Food Dehydrators to Cure Paint
William H. Shuey
Michael Erwin wrote:
>
> I've seen references to using a food dehydrator to cut the amount of
> time it takes for paint to cure prior to polishing with a Micro Mesh or
> LMG polishing kit from the recommended 7-10 days to overnight. I don't
> have a dehydrator, but I've built a plywood paint booth with two 100
> watt bulbs installed inside. They generate enough heat to keep the
> interior of the booth about 85-90 deg. F. I've built a door on the paint
> booth so I am able to isolate the model after painting. Also, I'm
> primarily using enamels on the my models. Is this sufficient to speed up
> the curing process?
>
> Mike (ntr...@gwis.com)
>
> "Maturity is one step from senility."
>
> My employer never listens to me anyway, so I doubt if they'll give a
> hoot what I say here.
Here is another method. If you have a gas oven, just put the model in
there for a day. Don't turn the oven on, just let the heat of the pilot
light do the job. Seem to work for me.
Bill Shuey
IPMS 10292
Anthony W. Wallace
Michael Erwin wrote:
>
> I've seen references to using a food dehydrator to cut the amount of
> time it takes for paint to cure prior to polishing with a Micro Mesh or
> LMG polishing kit from the recommended 7-10 days to overnight. I don't
> have a dehydrator, but I've built a plywood paint booth with two 100
> watt bulbs installed inside. They generate enough heat to keep the
> interior of the booth about 85-90 deg. F. I've built a door on the paint
> booth so I am able to isolate the model after painting. Also, I'm
> primarily using enamels on the my models. Is this sufficient to speed up
> the curing process?
It will help the curing process, but I sure don't know what the curing time
will take. I built a 14"x14"x24" oven for this purpose. I use a 25 watt
light bulb, and it heats up to 117 degrees F. I have used this and have been
able to polish out Model Master enamels after letting the model cook
overnight. I wouldn't suggest this short of curing time, but I have done it.
I read somewhere that the melting point of plastic was about 140 degrees F.
My concern with the dehydrators is that I do believe that air is blown
throught the device, and I feel that invites blowing particles of who knows
what onto the models surface.
Tony Wallace
wal...@uwyo.edu
Henry Busch Sr.
William H. Shuey wrote:
>
> Michael Erwin wrote:
> >
> > I've seen references to using a food dehydrator to cut the amount of
> > time it takes for paint to cure prior to polishing with a Micro Mesh or
> > LMG polishing kit from the recommended 7-10 days to overnight. I don't
> > have a dehydrator, but I've built a plywood paint booth with two 100
> > watt bulbs installed inside. They generate enough heat to keep the
> > interior of the booth about 85-90 deg. F. I've built a door on the paint
> > booth so I am able to isolate the model after painting. Also, I'm
> > primarily using enamels on the my models. Is this sufficient to speed up
> > the curing process?
> >
> >
> > "Maturity is one step from senility."
> >
> > My employer never listens to me anyway, so I doubt if they'll give a
> > hoot what I say here.
>
> Here is another method. If you have a gas oven, just put the model in
> there for a day. Don't turn the oven on, just let the heat of the pilot
> light do the job. Seem to work for me.
>
> Bill Shuey
> IPMS 10292
Bill,
I agree. I found this method a few years ago and it works great.
Enamels dry to handle usually overnight but I leave water base in at
least 3 nights. The only problem is who gets to use the oven. My
models or the roast.
I told members of my local IPMS Chapter about this and they think I'm
nuts.
One word of caution for anyone wanting to try this. Check the
temperature of your oven with just the pilot light on. If it's over
120*F, I'd try some scrap pieces before I put anything good in there.
Henry B.
IPMS#31529
AAMRESIN
Only caution I can add is that incandescent light bulbs put out quite a
bit of infra-red heat. This can ruin a body, especially with dark colors.
It happened to me many years ago, after painting a "Rislone Eagle" in
red, white, and black, I placed it under a couple of 100-watt bulbs. The
heat from the bulbs dried the paint just fine--and warped the parts of the
tub that were black. I have discovered that the light in the oven in my
kitchen stove will raise the temperature of the oven (all by itself) to
about 120 degrees overnite, and have force-dried both paint and putty in
this manner.
(Be sure to let everyone in the house know you have something in the
oven!).
Art Anderson
Bob Buxbaum
Michael Erwin <ntr...@gwis.com> wrote:
>I've seen references to using a food dehydrator to cut the amount of
>time it takes for paint to cure prior to polishing with a Micro Mesh or
>LMG polishing kit from the recommended 7-10 days to overnight. I don't
>have a dehydrator, but I've built a plywood paint booth with two 100
>watt bulbs installed inside. They generate enough heat to keep the
>interior of the booth about 85-90 deg. F. I've built a door on the paint
>booth so I am able to isolate the model after painting. Also, I'm
>primarily using enamels on the my models. Is this sufficient to speed up
>the curing process?
