Guest

In the next week or two, the wife will be getting a new stove/oven. So I have permission to use the old one. I want to repaint several parts and bake them in the oven.

My question is what is the optimum temperature and time for baking parts; can I place them directly on the oven rack or should I place them on something? Thanks for any directives. Patrick :cheers:

Mac

Here's my free advice (a bargain at twice the price), Patrick.

I would use the oven before I painted rather than after. If you preheat the parts and leave them bake long enough to cook out any moisture, there's nothing left in the metal to oxidize. I didn't realize how much moisture can be in metal until RonD used a torch to heat a part I'd degreased and sand blasted and I watched the moisture boiling off. You can paint the parts hot. This works particularly well with Cast-blast and helped disguise the fact the part is supposed to be natural.

The best part about having a hobby oven is you can now do powdercoating at home. There are kits available from several manufacturers which provide everything you need and instructions as different formulations require different heats. Given the choice between powder and paint, you know where I'm at.

John McGraw

Patrick,
I have found that about 140-150 is about the right temp for most enamel and lacquer paints. The big problem is that most newer ovens don't have settings that low! My ovens in the house have 170 as the lowest setpoint, so I turn them on and when the oven gets up to about 140, I cycle it off. The oven is so well insulated that it will hold that temp for a half hour or so, and then I just cycle it on for a few more minutes. I found that the 170 setting will tend to curdle some of the enamels it is real fresh. I use one of the ovens in my kitchen and I haven't been killed yet, but I allways keep my eyes open for incoming butcher knives.
:nono:

Guest

Thanks Mac and John, that's exactly what I needed to know...just hope it doesn't stink up the house too bad!! :lol:


[Modified by FXT, 10:34 PM 11/16/2002]

Chuck Gongloff

I confess....I've done it too. LOW settings for a short time are best. If I'm in a hurry to complete some task, and want to re-assemble something without waiting hours for paint to dry, I'll just turn on the oven...lowest setting, and put the item in for a few minutes, till the paint is dry to the touch. It causes a tremendous STINK...especially enamels. I'll only do this when Mrs. Chuck is at work as I'm sure that this activity doesn't make her happy. Anybody use the dishwasher to clean parts? :) Chuck

JohnZ

Many years ago I was doing some cosmetic restoration on a Ferrari I had at the time, which had black "wrinkle-finish" paint on the cam covers that looked pretty bad. I stripped and zinc-chromate primed them, and the "wrinkle" paint requires that the part be pre-heated. My wife was out shopping, and I cranked up the oven, pre-heated the parts, sprayed them (one at a time - V-12 cam covers are BIG - an inch longer and they wouldn't have fit diagonally in the oven), and popped them in the oven, watching the "wrinkle" effect appear through the window in the oven door, then removed them and let them cool in the garage. Didn't give it another thought - until my wife got home a couple of hours later; she went ballistic, announced very clearly that "the whole house stinks and my oven is ruined" :mad . After opening all the windows and airing out the house (in the middle of the winter), negotiations resulted in 1) She got a new oven, 2) I never used "her" oven any more, and 3) I got the old one to use in the garage :D

a454corvette

I agree with the 140-150F. Our infrared lamps in the booth will give a surface temp of about 140F, and that's the number specified in the paint manufacturer's info.

paintdaddy

Johnz,thats a good story .I kinda went through the same deal with my wife about the dishwasher.Man that thing makes a good parts washer!
Anyway,I guess Im the only one who hasnt tried this.Arent you guys afraid of bowing up,ecspecially the gas stoves? :seeya

Jeff Garner

I also use the wife's oven to hide all her Christmas presents because I know she'll never find them there.
I have used the oven at 450 degrees for exhaust manifolds between layers of Cast Blast. It is a good idea to heat them up to the highest temp before painting to cook out the moisture.

LemansBlue68

Don't forget to stick a toothpick in them before taking them out. If the tooth pick comes out clean, your parts are done. :jester

If it's a self cleaner and it's out in the garage you can use the oven to degrease and strip paint too. The heat bakes the gunk and paint right off. Don't do it on aluminum parts or heat treated steel parts (like springs) though.
The heat is still low enough even on "self-clean" that iron or mild steel parts won't distort or get damaged.