Fisheye in Cerakote
MidOhioHydrographics
Member, Moderator, Business Ninja Posts: 10,514 El Moderator
So today this happened...
A little background, then I'll explain the process of how we narrowed down the culprit, but we are still unsure of the exact cause.
We have a SIG 1911 we are Cerakoting Gloss Black. Did the frame and slide last week, and the guy wanted it "extra glossy" so I tried various polishing compounds on the slide to give it more shine, but it just didn't work. So today we blasted it down to recoat. Same bottle of Cerakote, same hardener, same gun, and we had fisheyes all over the slide. Now the testing comes.... using an ANI 0.8.
--- Test 1: clean the ANI gun, remix Cerakote, clean the part better (much better), try again...
--- Result: Fisheyes on the part
--- Test 2: Spray a speed shape with what's still in the ANI gun (bare speed shape cleaned with isopropyl)
--- Result: Fisheyes on the speed shape
--- Test 3: Clean the ANI gun in new thinner direct from a new 5 gallon bucket and in a new paint cup. Mix more gloss black Cerakote, try a different airline, another new clean speed shape
--- Result: Fisheyes on the speed shape
--- Test 3: New gun, LPH 80, thoroughly cleaned, more gloss black Cerakote,
--- Result: Fisheyes on the speed shape
--- Test 4: Original ANI Gun, OHW Brite Green on a new clean speed shape
--- Result: NO Fisheyes
--- Test 5: Clean original ANI gun, Different Cerakote color (same hardener)
--- Result: No Fisheyes
--- Final test: Clean original ANI gun, remix Gloss Black after thorough mixing (just in case)
--- Result: the fisheye breakout you see in the photo above
So... we narrowed it down to that one bottle of Cerakote Gloss Black being contaminated! We just used the exact bottle last week with perfect results. No idea of the ultimate cause.
A little background, then I'll explain the process of how we narrowed down the culprit, but we are still unsure of the exact cause.
We have a SIG 1911 we are Cerakoting Gloss Black. Did the frame and slide last week, and the guy wanted it "extra glossy" so I tried various polishing compounds on the slide to give it more shine, but it just didn't work. So today we blasted it down to recoat. Same bottle of Cerakote, same hardener, same gun, and we had fisheyes all over the slide. Now the testing comes.... using an ANI 0.8.
--- Test 1: clean the ANI gun, remix Cerakote, clean the part better (much better), try again...
--- Result: Fisheyes on the part
--- Test 2: Spray a speed shape with what's still in the ANI gun (bare speed shape cleaned with isopropyl)
--- Result: Fisheyes on the speed shape
--- Test 3: Clean the ANI gun in new thinner direct from a new 5 gallon bucket and in a new paint cup. Mix more gloss black Cerakote, try a different airline, another new clean speed shape
--- Result: Fisheyes on the speed shape
--- Test 3: New gun, LPH 80, thoroughly cleaned, more gloss black Cerakote,
--- Result: Fisheyes on the speed shape
--- Test 4: Original ANI Gun, OHW Brite Green on a new clean speed shape
--- Result: NO Fisheyes
--- Test 5: Clean original ANI gun, Different Cerakote color (same hardener)
--- Result: No Fisheyes
--- Final test: Clean original ANI gun, remix Gloss Black after thorough mixing (just in case)
--- Result: the fisheye breakout you see in the photo above
So... we narrowed it down to that one bottle of Cerakote Gloss Black being contaminated! We just used the exact bottle last week with perfect results. No idea of the ultimate cause.
Comments
And sometimes paint can be contaminated from the factory, or some put a lid back on that got "dirty". You may never know what happened, but at least it looks like you found it.
As far as the contaminant within the Gloss Black paint? Absolutely no idea how it happened. It's mixed w a hardener so leftover paint wasn't added back into the bottle. It's mixed in small quantities (in a graduated cylinder on a gram scale). But the lid could have definitely been the culprit. Who knows. At least we can get it out of the shop now.
had the same thing happen with safety orange. I knew I was going at it right ....... Called cerakote and they sent another lot number to me overnight with no questions and tested the lot that I had. Two days later called back and said it was in fact contaminated and they were destroying that lot..
Those fish eyes appeared immediately right??? And was that H series ?? Im assuming it might have been C since its on a speed shape unless u were just playing/testing