Hammertone paint still soft after...THREE WEEKS?!

[skiraly017]

You can still see some ridges around the footswitch. Still quite happy for my first painting endeavor.

[Ripper]

I use automotive paints and my airbrush.  It's messier in some ways and more expensive but it does a nice job and you can get some great looking finshes.

A buddy of mine just finished a speaker cab he made in the stuff you paint inside of truck boxes.  It turned out really great and it is tough.  It was also a heck of alot cheaper than tolex.  I've been thinking about trying it on one of my boxes to see what it turns out like.

[Mark Hammer]

A buddy of mine just finished a speaker cab he made in the stuff you paint inside of truck boxes.  It turned out really great and it is tough.  It was also a heck of alot cheaper than tolex.  I've been thinking about trying it on one of my boxes to see what it turns out like.

I use that stuff for "covering" speaker cabs.  A little stinky, but then so is contact cement, and this gets the job done faster and cheaper, with less heartache.  The only problem is that it is probably more textured than hammertone paints (and of course, everyone knows the only *real* way to get "Hammer-tone" is....well, the jokes not that good. :roll: ).  While a buffed hammertone finish can accommodate a variety of different legending approaches, that black truck-cab/running-board stuff is verging on being like black stucco in terms of surface texture.  I may be wrong, since I haven't tried it, but it strikes me that graphics - should one want them - would be hard to do with that paint.

On the other hand, probably makes for a nice bottom plate.

[Ripper]

The stuff my friend used is now where near like stucco.  It left a nice textured surface, much like a old style tolex.  You are right about the lettering etc, decals might not be the best, although you could smooth out the spot for them.  I guess it would depend on how much lettering etc you wanted to use. Airbrushing would work, and maybe setting the decals in while the box liner was still tacky/damp.

[dadude]

Professional paint shops can use specially formulated paint that is not available for sale to consumers which do not have to meet these regulations and are the fast drying, hard curing old style paints.

They've cracked down on this beyond belief for pro shops. Maybe more so than spray cans. It's tightly regulated. It's part of the reason Fender moved off doing lacquered finishes, why they don't do them in their Ensenada shop (Mexico) is anyone’s guess I love those old Chevy finishes.
It's a good case for moving over to powder coating boxes.

BTY, If you leave off the primer (Hammerite does not require primer) you'll have less layers that need to dry. 3 coats, bake at 200 for 45 minutes, let it cool down and harden for a couple hours, spray one final coat to cover air craters and let dry for 8 to 24 hours. Place you decals and let dry for about 1/2 hour. Use a poly-acrylic clear gloss. 2 mist coats 15 minutes apart. Let dry for 15 to 20 minutes. Then apply a liberal final coat. Let dry for a least 24 hours and go to work.

[Ripper]

I guess we're still lucky here in canada ( or maybe they just don't enforce it).  anyone can walk into an automotive paint shop, buy what you want and use it.  I know if you're a commercial shop there are guidlines for paint booths etc, but for the average guy, it's not a problem.