The REAL Kryton GB round #3. Taking payments now.

Ken, I still want the logo/engraving on mine.

And you've got a little extra PayPal your way for all your hard work.

awesome! Not needed but awesome. Nice to know there are those out there that still like how the barrels look with those logos.

Actually the logo design on the hosts in the recent pictures look good. I was mainly basing my opinion on the older Kryton that I got from you that has a white logo and seems to be some kind of coating that comes off. It almost seems like a sticker but I assume it is not. Regardless I don't need the logo.

some of the logos were made by jayrob's wife and were a (I wanna say silkscreen but know that isn't right) sticker that was applied and could be removed.

The difference is, these are actually laser engraved with a 40W CO2 engraver. This burns off a small section of the anodizing leaving behind a rough white layer. It does NOT rub off.

why did the engraving not set on the polished barrels? a 40watt Co2 should be able to engrave that without problems. they cut mirrors and 1/8 inch aluminum with a 30 watt.

a mirror polish would make it harder for the laser however depending on the depth of the engraving it should be able engrave and have the engraving hold during the polish process.

I donno but he did try. I think it was entirely too reflective (after all highly polished aluminum is used as a mirror in a LOT of lasers) and wouldn't take the engraving.

I did make some progress last night on getting a few more barrels done. here is what I got done last night.. she's just an absolute beauty.



Just a basic dark blue to light blue gradient. Still incredibly stunning barrel in person.
higher res pic.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3175365/DSC00222.JPG
with a bit more flash..

Ken, I would also like to have the logos on all of my krytons. It proves that
they are the real deal and I think it adds to the entire design of the grooves.

Also, sorry for not getting back to you for so long. I have been busy with
family problems and my girlfriend and I almost broke up. But all is good now.
Either today or tomorrow I will be sending you a PM about the Green
anodized hotlights. Thanks again for all of your hard work!!!

Kenom, Looking at that last pic I see some pretty obvious flaws in the anodizing. Someone else commented about getting a host with flaws in the anodizing too. Is that something that can be fixed with that host? Is that not the final anodizing or is that an exception to all the rest or do you expect all of them to look similar? I am hoping that is not how mine will look because The pitting which didnt anodize and other flaws are pretty obvious in the pics to me anyway. Maybe the pic just shows it more than it is too?

There really isn't much I can do about the pits other than to completely sand them down past the pits. I've tried this and it takes an incredible amount of time for just one barrel, and I haven't got the time to do that to 50+ barrels. I mean as it is, I'm having to spend a lot of time fixing the threads on the head with valve grinding compound. They are seizing up every single time I clean the inside prior to anodizing because the dirty threads were causing the flaws in the anodizing right at the place the parts screw together because of dirt seeping out during the dye process. So, I purchased some heavy duty degreaser to remove all remnants of anything on the threads and I've learned that if there is no oil or grease on the threads, they won't even screw past the first twist. It's incredibly frustrating to have to fix something that shouldn't have needed fixing in the first place.

This is what it looks like:



some barrels have a lot of pits, some do not. Here are some specific examples.


These have very few pits and no flaws in the anodizing:


If this is a significant issue for you, I can take the time on a few select people to get them flawless.

Here are the ones that were done thus far for you xstatica (marked with a green line):

JHey ken, just wanted to know, did you redo mine yet?

Kenom, if you could send pics of all the sides(1 side then the other) for the ones you have done for me so far at closer range I can make a better decision. It looks like those are fine to me but it is hard to tell from the small pics. I don't expect perfection so certainly i can live with some flaws. Without more detailed pics though i don't know what to tell you. Some of the other pics of the other recent hosts certainly have too many flaws to me like the longest width wise pic above of the blue host.

I plan to sell most of them so a lot of flaws could cause issues for me. I am sure you can understand that i did not expect to have obvious looking pits and other flaws in the anodizing.

Silvershot said:

JHey ken, just wanted to know, did you redo mine yet?

Click to expand...

no

xStatiCa said:

Kenom, if you could send pics of all the sides(1 side then the other) for the ones you have done for me so far at closer range I can make a better decision. It looks like those are fine to me but it is hard to tell from the small pics. I don't expect perfection so certainly i can live with some flaws. Without more detailed pics though i don't know what to tell you. Some of the other pics of the other recent hosts certainly have too many flaws to me like the longest width wise pic above of the blue host.

I plan to sell most of them so a lot of flaws could cause issues for me. I am sure you can understand that i did not expect to have obvious looking pits and other flaws in the anodizing.

Click to expand...

Fair enough, I will get on taking pictures of the ones for you from all sides. Specifically looking for any blemishes or large areas of pits. I'll post them "soon" LOL.

I would like to state that as I'm going, I'm learning more and more about how to successfully anodize these without the "flaws" now the pits are a different matter. Those were discussed earlier in the thread. So you will not be seeing very many flaws as I nail down my technique in anodizing these. One thing that I found was incredibly important beyond the surface preparation was the inside as well. This is what is causing my most recent hang up. having to go through and grind down the threads on the heads one by one so that they no longer seize when totally derived of lubrication on the threads. Thus far, I've re-done the threads on 20 barrels and they just need to be polished and then degreased. This however leaves over 30 barrels that still need threads touched up. This is important because the newest degreaser that I use will seep out from the threads and if it gets on the dyed surface will totally and completely strip the dye from the barrel preventing it from accepting any new color at all. So I have to go back, strip the barrel, and re-anodize it all over again. Now, I'm soaking all of the barrels totally dissasembled in a distilled water bath after degreasing for roughly 20 minutes to make sure that all vestiges of the degreaser are totally gone! However if the threads aren't touched up, I just plain can't thread them together without some kind of "oil or grease" which defeats the purpose of degreasing in the first place. This is why they arrived threaded but once cleaned were having issues threading. The cutting oil from the cnc machines were still on the threads which allowed them to thread together with no issue. The valve grinding compound is working tho, so this issue is SOLVED.

I've got one red/black marble up for grabs. I don't want to re-anodize this one, as the flaws on it are pretty minor.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3175365/xstatic (6).JPG

shown here the flaw is in the separation between tailcap and barrel body, where the dye smeared a little because of bleeding. This will only be available for 1 day after that, it will get stripped and re-anodized. It does not have a focus adapter for it, but I can make one for it if you desire. Same GB prices apply. $80 without focus adapter $90 with. Send message to kenkassidy at hotmail dot com

i cant view that pic.. need to log in first.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3175365/xstatic (6).JPG

just the red one only.

has my matte blue shipped yet?