>
>Mike (ntr...@gwis.com)
>
>"Maturity is one step from senility."
>
>My employer never listens to me anyway, so I doubt if they'll give a
>hoot what I say here.
>
I have been using a food dehydrator for a year now with real good
success, ................................until yesterday! I forgot to
leave the lid slightly off center and damaged a $40, unreplaceable
Ford GT body. For some reason the Ferrari body that was in there with
it was undamaged. The Ford WAS a 10 year old MPC product, the Ferrari
a newer Fujimi product.
B E C A R E F U L ! ! ! ! !
However, the results ARE fantastic.
Bob (oops!) Buxbaum
cpv...@erols.com
jno...@aol.com
In article <3300FB...@uwyo.edu>, "Anthony W. Wallace" <wal...@uwyo.edu> writes:
>Subject: Re: Food Dehydrators to Cure Paint
>From: "Anthony W. Wallace" <wal...@uwyo.edu>
>Date: Tue, 11 Feb 1997 16:06:17 -0700
>
>Michael Erwin wrote:
>>
>> I've seen references to using a food dehydrator to cut the amount of
>> time it takes for paint to cure prior to polishing with a Micro Mesh or
>> LMG polishing kit from the recommended 7-10 days to overnight. I don't
>> have a dehydrator, but I've built a plywood paint booth with two 100
>> watt bulbs installed inside. They generate enough heat to keep the
>> interior of the booth about 85-90 deg. F. I've built a door on the paint
>> booth so I am able to isolate the model after painting. Also, I'm
>> primarily using enamels on the my models. Is this sufficient to speed up
>> the curing process?
>
>It will help the curing process, but I sure don't know what the curing time
>will take. I built a 14"x14"x24" oven for this purpose. I use a 25 watt
>light bulb, and it heats up to 117 degrees F. I have used this and have been
>
>able to polish out Model Master enamels after letting the model cook
>overnight. I wouldn't suggest this short of curing time, but I have done it.
>
>I read somewhere that the melting point of plastic was about 140 degrees F.
>My concern with the dehydrators is that I do believe that air is blown
>throught the device, and I feel that invites blowing particles of who knows
>what onto the models surface.
>
>Tony Wallace
>wal...@uwyo.edu
I'm going to attempt to describe with the written word a way to create a very effective drying booth. The gist of this note was originally published in the IPMS/USA Journal by Chuck Davenport.
Get two clear plastic storage boxes from the discount store. One should be as big as your biggest model, the other big enough to sit under that one and support it.
You'll also need an on/off switch, a light bulb and socket, and a "muffin fan" used for cooling electronic equipment/PCs, and available for under $10 from Radio Shack or wherever. At this point, you should be out about $20. (This is all 120V rated stuff I'm talking about).
Mount the fan inside the top cover of the lower box, blowing up into the large box. Cut a hole the size of the fan common to the top of the lower box and the bottom of the upper box to allow the air to pass into the upper box. Mount a piece of filter screen between the two boxes, in a way that you can remove it and clean or replace it periodically.
Mount the fixture and bulb (anything around 50 watts is fine) in the base of the small, lower box. Wire the light, fan, and switch in series.
Cut some small vent holes in the upper side walls of the upper box so the air can vent out.
That's it! The light bulb will generate enough heat to gently warm and dry the air that the fan blows into the drying box. I can leave the unit on all night without worries.
John Noack
IPMS 23017
la...@aol.com
>
>Here is another method. If you have a gas oven, just put the model in
>there for a day. Don't turn the oven on, just let the heat of the pilot
>light do the job. Seem to work for me.
>
>
Just be sure your gas oven isn't pilotless ignition (piezo-electric).
Dale G Elhardt
LA...@AOL.COM
You're only young once, but you can always be immature.
Don_S...@transarc.com
>It will help the curing process, but I sure don't know what the curing time
>will take. I built a 14"x14"x24" oven for this purpose. I use a 25 watt
>light bulb, and it heats up to 117 degrees F. I have used this and have been
>able to polish out Model Master enamels after letting the model cook
>overnight.
The mention I saw of this in Scale Auto suggested a temperature around
110-120 F, which was considered typical of delivery truck summer temperatures,
and so safe for most kits.
>I wouldn't suggest this short of curing time, but I have done it.
>I read somewhere that the melting point of plastic was about 140 degrees F.
>My concern with the dehydrators is that I do believe that air is blown
>throught the device, and I feel that invites blowing particles of who knows
>what onto the models surface.
I've got an el-cheapo food dehydrator - about $20 at the local
discount department store - and it doesn't have any sort of fan - just
openings in top and bottom to let air circulate by convection. I
suppose dust could be a problem, but if you wait till the paint
"flashes" (surface is dry to light touch) - usually about 0.5 to 2
hours for enamels - any dust you get shouldn't stick or would polish out
easily. An alternative might be some sort of filter over the air
intakes in the bottom of the unit, but that might lead to overheating.
Don