Cerakote Brought New Love To My D10's/EX10's

[jslappa]

I know I told quite a few people I would update them on the D10/EX10 project I have been working on. After 8 weeks of waiting, I received many of my hosts back from the shop. Instead of cluttering Z's tribute thread, I thought it would be easier to just start a new one. Let's get started then!

So, one of the great things about Cerakote is that it sticks very well to anodized aluminum. The colors all went on smooth, and are now much more durable than before. I had strayed away from the EX10 for a while, focusing mainly on the D10, but these new colors have helped to breathe new life into the EX10 for me. Hope you enjoy! Now for the pics...

Recycled pic, but is shows some of the Nitecore hosts after I disassembled them.

Some of them back from the shop.

D10 in HA, to help you see the color differences.

Fully Assembled

Family Photo

Pink EX10

Blue Titanium

Forest Green

Desert Tan

Coyote Brown

 

[foxtrot29]

Wow! Very nice work!

 

[Yucca Patrol]

Have you (or anyone here) done any actual testing to see if the ceramic coating is really as durable as it is claimed to be. I'm concerned that it would flake or rub off of sharp corners.

Hate to ask someone to do something potentially destructive, But I'd love to know what would happen if you scrubbed a tiny area of a corner with medium pressure just a few times with a scotchbrite pad. Does the bare aluminum show through?

I've heard conflicting reports elsewhere on firearm forums about that actual durability of this coating and I'm just skeptical that this coating can truly hold up better than anodizing. I would like to use this coating but if it scrubs off of exposed corners as if it was paint, I don't want to bother with the effort or expense

 

[jslappa]

I'm a member of Sigforums, and I've never heard of one person say anything bad about Cerakote. People send their $2,000 guns off to be cerakoted. I've had 2 Sig's cerakoted, and I can tell you that my slide beats the heck out of the barrel. After about 100 rounds, my barrel had many "smileys" on it from the action. It's been over 500 rounds since Cerakote, and there is not one smiley.

In addition, high performance engine shops cerakot engines for the great heat and abrasion resistance.

 

[jimmy1970]

They look great. Especially fond of the 'Blue Titanium' - very cool!

James....

 

[Yucca Patrol]

I'm asking because I purchased a flashlight that had been ceracoated by someone else and found that the coating rubs off very easily on the exposed sharper edges of the tailcap from putting it in and pulling it out of a nylon holster. Bare aluminum began to show through after less than a week of use and when I tested the coating by rubbing it with medium pressure using a very old and soft scotchbrite pad, the coating came off as easily as if it was paint.

I've been told by the person who had the light cerakoted that they had spoken with the manufacturer and my experience was not out of the ordinary.

I guess I am just disappointed that I paid extra for a high end light with a high end coating that ended up being not much better than paint. I suppose that something went wrong with the coating process, but was clearly informed that was not the case and my experience was normal.. .. .

On the bright side, the manufacturer who did the coating offered to refund, exchange, or do anything necessary to make me happy, but I decided just to keep the light as it is since it is going to be one that gets used and sometimes abused and some things are not worth worrying about all that much.

 

[jslappa]

I would not trust the work from anyone other than a well-respected gun shop. The most important part of Cerakoting lies in the shop's prep work. Just google Cerakote and head to the manufacturer's website to view abrasion tests and saltwater tests. I spent 5 years in the Marines and armorers swore by the coating. I think you should have your light redone.

Have you read electron guru's sales thread for his and Moddoo's Cerakoted hosts? I thing Sgt LED is even doing field tests on durability.

 

[Light11]

Very cool!

 

[jblackwood]

Lots of Gene Malkoff's Cerakote orange MD2s must be out in the wild. Maybe some of the owners can comment how their lights are holding up?

 

[Yucca Patrol]

Lots of Gene Malkoff's Cerakote orange MD2s must be out in the wild. Maybe some of the owners can comment how their lights are holding up?

I'd be interested in hearing some reports about those since they are likely to get some serious use and abuse in the line of duty. . .

