Olympus
Member
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2008
- Messages
- 4,212
Thinking of starting up a small refinishing business (I know, right? Custom grip business and FFL dealer and now refinishing business?) using Cerakote. I think there is a market for this in my area as there is nobody within 2 hours driving distance that offers refinishing.
I've tried Duracoat in the past and the results were terrible. Even following the directions to the letter. Heard and read a lot of good reviews on cerakote. Here are my thoughts and maybe you all can tell me what you think and what you'd do differently if you were me.
-Start small. Only offer solid color choices for handguns only. Can do more than one color, just not patterns or stencils.
-My shop space is limited until next fall when we will be building a new larger shop. So I don't have space for a large expensive blasting cabinet.
-I already have a small portable blaster that I use for bead blasting that works great. I just use it outside and the media is not collected. Just blows away. They are inexpensive and work pretty well. Thinking of buying another to use for strictly aluminum oxide to blast for cerakote prep.
-Already have a HVLP gun and decent air compressor.
-Have racks to use for hanging.
-Worst case scenario I can use the kitchen oven for heat curing. But I was considering buying a countertop convection oven. It would just have to be large enough to hang the parts in.
I'm thinking that if I start small, I can use inexpensive equipment until I see some business growth to justify reinvesting in better equipment and then I'll have a larger shop built as well. Interested in hearing thoughts, especially from those who already do applications like this.
I've tried Duracoat in the past and the results were terrible. Even following the directions to the letter. Heard and read a lot of good reviews on cerakote. Here are my thoughts and maybe you all can tell me what you think and what you'd do differently if you were me.
-Start small. Only offer solid color choices for handguns only. Can do more than one color, just not patterns or stencils.
-My shop space is limited until next fall when we will be building a new larger shop. So I don't have space for a large expensive blasting cabinet.
-I already have a small portable blaster that I use for bead blasting that works great. I just use it outside and the media is not collected. Just blows away. They are inexpensive and work pretty well. Thinking of buying another to use for strictly aluminum oxide to blast for cerakote prep.
-Already have a HVLP gun and decent air compressor.
-Have racks to use for hanging.
-Worst case scenario I can use the kitchen oven for heat curing. But I was considering buying a countertop convection oven. It would just have to be large enough to hang the parts in.
I'm thinking that if I start small, I can use inexpensive equipment until I see some business growth to justify reinvesting in better equipment and then I'll have a larger shop built as well. Interested in hearing thoughts, especially from those who already do applications like this.