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7/3/2008 12:29:38 PM EDT
Has anyone had their lowers or mags powder coated?  If so how did it stand up, affect tolerances?
7/4/2008 4:23:21 AM EDT
[#1]
Am I missing something here? Most of the spray bake finishes require heating to 300 degrees for 30 minutes or so. Is that risky to aluminum too?


EDIT-came back to this thread and a whole lot of posts that were before mine are not there. So if my post does not make any sense that is why.
7/4/2008 4:27:41 AM EDT
[#2]

Quoted:

Quoted:

Quoted:
Don't do it. Besides being to thick, to make powder coat stick, you have to heat the metal up to 325+ degrees for 15+min.s depending on the powder. This could change the molecular structure of your receivers making them unsafe to use afterwards. The only aluminum I've seen powder coated were wheels. They were heated up to below MFG recommended temp specs for safety reasons. The powder coat didn't stick. It started coming off within 2 weeks. It's a waste of time for this type of application. I'm no expert & I've only just started powder coating, but I wouldn't do it because of the safety factor.

 D.


I have seen some motorcycle, 4wheeler, and auto bling purpose aluminum powdercoated and it turned out very well.

You can powder coat bling & anything else aluminum as long as it doesnt have to be structurally sound. A 4wheeler you could cheat on but I wouldn't powder coat aluminum wheels on a motorcycles. Besides that's what anodizing is for. I just started doing that as well.

 D.


If you use Columbia's candy colors over aluminum it produces a nice, unique finish.

Cool on the expansion into anodizing



7/4/2008 4:27:57 AM EDT
[#3]

Quoted:
Am I missing something here? Most of the spray bake finishes require heating to 300 degrees for 30 minutes or so. Is that risky to aluminum too?


actually norells moly bakes at 300 for an hour.  ive rockwell hardness tested before and after and came within one point of each other.  now i have hardness tested some that were in fores and they were like 50 points off.  
7/4/2008 4:32:03 AM EDT
[#4]

Quoted:
Don't do it. Besides being to thick, to make powder coat stick, you have to heat the metal up to 325+ degrees for 15+min.s depending on the powder. This could change the molecular structure of your receivers making them unsafe to use afterwards. The only aluminum I've seen powder coated were wheels. They were heated up to below MFG recommended temp specs for safety reasons. The powder coat didn't stick. It started coming off within 2 weeks. It's a waste of time for this type of application. I'm no expert & I've only just started powder coating, but I wouldn't do it because of the safety factor.

 D.


I doubt it since most epoxy finishes bake around this temp for at least a hour or so

I'm sure the front of my upper reciever threads have been over that temp on more than 1 occasion. It seems to be doing fine.
7/4/2008 4:53:51 AM EDT
[#5]

Quoted:
Plus you can draw the temper in T6 aluminum, rendering it T0.  The difference in 7075 is going from a UTS of 70,000 PSI to 8000 PSI.


While your rough idea is correct (bake-on finishes can affect the heat treatment), your technical info is way off.  You cannot "draw the temper" of a T6 to a T0.  T0 is a solution annealed state, achieved by heating to almost 1000F and water quenching.

The most you can do while refinishing is overage the aluminum to a T651 or T7 condition.  And, since the aging temperature of 7075-T6 is 325-350F, yes, it is something you could do when Duracoating your receiver.  I have been warning people of this on these forums for a couple of years now.  Mind you, as has already been pointed out, the difference between the T6 and T651 conditions is very small.

I can't say specifically what effect it might have on the magazines, as I don't know what they are made of.  Probably 2024 or something similar, but I am not sure.
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