Cerakote Vs. Anodizing
What''s the difference between Cerakoting and Anodizing?
Taylor Freelance uses both cerakote and anodizing in our shop. Both process help provide scratch protection as well as various colors.
Anodizing
Anodizing is a "dyeing" process that uses electricity to dye the metal. We use it for mostly our black, red and blue parts. Anodizing produces a "glossy" finish as the metal "shines" through the dye.
We don't anodize brass parts. Basically, a normal anodizing tank can't dye brass and as a lot of electricity needs to be used to anodize a brass part compared to aluminum. Most of the shops we work with don't offer brass anodizing.
We feel that anodizing is a harder finish and keeps its color better while protecting the part. With that said, different batches of parts can be slightly different in color. This happens because the dye step of anodizing is measured in seconds. An additional second can be enough to change the part color. On the rack used to lower the parts into the vat, the parts on the bottom of the rack will be darker than the parts on the top rung of the rack. It's almost impossible to get the same exact color across parts and batches.
Anodizing is also much less expensive than cerakoting. It can be half or less of the price, but, we have to do large batches at once.
Cerakoting
Cerakote is a "paint and bake" process. The part is painted with cerakote and then heated to cure and harden the coating. A cerakote color comes out matte/flat as the metal doesn't shine through. We use it on some colored parts, brass parts, and offer customers the ability to customize their parts with one of 65 different colors.
The H-type cerakote that we use is very hard, but, scratches are more noticeable than with anodizing. Cerakote is thicker so the cerakoter needs to be careful where the cerakote is sprayed as it can make the part "thicker" and not fit on a firearm. The biggest upside is in the vibrant color and the fact that each batch of cerakoted parts is the exact same color as any other batch allowing part colors to be matched. (Cerakote is a brand and forest green is always forest green!)
Cerakoting is more expensive, but, smaller batches can be ran as well as individual part colors for those customers wanting it.