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Paint curing - Air dry vs heat lamps #962743
03/30/11 10:18 PM
03/30/11 10:18 PM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 20,463
Eagle, Idaho
Neil Offline OP
The Doctor is in.
Neil  Offline OP
The Doctor is in.

Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 20,463
Eagle, Idaho
Does curing urethane paint with lamps help make the paint any more durable, or is the only benefit faster drying times for production purposes?

I have a set of steel mopar wheels that need painted body color on the outside and was curious if it's worth it to pay a shop to bake them or just let them cure on their own.

Re: Paint curing - Air dry vs heat lamps [Re: Neil] #962744
03/30/11 10:48 PM
03/30/11 10:48 PM
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 7,664
IN
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ahy Offline
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IN
Time and a couple sunny Idaho days should cure it well. The lamps will just speed the process I think. Urethane (two part I assume) gets hard pretty fast so it shouldn't be excessivly tender after 2-3 days of air curing.

Re: Paint curing - Air dry vs heat lamps [Re: Neil] #962745
03/31/11 12:00 AM
03/31/11 12:00 AM
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 422
wisconsin united states
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keith airgrabber Offline
Right in the Nutz!!!
keith airgrabber  Offline
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wisconsin united states
Baking the paint will actually make it die back and not look as glassy. It is better to always let it dry naturally when you can. It will harden the same either way. I am a master painter and painting is my job. When I paint a car at the end of the day. I will let it air dry overnight. Alot nicer results. Baking paint is only for production purposes. So you can paint multiple cars in a day ,instead of just one.

Re: Paint curing - Air dry vs heat lamps [Re: keith airgrabber] #962746
03/31/11 12:03 AM
03/31/11 12:03 AM
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 1,305
Lakewood, Colorado
herkamer Offline
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Lakewood, Colorado
Urethanes dry by 2 different methods. One is solvent evaporation and the other is cross-linking of the catalyzed components. Baking is purely for production. A few sunny warm days will do the trick.


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Re: Paint curing - Air dry vs heat lamps [Re: keith airgrabber] #962747
03/31/11 12:06 AM
03/31/11 12:06 AM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 20,463
Eagle, Idaho
Neil Offline OP
The Doctor is in.
Neil  Offline OP
The Doctor is in.

Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 20,463
Eagle, Idaho
Thanks for the replies.

I'll just paint them myself when it warms up enough. We are in the 50's and 60's, but it keeps getting cloudy and raining every other day. As soon as we get a warm and dry streak going I'll give it a shot.

Re: Paint curing - Air dry vs heat lamps [Re: keith airgrabber] #962748
03/31/11 12:07 AM
03/31/11 12:07 AM
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 36,040
Lincoln Nebraska
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RapidRobert Offline
Circle Track
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Posts: 36,040
Lincoln Nebraska
Quote:

I am a master painter Baking paint is only for production purposes.


Ahhh I always thought the bulbs in a paint booth were to harden the paint & obviously they would dry it faster. Deciding whether to try barbeque grill paint or have some headers chromed. Not so concerned about looks as I am about staving off them rusting out


live every 24 hour block of time like it's your last day on earth
Re: Paint curing - Air dry vs heat lamps [Re: RapidRobert] #962749
03/31/11 12:59 AM
03/31/11 12:59 AM
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 3,871
Oregon
hooziewhatsit Offline
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Posts: 3,871
Oregon
All that being said, I've baked a few things now, and they turned out much better than they would air drying. Granted, it is winter, so it would otherwise take a couple weeks to cure

Hopefully my future garage will have room for a $20 craiglist oven so I can bake things and have them done now.


If you ever find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.
Re: Paint curing - Air dry vs heat lamps [Re: Neil] #962750
03/31/11 01:02 AM
03/31/11 01:02 AM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 104,346
Garden Grove, CA
OzHemi Offline
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Posts: 104,346
Garden Grove, CA
Quote:

We are in the 50's and 60's, but it keeps getting cloudy and raining every other day





Must........resist.........

Re: Paint curing - Air dry vs heat lamps [Re: Neil] #962751
03/31/11 01:48 AM
03/31/11 01:48 AM
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,572
Jacksonville Florida
elitecustombody Offline
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Jacksonville Florida
Just paint and let them air dry, cooking paint won't make it any more durable

Re: Paint curing - Air dry vs heat lamps [Re: elitecustombody] #962752
03/31/11 01:56 AM
03/31/11 01:56 AM
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 36,040
Lincoln Nebraska
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RapidRobert Offline
Circle Track
RapidRobert  Offline
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 36,040
Lincoln Nebraska
Quote:

Just paint and let them air dry, cooking paint won't make it any more durable


got it and that concept had been entrenched in my brain for decades


live every 24 hour block of time like it's your last day on earth






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