Is baking emamel paint better than air drying?

[gnugear]

Is there a chemical change when you bake paint instead of letting it air dry? Same goes with clear coating. Just curious because I want the best finish and the hardest results.

[mojotron]

Baking does smooth the paint out a bit and speeds up the drying proces. Air drying is fine, but give it a few days to dry. I use a flood lite for baking, and I get dry times closer to 24 hours....

There is a chemical change you have to be careful about with laquer. Laquer will burn, turning it yellow, so if you bake laquer use low heat (~120 F)...