so far tough as nails.

Its been my experience all of them have strong odor and can linger for days if done in house or basement ect ect.
 
I believe that Duracoat requires at least few weeks of curing.

I used Durabake, which is similar, but after baking in pizza oven you are GTG. I've sandblasted it to bare metal then degreased really really well. First with acetone than with an entire can of brake cleaner.

I've found that how you apply it makes a big difference too. I suck with spray can. You want surface well wetted with paint, but before it starts to run, otherwise you are spraying thin mist of partially dried flakes that don't adhere well.

In my experience, Durabake went on really thin, actually almost as thin as powdercoating. Any imperfections, scratches are well visible. Some people reported that Duracoat actually lubricates moving surfaces. I call BS, it's probably due to surface being very nice clean and smooth.
 
guncoat makes a teflon or molly type coating that claims better lubrication and wear resistance
 
hypothetically speaking; if an AK (or AR for the matter) were to be duracoated, would you strip it (FCG and all) and coat the inside too? do you coat all the components (aside from springs and the like)? wouldn't that extra layer make everything tight/increase friction?

never done anything like duracoat before but just saw a couple quick vids

if you are painting a AK, strip the FCG out first. Also- plug your chamber, gas return port, and muzzle with something that will keep that shit out. Don't worry about the rear sight block- it's ok to get paint in there.


All of this "Durabake," "Duracoat", "BAKE-A-DURABLE-PAINT-AWESOME-COAT" is money wasting faggotry. Read the material make up on the side of the ****ing can. Do you see anything in there that warrants a $30 / can price point? No, you won't. It doesn't "self lubricate" either. Teflon is marketed as such... because it's a ceramic. Unless you are using a solution that has Teflon/ceramic additives in it's binder, then you are not finishing your surface with something that is "self lubricating."

All this means is that your surface finish has a lower coefficient of friction. That is it. No- there is no magical oil that secretes from this mythical/magical coating-in-a-can. It's just more friction-less. Much like your wife's teflon coated kitchenware that was made in ****ing China. And you don't see her walking around with her head up her ass telling you about her self lubricating frying pans: because she's not an idiot like you.

Before you get angry and start cussing me out- read Duracoat's website.

1) They never tell you what it is
2) They tell you that it's not Teflon based
3) They tell you it's a 2 part chemical process. You know what else is a two part chemical process? Epoxy based paints - it has a solute and a solution.
4) They also tell you that "any old schmuck" can apply this, even without surface prep! (total bullshit)


What you are buying is a epoxy based paint and burning $23 of your hard earned dollars.

Go to home depot and buy Rustoleum Epoxy based "Appliance Paint." It's the same god damned thing. And you don't have to pay hazardous material shipping charges on it, either.


Also- baking of these finishes is a way to cure the paint. What you are doing is rapidly removing the solvent from the solution. You can do this to any epoxy based paint, and it does give you a cured surface. Is it harder? No. It is just fully cured and not readily removed from the substrate you applied it to.

If it is easily removed, you ****ed up and either painted on top of contaminants or you didn't fully cure your finish.
 
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I apologize ahead of time for the harshness of this post. It is not directed at any of you. It is directed at the people that market and sell you Durabake, Duracoat, and any of those Midway/Brownell's bullshit-in-a-can (or liquid bullshit for your spray gun) products that are overpriced 2x-10x.

If you are offended, I apologize. Do some of your own investigating and put those products under your analytical eye.


Now, Cerakote is a totally different product than these epoxy finishes. This is a paint that actually is based off of ceramic additives. This could be called self lubricating, but pay attention- this is just market speak for a surface with a lower coefficient of friction.

In other words: you could polish your metallic parts and then run around telling everyone how you made them "self lubricating." That's the same god damned thing.
 
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+1 Nice post I love it and agree with everything you said. Funny I realized all that but still got caught up in the mystique of Duracoats marketing...
 
+1 Nice post I love it and agree with everything you said. Funny I realized all that but still got caught up in the mystique of Duracoats marketing...

we all do. That's what marketer's jobs are for- they educate you about things that you didn't even know that you wanted.
 
Now, Cerakote is a totally different product than these epoxy finishes. This is a paint that actually is based off of ceramic additives. This could be called self lubricating, but pay attention- this is just market speak for a surface with a lower coefficient of friction.

In other words: you could polish your metallic parts and then run around telling everyone how you made them "self lubricating." That's the same god damned thing.

[video=youtube_share;L-7v_6uGlWQ]http://youtu.be/L-7v_6uGlWQ[/video]

[rofl]

Comrade Flintoid has an excellent point. Actually Durabake is just one part solution (no second component) that's solvable in laquer thinner. If you want to thin it out, that's what they recommend to add, so ... yes, it's just a ****ing paint. I don't think it's any more durable than regular paint that was correctly applied and cured. I'm just trademark whore [grin]
 
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