Baked on Enamal Spray Paint

For years I have put all my paint projects out in a gentle rain after it is dry enough to not be sticky. It make the paint hard enough to handle after over night.
 
I used a heat gun on a shotgun barrel that I had painted with BBQ grill paint. It came out harder and tougher than woodpecker lips. Didn't bother to check the temperature of the barrel, but it was plenty warm.

Bill
 
How does one do this "cold water trick"? Just a little spray bottle or a a wet rag or what?
 
Great information. I am about ready to try my first "REAL" paint job. A 1939 International Farmall "H". Never done more then rattle can before as I hate the mess and always get heavy handed because I am impatient with the whole procedure. My painter delivered his gun, said "About time you learn. Good project for it. Good luck", and left. What an attitude!

I don't mean to go off topic here, but do not let yourself be intimidated by your first paint job. My first one turned out just fine, and now I don't buy rattle cans anymore except for really small projects. One thing that I can recommend is to get your red paint from CaseIH and get some hardener too - it is a bit more expensive but you will not be disappointed. Most of the other 'look alike' paints just don't look the same, nor do they hold up as well. My first is shown here:

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Oh, ignore the date on the photo - I replaced the batteries in the camera and forgot to reset the date on the camera! The tractor was painted in April of 2004 and the photo above was taken in August of that same year after all of the assembly was completed.

As for baking paint, I've been doing it for years. Small parts go in the kitchen oven at low temp for two or three hours, larger items get placed under heat lamps, usually surrounded by cardboard or similar to keep the heat in a bit better. I never tried the hair dryer trick, but don't see why it would not work. None of the parts on the Super C were baked though, I just used enamel hardener in the paint.
 
As far as enamel paint and baking, it does make the paint cure faster. However, what you end up with is not baked enamel. The term baked enamel is used when talking about the baked ceramic (or porcelain) finish used on appliances and bathtubs.

As far as the water treatment goes, it does work... Enamel dries by solvent evaporation and cures by oxidation (or cross-linking if a hardener is used). Water speeds oxidation. Just like with iron and rust.

Heating the enamel helps dry the solvents and speeds the reaction time for curing. In some cases, if the humidity was too high when the paint was applied, or if it was applied too thickly, it may be weeks to get full cure. This is because the outer layer of paint is cured, but inside it's sealed off from the air. Solvents can't get out and oxygen can't get in. B

Baking can help with this sometimes by allowing the solvents inside to escape... Why? The vapor pressure of the solvents is increased at high temperatures and the outer layer softens and the solvents can get out.

Baking works well, but don't rush it. Heating the curing paint too soon can cause bubbling (solvent pop), loss of gloss, smoothness issues, etc.

John
 
I generally avoid Rust-o-leum paint except for the hammered finish line because it seems to be the only brand I have had consistent problems with it not drying. I prefer most any other brand due to this problem.
 
Sorry about that. Some photos disappeared off of a bunch of posts a while back when they had to restore the forum due to the site being hacked. Here is the photo once again:

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Thanks for bringing it up!!

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Replaced our electric oven with gas, set aside the oven for powder coating in the garage. Before I ran the power line 2 years later a single mom needed is more that me. Do you get by hardening paint in your house oven? Now using gas I don't want to cook paint in case of off gasses.
 
I don't think one would have to worry too much about gasses from the paint as they would burn off slowly as they are produced. I don't think that the paint could produce enough gas fast enough to reach the LEL of those vapors. Not only that, it wouldn't matter if you used an electric oven or a gas oven, if the temps are high enough to ignite the gasses, it doesn't matter what the heat source is.
 
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