In my long quest to find the perfect hard surface coating, there were one or two "research projects" which didn't turn out quite as I had hoped (which is understandable, when you realize that most of the coating houses specialize in tools and industrial parts, and not aesthetic coatings...). One of them was this Hamilton GMT case, which I attempted to have DLC coated using the PACVD process. Unfortunately, the result were unacceptable, with uneven streaks and shadows:
What to do, what to do?
My first thought was to have the entire case recoated, in the hope that the flaws would be covered up. However, I didn't realize that the DLC coating is actually highly transparent, and the flaws continued to show through the second coating. It became apparent that the only way to solve this problem would be to remove the coating, and start all over.
Last night, I carefully bead-blasted the case with media which was carefully selected to be aggressive enough to remove the hard surface coating, while doing minimal damage to the stainless steel substrate. I am really happy with the results:
With a little additional polishing, followed by a nice, even glass bead blast, this case will be ready for a new, perfect DLC coat.
What to do, what to do?
My first thought was to have the entire case recoated, in the hope that the flaws would be covered up. However, I didn't realize that the DLC coating is actually highly transparent, and the flaws continued to show through the second coating. It became apparent that the only way to solve this problem would be to remove the coating, and start all over.
Last night, I carefully bead-blasted the case with media which was carefully selected to be aggressive enough to remove the hard surface coating, while doing minimal damage to the stainless steel substrate. I am really happy with the results:
With a little additional polishing, followed by a nice, even glass bead blast, this case will be ready for a new, perfect DLC coat.
