An incident involving my Cerakoted 6P body and a machinist that I would like to share

Captain Spaulding

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I just had an experience with one of my Cerakoted lights that I would like to share.

Now I know that Cerakote has been a debated topic, and I am not trying to start another fight on here. I also am not endorsing or shilling for any particular shop. In fact, this particular cerakote job was done by a personal friend that does not and will not Cerakote any lights for anybody on this forum. To try not to get this thread closed, or turned into another fight, I please ask that nobody posts anything thats going to start a fight. Just a "my experience thread". Nothing more.

Now with that out of the way, here we go.

I have a white Cerakoted 6P body and I wanted to stuff a 3.6v - 6v dropin it it, so of course I needed to have it bored to fit an 18650. Me being the champagne taste, beer budget kind of flashaholic, I asked another friend to bore it out. This guy is a professional machinist, but he has never bored a light. I basicly gave him the body and an 18650 and told him to "make it fit". He said no problem, and he would even do it for free. (just my price!)

So I go to pick up the body yesterday and upon meeting him, he unwrapped it from the bubble wrap pouch to show me a "nick". I was thinking "oh great, he scratched my Cerakote up". He handed it to me and then pointed to a tiny tiny little nick right on the edge of where the flat part meets the knurling. He then proceeded to tell me that "whatver that coating is, its strong as hell".

While examining this tiny nick, he tells me that he got ready to bore it and was worried about scratching the white coating so he "chucked it up lightly" and then spun it. He said that he then started to bore it and the body slipped within the chuck and at the speed of about 3,000 RPMs, the body thrashed about inside the grip of the chuck for a few seconds before he stopped the machine.
:oops:
He said he was amazed that it wasnt beat up badly. After being knocked around inside a loose chuck, it came out pretty much unscathed. He was blown away and said he has never heard of Cerakote or seen anything like it that would withstand that kind of beating.

I knew I was taking a bit of a risk as Im sure the "correct" way to do it is to bore it first, then coat it, but the price was worth the risk and I am happy to say that it all worked out great! :thumbsup:

The end.
 

scot

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I like those kinds of stories...glad it all worked out for you Captain!!
 

Kestrel

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Willamette Valley, OR
I had a machinist friend bore a SF 6P and a SF C3 for me, the 6P turned out perfectly but the C3 not so much. During a PM discussion with Moddoo or ElectronGuru (can't recall which), apparently the C2/C3's are more difficult on the set-up for a good boring job. Just a FYI. :shrug:
 

nbp

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I can't wait to get my C2-CK back from the shop to check this stuff out for myself! It should be here any day now! :popcorn:
 

samuraishot

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Impressive! Cerakoted lights weren't really my thing...but now you got me thinking of adding one to my collection :whistle:
 

Captain Spaulding

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I had a machinist friend bore a SF 6P and a SF C3 for me, the 6P turned out sperfectly but the C3 not so much. During a PM discussion with Moddoo or ElectronGuru (can't recall which), apparently the C2/C3's are more difficult on the set-up for a good boring job. Just a FYI. :shrug:

I actually gave him three to do; 6P, C2, and Z2. He did the C2 and 6P no problem. He said he thought the walls on the flat parts of the Z2 would be too thin and structurally weak so I told him to hold off on that one. I only really needed the two so it's not that big of a deal. Maybe eventually I will have a "pro" do it that guarantees the work. :shrug:
 

ma_sha1

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I've seen a Cerakoted mag bezel that got scratched up pretty bad,
so my impression is that staff isn't as strong as HA III coating. Are there any data to compare Cerakote vs HAIII?
 

Captain Spaulding

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Sacramento, CA
I've seen a Cerakoted mag bezel that got scratched up pretty bad,
so my impression is that staff isn't as strong as HA III coating. Are there any data to compare Cerakote vs HAIII?

There is data comparing Cerakote to HA III, but I politely request that those comparisons stay out of this thread so it doesn't get shut down like the last pissing match did. This thread is just me sharing my experience. Please open another thread if you would like to discuss the comparison. Thanks!
 

azzid

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I've also read about cerakote being scratched or chipped off but it didn't stopped me from getting a cerakoted HDS 170t. I've been edc'ing it for 2-3weeks straight and there seems to be no trouble with it staying beside my phone enclosed in a aluminum cover(the aluminum cover had scratch marks though). I dropped it a few times already, waist high always bezel down and not a single part of the coating was damaged or got chipped off. The stainless bezel got dinged a bit but the cerakote received no damage.
 

precisionworks

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apparently the C2/C3's are more difficult on the set-up for a good boring job.
+1

The square body lights are not quite square, with the C2/C3 measuring an average .775" across the closest flats & .850" across the widest flats. The C2/C3 & 6P both measure .775" at the O-ring groove BUT the 6P measures 1.000" for the remainder of the tube. As long as the tube is running dead nuts true before boring begins they come out perfectly.
 
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