Cerakote
 

I'm a huge fan of satin black powder coating. Looks great and relatively easy to do in my garage (sandblast, apply the powder & bake). However sometimes powder coating is simply too thick and I'm not good enough to apply it light enough to get good coverage with out creating an interference problem with the mating components. I recently pick up a free electric range and ran another 220 line so I wanted to give CERAKOTE a try. There are a lot more steps involved (sandblast, gas out in the oven, soak in acetone, spray CERAKOTE, bake)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1609360205.jpg

Sandblasted struts degassing in the oven

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1609372129.jpg

I mix the cerakote by weight

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1609374625.jpg

Cerakote has a really cool calculator. This way you can ensure an accurate ratio between coating and catalyst

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1609375068.jpg

Not sure of your point, possibly some of your intended post didn’t get saved.

I will say Cerakote is freaking awesome stuff! I first tried a color that I would want to use for car parts on a BigGreenEgg cast vent. It has lasted for about 3yrs from low temps to 600+deg temps and looks as good as the day I bought it home. And so I started down the route of anything needing powder coated I would instead use cerakote. To date I only have a few items but they all look perfect coming on 2yrs later. I’ve had the headlight rings, whammy bar, front condenser cage, belly pan, rennline battery box and pedal assembly done in a black that resembles a satin OEM black color. It’s basically the Graphite Black (H-146Q) with max gloss added, as per my cerakote shop that I use. Additionally I’ve had the front oil cooler and the two hard lines and soft lines connecting to the cooler coated with the heat dissapation coating and have had my tools and wevo engine mounts and some of the rennline pedal parts clear cerakote (tools gloss and other parts flat clear). This stuff is long lasting, when done right and maintains the original imperfections of the casting/machining.

Back to your post after my 2 cents.....what else are you planning on coating? Please show finished items.


CTopher

Does anybody know if the air cure versions work as well as the 2-part, heat cure?

I believe the clear, both gloss and flat that I had applied are air cured. While the items I have have not been outside and exposed to the environment for long term. My understanding is once cured are similar to the baked versions. Again I don’t have any long term experience just what I was told by my coater and what I’ve read regarding the products.

CTopher

Not trying to make a point, just showing how I apply cerakote

I'm no expert and these struts will be my third application of this. Here are some tow hooks I did in red. I seriously considered the air dry but the corvette yellow was the closest match to the Bilstein yellow. I want to also try the coatings for heat resistance and the low friction coatings for pistons & hopefully bearings.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1609421450.jpg

I've had good luck with it in my Audi build.

The spray-on, air-dry sounds awfully like paint. Is it any more durable if it’s shot on dry and then baked, like Powdercoat?

Cerakote
 

Very happy with how this turned out

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1609443269.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1609443347.jpg

Air cure works fantastic.. Here is a sample from my fan and housing painted with air cure picturehttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1609448600.jpg

looks great - nice work! I could use something like this on the same parts in my car. Can you indicate what the lowest recc'd temperature for air cure? Basement or garage project?

Did you beta-test on a few parts a head of time to know how much to apply, or wing it?
Thinking a red fan...

Its used a lot on firearms. Holds up really well. As with powder coat, dark satin finishes show oil stains.

Harpo the results look fantastic BTW.
I’m going to google cerakote rather than ask 10 more questions. My hood emblem is cerakoted. Has held up well.
Will follow this thread.

In the firearm samples I've seen, ceramic coatings, like most surface-applied coatings, don't do well in highly frictional assemblies (e.g. slide assemblies). However, Cerakote does better than some competing products.

Search for the superior properties of ceramic coatings (corrosion and solvent resistance, insulation properties, coating thickness, etc.)

Sherwood

I had my fan and fan housing refinished with Cerakote and really happy with it.

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-...r9XFZHC-X3.jpg

UTUBE has lots of videos on the application of CERAKOTE but they are not always doing it correctly per the manufacturer. I recommend you go directly to the CERAKOTE web site where they have videos and instructions that you can download. Large complex parts like the struts I did are a PITA and I don't know I would do it again.

Be careful about spraying cerikote inside. The vapors are toxic.

@josephvman What color did you use on fan strap and pulley? Thanks.