Bluetickhound
Elite Cafe Member
Yeah, legacy besmirching will come to no good!
Question: Clear powder coat over engraved item
- Thread starter Mike_Morgan
- Start date
tonytigerhk45
Elite Cafe Member
check into clear cerakote, https://www.clearcoating.com/products/metals/
As stated here before, I engrave a local gunmaker's company letters and caliber on his barrels, usually cerakoted (his customers like the contrast of the incisions against the cerakote) and it is not a good thing. It looks fine but is difficult to do a really good job. When I get home I'll go to my files and attach a few photos of a really rough Stevens shotgun that I engraved and had cerakote applied over it, then you be the judge.
Mike_Morgan
Elite Cafe Member
I would appreciate that! If for no other reason than to know what it looks like. Thanks
I'm very familiar with cerakote, but this will end up being powder coated because I'm doing the engraving for a friend of mine that is a powder coater.
tonytigerhk45
Elite Cafe Member
https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.ne...=9dd993aec590b619d96aa029293ead8a&oe=588703D3
hope you can see this. it's a Winchester that I polished to a mirror finish then we cerakoted it with the clear.
hope you can see this. it's a Winchester that I polished to a mirror finish then we cerakoted it with the clear.
tonytigerhk45
Elite Cafe Member
Mike_Morgan
Elite Cafe Member
That's really cool, I wish we could use that process.
paintedman
Member
Speaking of clear coats check out moly kg by kg industries. Specifically the 2400 series its a bake on finish & works well. It comes in flat, gloss and high gloss we use it in our hydro dip operations as well as a top coat for engraved firearms if its metal and can take 350 degrees in your home oven. 6 years ago we printed a mg42 machinegun then top coated it with the clear 30000 rounds and numerous belt dumps and its still pristine. its applied with a harbor freight touch up gun or air brush. I have also used the metallic gold and silver to flood fill engravings such as the masonic emblem i did on a masonic donation engraved ar15 for a raffle. It's much more forgiving than cera kote and if you screw up just rinse with accatone and respray before baking it . Since we are a firearms refinishing manufacturer we have used both ..Alot . KG industries molys been around a lot longer but folks dont seem to know about it
Mike_Morgan
Elite Cafe Member
I'll have a tough job convincing the guy that owns the piece I'm engraving to do anything except clear powder coat... he's a powder coater that is really sold on the process, and has been featured on the cover of the powder coating industry magazine. He hates ceracote, won't touch it... and I can tell him about the KG stuff, but it will probably fall on deaf ears.
The main point of this entire thread is to find something I can blacken the engraving with, prior to the clear powder coating that will withstand the temperatures of the oven in which it will be powder coated, and hopefully find somebody that has done it, so I could get pointers on the prep, and an idea of the what the results will be. I'm actually nervous now that almost every suggestion is for something other than powder coating, which I stated on the outset was going to be the final finishing process.
Bluetickhound
Elite Cafe Member
Looking through the thread, I don't see what metal type you'll be engraving... Would there be a way to anodize (or even do thin black powder coat?) it, sand (or remove excess by some other means) and then clear coat? Alternately, would something as simple as a sharpie marker be sufficient to blacken the engraving with and then bake the clear on?
Brian Marshall
~ Elite 1000 Member ~
Powder coating has been around a fairly long time.
I would think that if there was a viable solution someone on here (or someone known to someone on here) woulda tried it?
I'm almost willing to bet that if you plated the piece with one of the black platings available to jewelers (black nickel comes to mind) it would survive the powder coating?
But without having done it or seen the results from someone else doin' it - I won't bet ya more'n five bucks it'll work...
Brian
Why not get one of the black plating solutions and test it on a piece of scrap? Electroplate the whole piece, powder coat it and see if I lose $5?
I would think that if there was a viable solution someone on here (or someone known to someone on here) woulda tried it?
I'm almost willing to bet that if you plated the piece with one of the black platings available to jewelers (black nickel comes to mind) it would survive the powder coating?
