Finishing secrets?

bassplaya12 · January 24, 2009, 05:02:04 PM

Anyone have any secrets for painting enclosures during winter time? I dont have a very good place to paint except for my garage. Unfortunately its about 15 in my garage right now. This will mess up the finish wont it? How do you guys do it when its cold? Thanks

Focalized · January 24, 2009, 05:05:59 PM

I don't. Finish I mean. I'm so anxious too. And all I want to do is clear-coat.

frequencycentral · January 24, 2009, 05:14:46 PM

http://www.beavisaudio.com/techpages/boxinaday.html

Andi · January 24, 2009, 06:38:31 PM

I bought (after reading the Dano guide and many others) a toaster oven. I'd been thinking about it for (literally) years.

Anyways, what I used to do was to drill, sand with one of those spongy sanding blocks (60 grit, I think), then degrease with isopropanol, then primer, wait 10-15 minutes, then another coat of primer, wait, 3 or so coats of colour, leave for a couple of hours, coat of lacquer, leave overnight (or longer), label, two more coats of lacquer. I have some crude spraybooths that I made from 4 sides of a cardboard box, a cake decorating turntable and some clingfilm stretched over the top (to reduce dust falling into the paint)

Now I do the same process but the "wait" bits are 10 minutes in the toaster oven. The paint seems to come out flatter and more even and glossy, and the lacquer no longer has any chance of making the paint run. I can't use the oven for the post-labelling lacquer coats because the labels I use are thermal printed, but it means I can get good results much more quickly. Well worth it.

runmikeyrun · January 24, 2009, 08:13:55 PM

you can do what i do in the winter- warm up the paint and enclosure in the house, run outside with the box on a hanger or piece of wood, spray it super fast, then run back in and put it in the toaster oven to bake. works pretty well and beats waiting until spring (or getting the wife mad because you painted it in the house!)

bassplaya12 · January 24, 2009, 08:34:03 PM

Quote from: runmikeyrun on January 24, 2009, 08:13:55 PM
you can do what i do in the winter- warm up the paint and enclosure in the house, run outside with the box on a hanger or piece of wood, spray it super fast, then run back in and put it in the toaster oven to bake. works pretty well and beats waiting until spring (or getting the wife mad because you painted it in the house!)

This is what I was thinking I could do. You think I could do this without the baking? Is it worth it?

Andi · January 25, 2009, 03:43:06 AM

Ah - I have a little shed for such things. The pillar drill and spraying kit all live in there.

Mark Hammer · January 25, 2009, 10:01:22 AM

Probably the easiest way to accomplish all of that in winter is to buy a powder-coated box, use some rub-on lettering and dab a bit of clear nail polish over the lettering. Pretty Spartan, I'll grant you, but it beats the night I spent in emergency gasping for air when I tried to spray-paint a guitar body with the windows closed as a teenager.

Another very clever idea that someone here has trotted out in past (and please forgive my forgetting who) is to simply print out your graphic for the top surface on a laser or inkjet printer and stick a thin sheet of plexiglass/perspex/lucite over top. It works a bit like some coffee tables you've seen where there are all sorts of things pressed down under the pane of glass. There IS the small matter of the cutting and shaping of the top cover (plexiglass stinks a bit when filing/cutting it), but at least it isn't floating in the air.

snap · January 26, 2009, 03:55:18 AM

that was Gez!

bassplaya12 · January 28, 2009, 10:34:41 AM

Quote from: runmikeyrun on January 24, 2009, 08:13:55 PM
you can do what i do in the winter- warm up the paint and enclosure in the house, run outside with the box on a hanger or piece of wood, spray it super fast, then run back in and put it in the toaster oven to bake. works pretty well and beats waiting until spring (or getting the wife mad because you painted it in the house!)

If i do warm it up in the house and such and then paint it quick then bring it back in to the house and just let it dry and stay warm. (no oven). Any problems with that?

earthtonesaudio · January 28, 2009, 10:43:36 AM

Quote from: bassplaya12 on January 28, 2009, 10:34:41 AM
If i do warm it up in the house and such and then paint it quick then bring it back in to the house and just let it dry and stay warm. (no oven). Any problems with that?

Just the off-gassing fumes and stink as the paint dries. If you must do this, maybe put it under a fan that exhausts outdoors.
Or check out low- and zero-VOC paint. I haven't seen it in spray versions, but there are clearcoats available.

Then there are paint-free finishing methods, like etching.

bassplaya12 · January 28, 2009, 04:33:21 PM

I like the way etching looks but im not all that familiar with it.

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Finishing secrets?