Painting and clear-coating in winter??

[Focalized]

I have many pedals that have either decals or swirled paint that need clear-coat. Is there any safe method of painting in winter?
Maybe spraying and running it in to an oven? Seems like a pain but I'd like to get these done.

Maybe no go because i'm in New Jersey and it's 40 and below from now 'till march usually.

[davent]

Hello,
I'm presently trying to do a pedal with Stew-Mac's water based lacquer. No noxious oders and chemicals so i'm just doing it in the basement. It's taking multiple multiple coats to get any sort of build in the finish. So far have just been spraying sanding sealer and it's now level so hope to start the actual lacquer tomorrow. Haven't put decals on  yet but I can see this will be a long process. Needs two to three hours between coats so can do three or four per day if i'm around.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishing_supplies/Finishes_and_solvents/ColorTone_Waterbase_Guitar_Lacquers.html

Last fall I tried the spray outside with regular lacquer then run inside and hit it with the hot airgun and it seemed to work OK however by this summer the lacquer had developed hairline cracks everywhere. Didn't really look all that bad as the cracks were usually hard to see, depended on the angle of the light but it is disappointing. My lacquer was warm and the box was warmed up with the hotair gun before running outside to spray.
Have fun,
dave

[Jaicen_solo]

From experience, unless you're using catalysed lacquer (and even then, not recommended) spraying outside in the cold is unlikely to give good results. I had a friend that used to work for a company that would repair accident damage at the customers home, and they would carry those halogen heaters to heat the work in winter, but the results were never as good.
My advice would be to find a brushable lacquer, and brush on many coats. You can then sand it back to a smooth finish. It a bit more work, but less likely to mess up.

[davent]

A couple more ideas that i haven't tried. There's an old thread on brushing on Polycrylic (waterbased polyurethane) that shows some good looking results. I've tried using Varathane waterbased polyurethane and am not happy with the results with it. Never becomes water clear, it never loses it blue colour and leaves the project looking hazy. Have a can of the Polycrylic but it's unopened. Will give it a go on a future project. http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=62971.0

Cloudscapes has recently  been showing pedals finished with an epoxy resin, the results again look real good, this finish looks like it could take a beating without any problems. http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=72012.msg582332#msg582332 Also check the picture thread for more results.

And then there's the Beavis Audio Box-in-a-Day finishing with some more ideas to be tried. http://www.beavisaudio.com/techpages/boxinaday.html

dave