But without having done it or seen the results from someone else doin' it - I won't bet ya more'n five bucks it'll work...
Brian
Why not get one of the black plating solutions and test it on a piece of scrap? Electroplate the whole piece, powder coat it and see if I lose $5?
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Hi Mike,
Seems to me that we are fighting windmills on this.
Do a couple of test cuts on pieces of metal that a similar to the product and fill them with some of the blackings that have been suggested.
I vote in spades for the stove black that Sam W. suggested and/or the black engine block paint that I mentioned.
You have the best of all worlds with the powder coat guy for a client. The test should be cost free.!
Give the samples to him and let him do his thing. Please show us the results.
Seems to me that we are fighting windmills on this.
Do a couple of test cuts on pieces of metal that a similar to the product and fill them with some of the blackings that have been suggested.
I vote in spades for the stove black that Sam W. suggested and/or the black engine block paint that I mentioned.
You have the best of all worlds with the powder coat guy for a client. The test should be cost free.!
Give the samples to him and let him do his thing. Please show us the results.
Mike_Morgan
Elite Cafe Member
It's 6061 Aluminum
That's what I've decided to do, I'm doing a couple simple test plates, and I'm blackening with the Stove paint, Engine Paint and high-temp BBQ grill paint.
The metal has a pretty deep brushed finish, and it's a PITA to get the blacking away from where it doesn't belong, but that's what I'm going to try.
Here's what it looked like a couple weeks ago, I'll post a bunch of the progress and completion shots when it's done... for me, this is a monumental undertaking, but it's coming out pretty darned good!
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Mike_Morgan
Elite Cafe Member
Here's a closer look, pre-shading, etc.
The drum is 14" diameter, and 6.5" wide. There are some logos, lettering and such out of view, I'll post pictures of that when it's done.
The drum is 14" diameter, and 6.5" wide. There are some logos, lettering and such out of view, I'll post pictures of that when it's done.
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paintedman
Member
If its aluminum would a oxidizer work like aluma black ? Then buff of the high areas with flitz for the area you want to do and powder coat
Archie Woodworth
Elite Cafe Member
Mike,
You might consider a "high temp" BBQ Grill type paint ... or even maybe an auto exhaust pipe paint. Rust-Oleum comes to mind first-off ... I use their regular (not high temp) flat black to highlight my engraving ...works the best of anything I have ever used ... apply with pipe cleaner "brush" ... rub off excess with heal of hand or scrape off with business card then final cleanup with paper napkin and a little acetone.
Mike,
if you are dealing with a textured surface metal that is difficult to remove the paint from try using a hypodermic syringe to apply the blacking into the cuts on your test pieces.
Of course, on you cylinder you will probably have to do a section at a time and give it time for the black to set up.
Best of luck with your project. The giant scroll cutting on the cylinder looks great.
if you are dealing with a textured surface metal that is difficult to remove the paint from try using a hypodermic syringe to apply the blacking into the cuts on your test pieces.
Of course, on you cylinder you will probably have to do a section at a time and give it time for the black to set up.
Best of luck with your project. The giant scroll cutting on the cylinder looks great.
Mike_Morgan
Elite Cafe Member
The syringe is a great idea, I will do exactly that. And thanks so much for the compliment on the scrolls, it was really interesting working over the curve and swinging an object that awkward under the scope. Here's a pic of the setup I used for most of the cutting. I did change it midway through into my new drillpress stand, turntable combo.
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Great set up for engraving that cylinder Mike. Tira Mitchell is our raining queen at holding awkward pieces to engrave.
You gave her a run for the money (except that you have a machine shop to back you up.) He he.
Mike_Morgan
Elite Cafe Member
I'm pretty sure I can fixture ANYTHING! I point at it and say... "HEY, AL.... Make me a fixture"... And Al makes me a fixture! He's been a journeyman for 26 years, and I have yet to stump him, I have had some REALLY tricky fixtures made for all kinds of things.
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