Heat Lamps

[dochollow]

thanx all for a wonderfull site. iam a rank begginer at this and going through a tremendous learning curve but this site is of great assitance! my current question is, does anybody use heat lamps to set the paint on your lures & how do you have it set up? i searched "heat lamps" and all i came up with is plastics. i tried a hair dryer but that seems time consuming.thanx all.

[Vodkaman]

I do not use heat lamps, but I live in a fairly warm climate. The temperature in my house varies between 75F and 85F all year round.

Most top coats work by a chemical reaction, either by two parts mixed together or reaction with moisture in the atmosphere. They are designed to work at specific temperatures, details of which you can find out by reading the label or looking up the information on the manufacturers web site.

If your room is much less than 70F then a low Wattage bulb may be beneficial, to raise the cabinet temperature to the recommended range, but other than that, heating is not necessary. Monitor the temperature and it would help to shield the bodies from direct light or you will get hot spots.

If you raise the temperature to 90F and beyond, true, you will speed up the curing process, as chemical reactions are more vigorous with temperature, but you are likely to cause more problems than you solve. For example, a wooden bait contains a lot of air and this air will expand when heated and build up pressure inside the lure. If you have a strong, air tight seal coat, you may get away with it, but if the seal coat has a flaw or is breached, you will end up with bubbles. If you get too warm, the seal coat may soften and the air pressure will cause blisters.

If your cabinet temperature is significantly higher than room temperature, it would help reduce the air expansion problem, if you keep the bodies in the cabinet for a few hours before top coating.

To sum up, try to stick to the recommended temperatures, they are recommended for a reason.

Dave

[Musky Glenn]

I use a hair dryer for setting the paint only, not the d2t. epoxy. Yes, it is time consuming! Some of the colors flash off to a different shade with the hair dryer than with out the dryer. Musky Glenn

[Vodkaman]

Well that was a waste of effort, the question was about setting the paint not top coats.

Dave

[Musky Glenn]

I always respected your opinion Vodkaman. I thought my reply dealt directly with the subject and I only added the additional view of the top coat because dochollow stated he was a rank beginner. Musky Glenn

[rotorhead]

The best heat gun I have ever used is one that is used to heat shrink Monocoat. Monocoat is used as a covering for model planes. The heat gun can get hot enough to burn your fingers if held to close. One or two passes over the new paint will heat set it in a few seconds. You can find the guns at any store that sells model or radio control airplanes and the guns afe fairly cheap and last forever.

Rotorhead

[BobP]

I don't see heat lamps drying acrylic paint as fast as a hair dryer, which applies heat but also moves air over the surface. When I started out, I had a tendency to shoot too much color on lures and that prolonged the time it took to dry it and also resulted in pushing wet paint around on the lure - always a bad thing. I eventually learned to start with a good white color basecoat and shoot less color to get the effects I wanted. It only takes 10-15 seconds to dry a color shot with a hair dryer. And shortening the time between paint shots is the only reason I use a hair dryer - I don't heat set or heat cure acrylic paint for prolonged times as some guys do. I just dry it so I can get on to the next color asap. It's a judgement call but as long as the topcoat remains intact, I just don't have problems with "un-cured" acrylic paint.