Painting in winter

[Joecool85]

How do you guys do it?  I don't have a garage, and my basement stays around 50-52 degrees F...Most paints recommend 60-80 F. 

[Speeddemon]

I do it in the 'garage', but after 30 minutes of drying, I put them inside again, near a heater.

Seems to work, but I totally concur that the winter sucks for self-painting DIY-ers! 

Oh, and keeping the spray-cans inside is a rule too! Otherwise your paint is too 'wet'/thick.

[Joecool85]

Yeah, I keep my paint inside.  How warm is your garage?  Also, how well does it work for you?  I bake my pedals after painting them anyway if that matters...

**edit**
I did a little research and it seems that if you keep your can warm it helps a lot.  So I'm thinking if I keep my can in warm water the 50 degree shouldn't be too bad.

[Mark Hammer]

Winter is one of the reasons why I tend to use plastic boxes more and more.  After legending the boxes, I can spray on a couple of light coats of clear laquer and dry them quickly with a heat gun set on low, and my wife doesn't complain about the stink from the garage.  Given that our garage connect directly to the kitchen, I'm kind of glad of that too.  Metal boxes are reserved for summertime, when I can leave the garage door open.  Sometimes what I'll do is simply pre-paint a couple of metal boxes during the summer and have them available for later in the year.

When I was a teenager, I tried spray painting a guitar on my room.  Since we lived by a major intersection, and my bedroom faced the front/street, dust tended to drift up through my bedroom window.  So, I closed the window, and closed my bedroom door to spare my family.  Things seemed fine for the first few hours.  And then we spent the evening in emergency with me gasping for breath.

[Joecool85]

Wow...yeah, definetly not a good idea to spray paint inside with no ventilation.  See, my basement would probably work ok because even though its poorly ventilated, I wouldn't be down there between coats etc, only while applying the paint.

[David]

Wow...yeah, definetly not a good idea to spray paint inside with no ventilation.  See, my basement would probably work ok because even though its poorly ventilated, I wouldn't be down there between coats etc, only while applying the paint.

Joe, I'd think twice about that.  If your furnace was running and the burner picked up any of the paint vapor, ummm...  could be ugly.

[The Tone God]

It...it...it...it...it...it...its n...n...n...not t...t...t...t...t...t...t...t...t...t...too col...col...col...col...cold to pa...pa...pa...pa...pa...pa...pa...pa...pa...pa...pa...pa...pa...pa...pa...pa...pa...paint.

I guess you could try spraying inside with windows open for a short time and run out with the box to let it dry but its not just the cold that could be bad for painting but depending on where you live the humidity could screw with the finish. Not too mention snow blowing around.

Why don't you hold off on finishing the box until better days ?

Andrew

[KMS]

I'm in the garage....no heat.....but I have a space heater 1500watt electric.

I got a a couple of the large drop cloths for construction and make a booth at my work bench (like a tent) and leave an opening to the vent on the gable wall.  I warm the area up to about 50 and clean my parts and set them on a little frame I made by the heater (just over the top of the heater). If the parts are large mass of metal, I set them right on the heater.  I have a couple of bricks set up with a board across them in front of the heater where I warm up the paint, glue, etc.  I have another rack made of wood, like a saw horse, that I hang the parts on over the heater (about 18inches above the heater) and I paint and dry the parts right over the heater being careful not to spray any paint into the heater.  I have a little thermometer and make sure the spray area is over 70 F before I paint...this usually means that my entire work area is about 50 F.

Once the paint is dry to the touch I lower the parts closer to the heater to bake the paint...somewhat...not too much or it will wrinkle.

When I'm done I roll up the drop cloths and put them in a 5 gallon bucket and set all my racks to the side and I have the work bench back to normal.

[Joecool85]

It...it...it...it...it...it...its n...n...n...not t...t...t...t...t...t...t...t...t...t...too col...col...col...col...cold to pa...pa...pa...pa...pa...pa...pa...pa...pa...pa...pa...pa...pa...pa...pa...pa...pa...paint.