 

[jblackwood]

I'm a member of Sigforums, and I've never heard of one person say anything bad about Cerakote. People send their $2,000 guns off to be cerakoted. I've had 2 Sig's cerakoted, and I can tell you that my slide beats the heck out of the barrel. After about 100 rounds, my barrel had many "smileys" on it from the action. It's been over 500 rounds since Cerakote, and there is not one smiley.

In addition, high performance engine shops cerakot engines for the great heat and abrasion resistance.

I have a feeling that whatever your barrel is made out of, it's harder than aluminum, am I right? The problem with Hard anodizing isn't that the anodizing itself isn't hard, it's that the underlying metal bends and the coating has a hard time staying on when this happens. I'll bet your barrel doesn't bend like our Al flashlights do when we drop them on concrete.

 

[ElectronGuru]

It may be useful to know that there are two strengths of Cerakote, standard and Oven Cured (the different paints even have different part #s for the same colors). As the name suggests, the later includes a temperature treatment step.

This level of paint is substantial. Testing a piece that was fully stripped, painted, and baked, serious work was required to hammer through to the metal, and even then, only with repeated strikes along the more vulnerable edges.

To the extent that its paint, its super paint.

 

[hogger]

What would the cost be to coat a 6p body?

 

[jslappa]

I have a feeling that whatever your barrel is made out of, it's harder than aluminum, am I right? The problem with Hard anodizing isn't that the anodizing itself isn't hard, it's that the underlying metal bends and the coating has a hard time staying on when this happens. I'll bet your barrel doesn't bend like our Al flashlights do when we drop them on concrete.

Aluminum is soft, so you're tight, it's going to flex and become damaged faster than a rolled steel slide of a Sig P226. What we're talking about is protecting the aluminum, but nothing short of a steel sleeve is going to stop a metal-to-metal deformation of the aluminum. If the fall to the concrete is less than 160lbs of force, there should be no measurable damage.] to the Cerakote.

If you check out my sales thread, I pulled a quote from the NICIndustries website that shows that Cerakote can withstand 160lbs impact, and ca flex 180 degrees with 0 paint loss. Electron Guru's hosts (as well as mine) can withstand much more punishment than traditional anodizing. And, since the Cerakote adheres to the anodized finish, yur getting triple protection. The question is, why wouldn't you use Cerakote for your EDC lights?

Here, I used a pair of metal pliers and wrenched on the head of this Blue Titanium Cerakote host. As you can see, only the peaks where damaged. No flacking or peeling occurs. Again, at 180 degrees, you could theoretically cut the light down one side and flip it inside out without the Cerakote being damaged.

HOGGER, Electron Guru as the link to his sales thread in his sig right above you. It's a one-stop shopping experience!

 

[csshih]

oh no! you hurt it! thank you for testing out the coating

 

[Yavox]

Is there any easy way to remove the coating in case I get bored and want to have the original HA?

 

[ElectronGuru]

Extra note: When first exploring Cerakote, something kept nagging at me. If its better (or even just as good) why don't more companies offer it? The answer has nothing to do with durability.

Doing a run of 10-20 lights in one or other does not offer much of a cost difference. Batch costs on HA is high, painting of each light is high. Doing runs of 100 or 1000, things change. HA just needs a bigger tank, so make the batch 10x larger and it costs 10% as much per light. But paint must still be applied to each light, so there is little price break on the unit cost. This difference makes HA much cheaper to mass produce and that makes HA more popular for most companies.

 

[jslappa]

Is there any easy way to remove the coating in case I get bored and want to have the original HA?

Sorry, but Cerakote can't be "stripped" by chemicals. I asked that question to my buddy, and the only way he knows of is to put the Cerakoted item in a blast cabinet and spray it with various types of media. In other words, sand blasting is the only way, and that'll take off HA III. It'll probably damage that aluminum light too.

No, once it's on there, actually damaging the aluminum underneath is the only way to get it off. What's nice, is that you can recoat the item with more Cerakote if you damage the aluminum lke I did. Of course, you can't get back the peaks in the knurling.

 

[Dioni]

They look very nice!

 

[Henk_Lu]

They look really nice, different! Lisa took away the Pinky, I don't know which one to get now.

I have a feeling I need a few of these. Lights are always black or natural, here is a chance to get other colors and a tough coating as well. Promising! :wave: