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Thread: Protecting polished aluminum parts

  1. #11
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    Cnut, I'm thinking if you have any gunsmiths in the area they might be your best choice to inspect the coating first hand and see the process/finished product. Also on precision threads/areas they can be taped/plugged. It is most similar to powder coat. It is applied with hvlp guns and baked @ 350-400 degrees. I would think it would be ideal for your application. While I'm not an expert I can answer questions about cerakote.


    R

  2. #12
    Registered Member chevynut's Avatar
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    Rthur, thanks for the info.

    What is the binder or carrying agent in the Cerakote? If it's baked at 350-400 degrees that's not hot enough to bind ceramic together, so there has to be some sort of binder in the mix. There are two versions, oven cure with a hardener, and air dry. What's the difference? I can't imagine the air-dry stuff is as durable.

    If this stuff is that durable, I wouldn't mind trying it. But someone has to explain how/why their clearcoat is as durable as clear powdercoat or spray urethane clear. As for colors, I guess I'd have to see the "chrome" before I'd commit to it. Does this stuff work okay on aluminum?

    I still wonder why not just use urethane clear on polished parts. Maybe adhesion is the problem?
    56 Nomad, Ramjet 502, Viper 6-speed T56, C4 Corvette front and rear suspension


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  3. #13
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    Maybe adhesion is the problem?
    I'd say that adhesion is a good part of why.

  4. #14
    Registered Member NickP's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by chevynut View Post
    Does this stuff work okay on aluminum?
    Yes? I have an alloy framed 45 with the coating. No signs of wear from firing or in and out of holster.

  5. #15
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    I can't give you the chemical composition ect as I don't know. Oven cure is certainly tougher. Air dry is used on items that cant be oven cured, scopes ect. Also your parts would need to be prepared/blasted to give some tooth to the base material. I haven't seen it used in the automotive industry other than high temp headers/exhaust. If you can find a local cerakote guy maybe you could take a sample piece to try out for your application.
    I plan on doing my exhaust from head to tip when I get that far on my project. Having a large enough oven will be interesting.
    I also plan on using it on my suspension for a two tone look, black frame silver a arms four link ect.


    R
    Last edited by Rthur; 06-24-2015 at 03:28 PM.

  6. #16
    Registered Member chevynut's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rthur View Post
    Also your parts would need to be prepared/blasted to give some tooth to the base material.
    Well then that defeats the purpose of polishing the parts. If you have to blast them, I might as well just use clear urethane enamel. I'm not worried about wear, I'm wanting a shiny aluminum part that stays shiny and doesn't dull.

    I see they sell a clear coat and show some wheels coated with something...wonder what it is.
    56 Nomad, Ramjet 502, Viper 6-speed T56, C4 Corvette front and rear suspension


    Other vehicles:

    56 Chevy 2-door BelAir sedan
    56 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    57 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    1962 327/340HP Corvette
    1961 Willys CJ3B Jeep
    2001 Porsche Boxster S
    2003 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD Duramax
    2019 GMC Sierra Denali Duramax

  7. #17
    Registered Member chevynut's Avatar
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    I ran into the Cerakote booth at SEMA and talked to the rep extensively about their product. He said it's the best thing on the market for clear-coating polished metals, and has been in use for a long time. I wonder why nobody in the hotrod industry really knows about this stuff for polished aluminum? I have searched all over the internet looking for a coating for polished metals and nobody has mentioned Cerakote except you guys here. In fact, it never even came up in my searches for some reason.

    Anyhow, I was directed to this website which tells a lot about the producst. It's actually different than the Cerakote website for some reason, I guess they're pushing the clearcoat line.

    https://www.clearcoating.com/

    The stuff isn't cheap, and it's similarly priced to clear urethane. It costs more than Glisten PC which they didn't compare it to.

    They seem to be a little scattered and inconsistent. On this page they say to use a "primer" before applying the clear:

    http://www.cerakoteguncoatings.com/r...on%20Guide.pdf

    Then on this page, they just say to clean the parts well with tert-butyl acetate and don't say anything about a primer:

    https://www.clearcoating.com/resourc...ide-mc-160.pdf

    In any case, it sounds like this is worth a try. It's supposed to be hard, UV resistant, and scratch resistant. The rep showed me a wheel that he says has been coated for several years and it looked good. I guess I should call them about the primer inconsistency and see if I need to use it. I have a good topcoat gun but I don't think I have a .8mm tip for it. It sounds like I can use this stuff as a clearcoat over PPG basecoat, which makes it convenient for my application.
    Last edited by chevynut; 11-11-2015 at 07:56 PM.
    56 Nomad, Ramjet 502, Viper 6-speed T56, C4 Corvette front and rear suspension


    Other vehicles:

    56 Chevy 2-door BelAir sedan
    56 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    57 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    1962 327/340HP Corvette
    1961 Willys CJ3B Jeep
    2001 Porsche Boxster S
    2003 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD Duramax
    2019 GMC Sierra Denali Duramax

  8. #18
    Registered Member chevynut's Avatar
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    A friend of mine owns Gooding Performance here in Fort Collins and I stopped by to drop off my Daa 44 yesterday for the ring and pinion setup. I talked to his son Jason who is the brother of Mike Curtis, the owner of Curtis Speed Wheels. Mike used to work for Boyd Coddington and was on his TV show.

    http://curtisspeed.com/wheels/

    Anyhow, I learned that Mike uses Cerakoat Clear on his wheels when his customers want them clearcoated. Jason told me he loves the stuff and it holds up really well on polished aluminum.

    I just got my Cerakote Clear (MC-160) yesterday but it will be a while before I spray it. I'll try to post my results here.
    56 Nomad, Ramjet 502, Viper 6-speed T56, C4 Corvette front and rear suspension


    Other vehicles:

    56 Chevy 2-door BelAir sedan
    56 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    57 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    1962 327/340HP Corvette
    1961 Willys CJ3B Jeep
    2001 Porsche Boxster S
    2003 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD Duramax
    2019 GMC Sierra Denali Duramax

  9. #19
    Registered Member WagonCrazy's Avatar
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    I'd like to see how it all turns out Laszlo. I'm going to be doing that same thing to alot of my aluminum components too (when I get to that point in the build)
    1957 Nomad- LS1/T56 on C4 chassis
    1959 Fleetside Apache 1/2 ton, shortbed, big window, 327ci.

  10. #20
    Registered Member chevynut's Avatar
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    Paul, you might as well start polishing now...this is a labor intensive job!!! Actually, it's a lot easier than polishing stainless.
    56 Nomad, Ramjet 502, Viper 6-speed T56, C4 Corvette front and rear suspension


    Other vehicles:

    56 Chevy 2-door BelAir sedan
    56 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    57 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    1962 327/340HP Corvette
    1961 Willys CJ3B Jeep
    2001 Porsche Boxster S
    2003 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD Duramax
    2019 GMC Sierra Denali Duramax

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