GunLab (KnownHost) » Finishing

AR-180B parts update

Chuck — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 13:36:58 +0000

With the parts coming back from the heat treating company on Friday it was time to get busy getting them finished.

This is how they look after heat treating. This is the safety.

And this is the bolt hold open.

The first step was to run them through the tumbler to remove the majority of the scaling.

After the tumbler they are then bead blasted to clean them for parkerizing.

This is how they look after finishing.

You will notice the different colors. They were parkerized at the same time with the same solution. The reason for the differences is the material , 1018 vs 4130, and the heat treating performed on the parts.

We are working on the spring bending die today and hope to have the parts set up for sale this weekend.

Tuesday shop pictures

Chuck — Tue, 14 Oct 2014 12:43:33 +0000

What a shop to work in. And to think that the people that work in my shop complain about the working conditions.

I just don’t want to hear about the benches not being the right height or that we need a new cnc machine.

GunLab visits Hydro Print Services

Ian — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 06:27:16 +0000

We recently had the opportunity to drop by Hydro Print Services and speak to the owner, Scott. He offers a really neat 3D printing/coating process which is a cool alternative to traditional firearms finishes. It allows you to have really intricate patterns (far more than you could get by painting or airbrushing), a huge variety of colors, and a finish that isn’t susceptible to rusting like traditional bluing. The options run the gamut from plain solid colors to faux wood grain to camo patterns to zombie collage patterns. Or carbon fiber, snakeskin, diamondplate…you get the idea. There are a ton of options you can see on the company web site.

We think that some guns look best with a traditional blued or parkerized finish, but the creativity that hydroprinting allows is great for personalizing competition guns, homebuilds, and anything else you want to stand out. We had a great time hanging out with Scott, and put together a video discussing the possibilities an actually printing a part (an old AR buttstock) so you can see the process. And to top it off, Scott is offering a 10% discount on all his printing services to the community here – just mention GunLab when you place an order. I know we’ll be taking advantage of that with a couple guns we are sending him. Thanks, Scott!