I was wondering if anyone has had success getting their tubes cerakoted black? I like the beefiness of the metal, but I do not like the look of silver. It looks a little jank. I also couldn’t find 2” tube in black even on McMaster.
Dont forget hockey tape is a great option, and so is coban wrap. Bonus feature is you get to change colors easily
I think it would be cost prohibitive compared to paint. DIY powder coating is probably cheaper but I’d probably just rattle can that shit black.
I second this. Also when the paint inevitably gets scratched, you can just sand and paint again.
You’re probably right. I’m gonna call around and get a quote on the whole tube but I am not going to get my hopes up. Can do two full size cans plus a K size with 1 tube so mayyybe worth.
I am not experienced with cerakote on aluminum. Would you expect it to scratch pretty easy?
We cerakote 17-4 SS glock slides at work and that’s a lot harder than aluminum, the coating still wears off during normal use. It doesn’t look bad but I would expect any cerakoted part to show wear, especially if it’s on something soft like aluminum. It will definitely scratch easy.
I mean, there are countless cerakoted AR receivers out there. And the vast majority of these are aluminum. Does it wear down with use? Absolutely. Does it hold up well enough that people keep doing it? Also yes
I’ve cerakoted over aluminum on numerous occasions. It works just fine. It’s definitely more expensive than spray paint, but it holds up better over time.
I’ll be cerakoting my own 5.56 FTN.5 this next week. Just waiting for the JB weld to dry first. Already sandblasted the aluminum tube in preparation. Though I’ll be applying the cetakote with a sponge to give it a more textured coating. Since I want a better grip to help when threading it on. Sometimes a nice smooth cerakote isn’t the best finish.
I spray painted mine with a high temp mattress balck paint, the one used for grills lmao
RAPCO 911 black and forget about it.
When I was trying to hammer the tube in I ended up getting jb weld everywhere so I just went with it and covered the entire tube in jb weld and a little sand for grit. Then I rattle canned it with some high temp paint. So far it’s worked great.
Beautiful. Your ftn4 remix with the carbon fiber and three lines at the end is my fav design so far. So you cerakoted the whole thing once it’s done I see. I like that, just need to find someone that can do it. Do you plan on posting any ftn5 remixes? How does this one differ from regular?
