Hot Rods Infrared Heat versus Curing Lamps

And BenGay!

 

Those cure light can create issues when not used correctly.
Ive seem em cook body filler off the car.
Using them on a 1k product can cause em to crack.
So don’t leave em too close or too long on a panel

 

At the core of all this several modern paints (as mentioned above already) cure by chemical reaction. If not, by evaporation. Warmth will accelerate both processes. Excess warmth will evaporate the top layer or cause an incomplete chemical reaction leaving it soft in the base layers. If either finally occurs shrinkage and wrinkles will often appear. I've cured with IR, heat lamps, sunlight (caution!), bake booths and even home movie lights. If you want to cure completely the ambient temps are important. Can't shoot cold and expect heat to save the day. Exceptions exist but don't play well in today's refinish materials and equipment. In my youth I tried an old show car trick. Hot enamel. I'd be lying if said what temp the enamel was, I set the gun cup on a hot plate and turned it on and off to avoid a potential catastrophe. It was almost too hot to touch but when it was sprayed over the cool (ambient) part it layed down almost like polished lacquer. I couldn't imagine doing a whole car like that but some of the old guard did. Alkyd enamel too. Yuk...

 

I agree with @anthony myrick when it comes to temps & air flow.

I heat with radiant heat tubes from above that heat objects instead of the air. I have always believed surface temps are much more important than air temps.

Clears these days need air flow across it during early drying, so if you are heating the air, you are dropping the temps below what is needed for the chemical reaction you need when you evacuate the room. My booth fan stays on for 10 minutes after I am done painting.

God Bless
Bill
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ar-transport-hauling-open-or-enclosed.614419/

 

In general lamps are not a good solution to trying change the overall conditions for painting. They are far more likely to cause problems than solve them. There is a real danger of cooking vital chemical components out of what is being applied. Shops use them for production not because it is too cold in the building and they are set for output and time. Part of what makes professional lights expensive is they have much more precise control over what is coming out of them to help avoid issues and yet they still crop up. Sometimes it's just smarter to wait.

 

The pro lights increase productivity not compensate for cold conditions. (Not in my experience anyway)
There are some new clears designed to cure quickly without baking. Usually for small repairs. Spray, cut and buff within a 60-90 minute window. Some claim to buff in 1/2 an hour.
I’ve shot one clear that has zero flash time between coats.
These all need to be used with surface and ambient temps in the correct range.
The issue with the home shop, for me anyway, isn’t heat but air movement.
Warning up the shop and surface temps isn’t hard but that heat is removed when ya crank up the fans to remove the fumes.
So keeping things above 60 can get hard on super cold days.
But when painting in cool temps, allow extra flash time, use the correct reducers and hardeners.
I don’t use a clock between coats but how it feels to the touch. I’ve had to wait 1/2 hour between coats on cool days.
Read the tech sheets, use the correct components and use a little common sense.
And don’t try to out engineer the scientists that make the paint