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Silicon Carbide Grip


Practicalomaha

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For those of you that have done this before I have one question. After applying the carbide material. when do you pull the tape off? Do you let it fully dry, or pull it off right away, or remove after 5 min? Any help so I don’t mess it up and make it look like crap would be great. Thanks!

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I haven't done my pistol yet but have practiced on some old ar pistol grips and I used the 24 hour jb weld and pulled the tape about a half hour after applying the silicon carbide.  I would pull it before the epoxy dries.  I got nice sharp lines doing mine this way.

 

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On 4/8/2020 at 1:36 PM, Practicalomaha said:

For those of you that have done this before I have one question. After applying the carbide material. when do you pull the tape off? Do you let it fully dry, or pull it off right away, or remove after 5 min? Any help so I don’t mess it up and make it look like crap would be great. Thanks!

One question, what grit have picked for the SC?

There are several available options, and I narrow them down to the following two options: 60/90 and 120

Any suggestion?

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That should work fine. I use original JB weld primarily because it dries gray / black and blends in even better, but that should do a good job.

 

The slower the cure time, the better. 30 mins of working time should be plenty.

 

Edited by MemphisMechanic
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I use the normal JB weld epoxy, I cant remember the cure time on it... I think it may be like 10 min set time and 24 hr full cure. but I pull the tape off around 30 mins. 

 

I also use the 60/90 grit.  

grip.JPG

Edited by C_Tanner
sp
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I just SC'd my 2nd frame.  I de-greased the frame with rubbing alcohol then masked off the edges with 1mm wide flexible vinyl tape used for masking pinstripes on cars.  Much easier to bend around curves. Then extended the mask with strips of blue painter's tape.  Roughened up the smooth areas with 220-grit and cleaned with more alcohol.  Painted on JB-Weld Original Cold-Weld.  Sprinkled on 60/90 all over the frame, lightly pat it down(wear nitrile gloves), sprinkle more , pat some more, repeat a few times.  Let it sit for an hour then carefully removed the tape.  Sprinkled more media on the exposed glue and used a plastic pick and old credit card to straighten out lines.  Then let it cure for 24 hours before handling.

Prepped.
IMG_5066.JPG

Painted with JB-Weld
IMG_5068.JPG

Right after peeling the paint.

IMG_5070.JPG

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12 hours ago, wdfwguy said:

Wow, that's a great looking job. 

 

How much JB Weld do you think it required?  Does the grip feel noticeably larger?

 

Just about to order the supplies from Amazon tonight...


A 2oz package of JB Weld is probably enough for 3-4 grips.


The SC layer is .015-.017” thick.  About the same as a business card.

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5 hours ago, earlan357 said:


A 2oz package of JB Weld is probably enough for 3-4 grips.


The SC layer is .015-.017” thick.  About the same as a business card.

 

Thanks, that's just what I was wondering.  I was imagining it being thicker.

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The "thickness" will come from how heavy you lay on the epoxy.  I just used a cheap sponge paint brush and put a thin even layer on.  I supposed if you wanted an oversized grip, then make the layers of epoxy heavier.

 

In the end, my grip is thinner than stock.  Because I took quite a bit of material off when sanding it prior to the epoxy.  I did that on purpose though to get a slightly smaller grip.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Have done several SC grips after backstrap recontour and finger groove removal on Gen 3's.  BSI Slow Cure, 40/60 Grit with Fine line vinyl auto supply tape.  Fill any frame holes or gaps with play-doh and watch your thickness during application, if you put it on too think it will chip at the edges after use/abuse.  I pull the tape an hour or two after application and let it cure overnight before handling.  Made the mistake of handling too soon and the grit will be pushed into the still suring epoxy resulting in a "flat" spot with much less grip.

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  • 8 months later...

I finally got around to putting silica carbide on my glock 45 tonight.  It was way easier than expected.  I don't have quite as clean of lines as earlan357 and it is still curing, but I'm definitely satisfied.  Time to sand off the finger grooves on the gen 4 19 and do it to that one.   I'll post more pics tomorrow when it is re-assembled

IMG_0568.jpeg

IMG_0563.jpeg

Edited by Jeremyc_1999
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2 minutes ago, Intheshaw1 said:

Nice, I got my supplies a month ago to do it to my 17.4, I just haven't had time yet.

It took me longer to strip and tape off the frame than it did to apply the epoxy and silica carbide.  I had the wife help pour silica carbide over the frame while I tamped it into the epoxy.  Wasn't needed, but definitely helped

 

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