Painting Yugo AK (Century)

B

briang2ad

New member
The Park job is OK, but not the most durable. I am about to paint mine in Duracoat. I know I SHOULD detail strip everything, but I plan to use a bunch of spray cleaner and thoroughly degrease, then paint. In other words I'm leaving the folding stock and grenade sight in place. I have some questions:

What is the best spray cleaner which leaves NO residue?

The Century Yugo has the shepards crook looped around the SAFETY lever - opposite a normal AK - anyone have directions how to get this off easily?

Thanks.
 
I think you need to be warned again about detail stripping eveything one more time. To not do so, invites trouble before you start to paint, but this is your ball game for sure. JUst don't be surprised when you have paint chips flaking off down the road.

I use brake cleaner that I get from one of the local autoparts store. I get it for $1.99/cam most of the time and use it outside. You can spend all sorts of money on the various choices, but brake cleaner works for me.
 
Ctry Boy

Country Boy:

I hear you, and it is good advise, but my probllem is not just the folding stocvk, but even the rivets seep some oil. I guess I will have to go through a few more cans of brake cleaner and bake it!

I have heard of others "painting" AKs after the fact, and it must be possible.
 
it can be done

I would advise you to really soak it well and make sure to get as much of it out as you can. A cleaning tank dip would be best if you can do that, but if not make sure the brake cleaner gets in everywhere and do it more than once or twice. Best of luck with it.
 
before Parking I do

I use it when I remove anything left over after I blast the parts. Once they are sprayed with the brake cleaner, i drop them in my Park tank and then into my rain water bath and then blow them off with a filtered air line before I paint them.

Some brake cleaners will leave a residue on the parts. Make sure you read on it and get one that says it won't and double check it before you trust it. some leave an oily film on the parts so be aware before you trust anything to work.
 
I think you need to be warned again about detail stripping eveything one more time.
Click to expand...

Yeah, me too. I've been reading these threads of yours.

Keep in mind that when you FIRE the rifle, it's going to get HOT..

You can put 2 & 2 together and figure out what that means when the
rivets seep some oil
Click to expand...
...

No one on earth is more lazy than me when it comes to certian things in life,, cntryboy has got your back with all of this good advice.
Take it.
 
Final prep

Country Boy: Do you think Acetone is "good enough"? Ever used it?

Ben: Thanks, but the folding stock doesn't seem to have ANY oil left, and you simply cannot drill out the rivets and rebuild the gun - kinda defeats the whole purpose. I think after hitting the gun over and over again, an scrubbing with Acetone, the moisture around the rivets is gone. I may try CRC as with another post.

I've heard of others painting an 'already produced' firearm, but I cannot find the posts now.
 
more on it

I use acetone when I glue in the threaded inserts in my arrow's because it removes most residues. I just like the lacquer thinner a little better.

As far as it goes, the better the tooth you can provide for the paint to adhere to, the better the paint job will be. A bead blasted surface that has been Parkerized is the best, with a bead blasted finish 2nd best. I would bead blast it myself, most any autobody business should have a bead blasting cabinet, ask for a aluminum oxided bead blast if they have it.

If you can't have it done, get out the scotch brite pads and scuff up the metal as best you can. I do this on some aluminum receivers and it works out just fine. Which is best is kind of a relative thing here. I haven't had one fail yet so it's kind of hard to say, but I can tell you that it took me almost two hours to remove the stuff off of a shotgun barrel after I let it cure and I blast at around 120 psi and higher with 70 grit aluminum oxide, if you know anything about it, that is a long time to remove something such as a paint from steel.

Just scotch brite if you have to and make double sure it is degreased and you should be fine, any oil that leaks out from under a rivet can and will cause a problem down the road. Make sure to balst it well with Brake cleaner and then wipe it all down with lacquer thinner or acetone and you will be fine.
 
Parked

Countryboy: It is already parkerized by Century, so that is why I don't want to disassemble the folding stock and wierd grenade launcher sight. I think the CRC electrical deal AFTER more brake cleaner and acetone ought to do it!

So... you have used non-Duracoat products to clean/prep - OK - thatg helps me a bit.

Thanks again.
 
lol

Everyone likes to sell you their products that they recommend. I always go as cheap as I can when I can and you can always prep parts for painting with lacquer thinner. I like to use PRE when I can because it leaves it totally clean with no residue at all, but even when I use lacquer thinner, I double check my parts the same way which is a dunk in the boiling tank to rinse off the part and then see if the water runs off of it or beads up at all. If it beads up at all, you still have some grease, oil, or wax on the metal.

If you can't boil the parts off, a hot rinse in the shower and then a check will be fine, let it water get as hot as it can and then rinse them off well. Once you take it out of the water, they should shed the water right off if they are clean.
 
Thanks again

Countryboy: I did get an e-mail back from Duracoat - they said OK with the Brake Cleaner. But... I got the CRC anyway. Next weekend I will paint and report back - I may also try the shower thing - once, when we had a nutty armorer, we just took our M16s into the shower - it worked.
 
one thing

If you can apply heat like in an oven, the heat can and will cause any oil to run and show itself. That may not make it perfectly clean, but it should help. Use a good heat gun if you cannot put it in the oven. I would do this after you think you have it ready, because like it or not, those rivets can and will hold oil and grease better than you think.

You should be good to go with this, best of luck with it.
 
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