I guess you could try spraying inside with windows open for a short time and run out with the box to let it dry but its not just the cold that could be bad for painting but depending on where you live the humidity could screw with the finish. Not too mention snow blowing around.

Why don't you hold off on finishing the box until better days ?

Andrew

I don't want to "wait until better days" because around here we won't have better days for a minimum of 2 months.  On top of that, you'd have to have a TON of fumes for the furnace to ignite anything.

[Jayco]

I've been painting in the garage (here in Iowa) without issue... the garage is around 50 degrees or so, and it stinks from being a confined area, but here is usually what I do:

Spray a coat of paint with the garage closed

Put the pedal in a toaster oven sitting on the garage floor set at about 150 degrees (my guess is that the actual temperature is FAR less than that given the coldness of the garage)

While its baking for a short while, I crack the garage door enough to let some fumes escape and fresh air in... dust isn't a problem because the pedal is in side the oven

10 minutes later or so, close garage door... take pedal out... wait for it to cool enough to be held in my hand... paint another coat and repeat.

Seems to work fairly well.

I've tried 3 different paint colors and the only one that's given me issues was a silver metallic Rustoleum.  I think it was because I either painted to thick of a coat, the paint can itself was too cold or the metal flakes reacted in the heat.  Don't know and it wasn't bad enough to worry about it (you have to look REALLY close to see any issues with it).

I've got three more pedals to start painting tomorrow...  all are to be bright yellow, so we will see how it works.

Jim

[jjucius]

I'm glad i powder coat, before i fire my oven up it's around 25 degrees in the garage but after i fire it up it gets to where i have to take my jacket off, around 70 degrees. whats funny is after i'm done and turn the oven off and it cools down theres usually a couple of spiders hanging curled up in a ball 

[b_rogers]

has anyone tried high heat paint? at autozone and other car parts places they have paint for headers and exhaust manifolds with ceramic in it. i believe you can get 1500F and 2000F in quite a few colors. it lasts about a year on my headers for my 69 firebird. just a thought..it cures with heat and becomes pretty hard to come off...also at most auto paint supply stores they have real auto paint and clearcoat in spray bombs. i repainted my rear spoiler and it turned out great..been on there about 3 years now.

Brent

[Joecool85]

I use automotive paint actually.  Being a car guy it just seems natural 

[runmikeyrun]

Winter or summer i always warm my cans in a sink full of hot but not too hot water for 10 mins.  While this is happening in have my box in the oven at about 150 degrees.  Remove box, remove cans,  shake for 1 min, spray, then the box goes right back into the oven for an hour.  Lather, rinse, repeat.

Precisely why i haven't built anything into an enclosure requiring painting in a long time.  Mr. Jucius, i am ready for some powdercoated/screened boxes!!

[bancika]

Arrrgh, I finished my custom guitar a month ago and gave it to friend to paint it but it's damn cold, so nothing yet. I hate cold 

[amz-fx]

Winter is one of the reasons why I tend to use plastic boxes more and more.  After legending the boxes, I can spray on a couple of light coats of clear laquer and dry them quickly with a heat gun set on low, and my wife doesn't complain about the stink from the garage.

Yeah, Mark, but you're in the great frigid North....   down here in south Louisiana everyone starts shivering when the temp drops below 60 degrees.  It should be a high of 52F today and everyone is complaining how cold it is...  I plan on turning on the heater in my shop and painting a couple of pedals   

Back on topic...  it helps to warm up both the pedal box and the paint can.  Not hot, just warm.

regards, Jack

[Joecool85]

I live in the "cold north" too.  Here in maine right now it is currently 16 F.

[Noplasticrobots]

Ah, how I love California weather!

But seriously, is there maybe some sort of warmer place you could go to to paint? Maybe some type of warehouse or something? Assuming of course that you work in one or know someone who does...