AR Sponsor
Posted: 10/11/2004 3:37:16 PM EDT
|
I'm not new to ARs or mags for that matter, but I do have a question regarding mag finishes. I understand the differences between the Moly dry film and teflon finishes, and the fact that the aluminum is anodized first. My question is this...why does everyone want to refinish their mags with Perma Silk G or teflon when some of the anodizing is worn off as well? Why not just re-anodize them and be done with it or re-anodize then apply a spray on finish? Is this possible or is re-anodizing relatively expensive or hard to find someone to do it? These may be stupid questions but I was just wondering as my beater range mags are startin to lose some anodizing and I want to revamp them. Thanks 
|
Re-anodize. Its cheap if you cut out the middle man . Here in Tucson I have a plating company that does commercial anodizing redo all of my receivers. They usually run a batch at a time by color. Black seems to be run most often so its usually a quick turnaround. If you want pink  you may need to wait a while longer. Look in the yellow pages under Anodizing then go talk to them. They will have samples of all the colors they can do. Its like a rainbow. They have some cool finishes. It will give you ideas for other stuff to anodize.The last batch I had done, 4 uppers and 4 lowers, so all of my uppers and lowers are interchangeable. Is there anything lower than a vain gun owner? God forbid if the color is off a little. Anyway this it what I did. I stripped everything. I took then to a machine shop that had a fine glass beading blaster. They blasted/stripped the old finish. the FINE glass beads don't damage any of the lettering. The guy ask for $20 but sense they came out so nice I through in an extra $10 to grease the wheels for next time. The finish that I got was a smooth matt just like the original. I then took the 8 parts to the anodizing shop at the appointed time to get them in the next batch of black. Several days later I went to pick them up and they were perfect, they looked more original than the originals did. They charged me $65 for all 8. In the end I had $95 and some running around in refinishing all 8.  Check it out Rats |
|
The gray on the mags is NOT anodizing. The gray is the moly dry lube finish. Anodized aluminum is .... aluminum colored! When that gray wears off it is STILL anodized. When aluminum is COLOR anodized it is given an electrical charge in a bath of sulfuric acid. This chemically changes the surface of the aluminum, making it harder and also more porous. It is this porosity that allows for the next step. The next step is color. It is dipped in a bath of special dye. Anodizing may be red, blue, green gold, purple, black, etc. The aluminum absorbs this coloring. Take a look at JP Enterprises products. www.jprifles.com Click Rifles on the left, and click New CTR-02, then scroll way down the page. Finally, there is a sealant coat. BUT, GI mags are not run thru the dye step. Some have a gold color, some are silver underneath. The moly dry lube, I am convinced, is as much to kill the reflection as to lubricate, probably more to kill reflection. Originally the mags were going to be single use, come preloaded with ammo. Use once and toss the empty like a 2 liter plastic bottle. But that is not how it turned out. Anyway, there is no need to "reanodize" as it already IS anodized. You simply just spray on some more moly dry lube. He could have done as well, a lot cheaper, by stripping his mags with some paint stripper, and spraying with Norrell's. |
AR Sponsor