Do you cook your paint jobs?
So long ago, I was a member of a group that worked on creating pedals for guitars. You know, distortion pedals overdrive that sort of thing and several members there would literally bake their painted pedal bodies in like toaster ovens. Which seem to produce a somewhat tighter and tougher finish From the usual rattle can paint just let it sit and dry.
what I do is quite a bit different, but I will use a small space heater next to my workbench and use that to heat up a metal body after I have spray-painted. I take the painted car body and wave it around in front of the hot airstream for just a minute or two. Using a laser temperature sensor I can see that the body temperature goes from room temperature around 75° up to about 95 to 100°. Experience here is that it seems to speed up the drying / curing process and perhaps makes the paint finish a little tighter in appearance.
anyone else doing this?
Discussion
In aircraft work I used to use a dry lube called DuPont 321. I dried my parts a couple hours under a heat lamp, about 200 degrees, then assembled. The parts looked like polished graphite, it was slick and durable. No, it doesn’t work on axles. I already tried.
I've always threatened that I am going to try baking on the paint by sticking a Hotwheels body in the air fryer.
- preheat casting , gas oven, nat gas = h2o, walked outside with it, and water seem'd to ooze out. didn't work, back to the stripper — dr_dodge
- I do have an old ron popiel set it and forget it in the shop....hhhmmmm — dr_dodge
- Ron Popiel - there's a flashback ! — Dutch_Clutch_Racing
Very interesting I experienced no real issues in the occasional heater heating of various metal hot wheel bodies. I think primarily because the damn thing is so small. Quite a different deal when you've got many square feet of automotive surface to be painted. Biggest problem I am aware of, though is my occasional lapse in turning the heater off. Which is not a problem in December but kind of sucks in August.
In tonight's work I took a plain MatchBox 34 Chevy coupe and hot rodded it. The old man had either a 34 Ford or Chevy when the US joined WWII.
- Ok that's a pretty fantastic looking job! — Dutch_Clutch_Racing
- Great work! Thats sweet. — Zamak_Speed_Shop
- I’m happy with it overall and those flames are from a decal sheet I created. But that’s the wrong photo as you can see a slight gap between the hood and fender. There is a small chunk of lead under the hood that needed a slight trim job. I’m happy though - thanks. — AbbyNormal
- You are your own worst critic. It looks great! — Dutch_Clutch_Racing
- very cool, great details! — jlane
YT channel Diecast Resurrection (he's no longer active) made his own paint oven with a metal box and two incandescent bulbs. He airbrushed acrylic mostly. He did excellent work.
- Cool! — Dutch_Clutch_Racing
- Wow, that’s like an easy bake oven for hot wheels cars. — AbbyNormal
When we make lead fishing jigs, we use a powder paint that gets cooked after application. Hmmmm, produces ultra hard, scuff resistant, shiny finishes. I'll post the pain brand when I get back today
- any powder paint brand will do just fine if the surface is properly prepped and the paint is cured at the correct temperature and time. I use generic Harbor Freight stuff and top shelf stuff... all works just fine. — Stoopid_Fish_Racing
During the summer I put them in the sun. I bought a small toaster oven from a thrift store, I think it's along the lines of an Easy-Bake oven, to use in the winter. It had a 15 min timer and seems to work good for setting the paint.
- Very similar to my general experience in finishing small items. Heck I may fabricate a easy bake oven — AbbyNormal
whenever spray goes on metal, it cools it
very critical in painting real cars as you never want to drop below dew temp,
if you painted outside in high heat but 85% humidity, as soon as the car cools, water condenses on it,
or worse, finely between layers. humidity/dew temp is very important to "lay down" and "curing"
that said, I use my dehumidifyers for high temp 100% (or close) dry air blowing over the casting.
high temps in high humidity cause paint to skin, and not cure at the bottom
low temp (but above the dew pt) and 0% water in the air makes the paint cure from the bottom up
so I vary my distance from the casting to the dehumidifyer
that is to try and find the sweet spot
dr