Food Dehydrators & Paint Dryers

[Miatatom]

Painted model car parts, naturally. As for keeping the dust off, yes it does. Now, if I can just keep it off the stuff before I put them in there.

[Monty]

Tom, looks like you've created an inexpensive alternative to a food dehydrator, but I'm curious about something. What made you decide on a 20" height? (I'm guessing you've made some calculations based on the radiated heat of the bulb vs the melting point of styrene).

Is the lining material Dynamat?

[Harry P.]

And when you're not drying paint you can incubate chickens!

[crazyjim]

More cluk for your buck, I always say.

[Miatatom]

Tom, looks like you've created an inexpensive alternative to a food dehydrator, but I'm curious about something. What made you decide on a 20" height? (I'm guessing you've made some calculations based on the radiated heat of the bulb vs the melting point of styrene).

Is the lining material Dynamat?

Thanks for making it sound like I really thought this out and it was a very scientific approach but the truth is that's the amount of plywood I had.

I also wanted it to be tall enough so that I could add some shelves for more space if I needed it. I would use some sort of rack like in an oven if I made a shelf. Don't know if I will ever need it though.

Yes, the material is Dynamat, I think. It was left over from the Factory Five Cobra I built. I guess that's what FF uses.

Edited July 30, 2012 by Miatatom

[charlie8575]

With the coming extinction of incandescent bulbs in the U.S., have you looked at alternatives, such as an aquarium heater? Or will you switch to a 40W bulb and just wait far longer?

I do know that some halogen lightbulbs will continue to be made, Sylvania, I understand, is actually making them in the U.S., too, in a plant in Kentucky. They're a little lower wattage, but should still produce adequate heat to work, it just may take a little longer.

Interesting idea, and nicely done.

Charlie Larkin

[Miatatom]

Actually, I've got a bag of incandescent bulbs that we saved when we switched the house over to fluorescent so I've got quite a stash.

[ffreak]

That's pretty neat there Tom !! If I wasn't using the dehydrator I swiped from the wifey, i'd make me one !!!

[Ringwraith]

Heya Tom, that looks great!

How's it working out for you?

I'm going to build one as well. Is it cutting down the drying/curing time dramatically??

How did you come up with the 105 degrees?

The dimmer is a great idea. Do you use a thermometer to watch the temp?

I was just reading that those easybake ovens can hit 375!!

They use 100W bulbs.

I remember melting little army men in my buddies

sisters easybake when we were kids!! lol

Would hate to melt my cars! ;-)

Cheers

Sean

[blueoval92]

thats nice man, i waiting to finish buying up the list of cars i currently want then i plan to buy a dehydrator and attach the top to my paint booth so it can double as a drying oven. anybody know how hot those dehydrators get?

[CadillacPat]

The metal or composite lining will help a great deal in retaining and evenly distributing temperature.

I used a similar material in lining my CadillacPat Fact-O-Bake Ovens,

CadillacPat

[CadillacPat]

Miatatom, you're working with plastic so 105 degrees is just fine. You only want to assist the curing of the paint, not bake it as can be done with metal diecast.

You might want to add a layer of 3/16" glass as a shelf just below the bulb.

The glass will absorb and distribute heat evenly while preventing dust or small insects from falling on freshly painted subjects as they dry.

CadillacPat

[hooterville75]

Question for someone in regards to the ovens. As long as you have a heat control on the oven why would it matter what heat source your using if its enclosed ? I have a little oven type machine that was bought specifically back when I raced go karts to put the engine block halves from our engines in to cook them to punch the crank seal out. Would that work ?

[Miatatom]

Question for someone in regards to the ovens. As long as you have a heat control on the oven why would it matter what heat source your using if its enclosed ? I have a little oven type machine that was bought specifically back when I raced go karts to put the engine block halves from our engines in to cook them to punch the crank seal out. Would that work ?

Should work as long as you can get the temp down around 100-110F.

Ah go karting. Tried that back in 1989 and promptly broke my back. Raced motocross, hare scrambles and enduros and never hurt myself. Thought go karts would be safer since I'd turned 45 in 1989 and wanted "something safer".

[Cato]

Tom,

While curing at 105-110, do you find that the temp inside creeps up to the 120+ level?

If you leave it for 5 or 6 hours, is the temp still 110 after that much time?

[Miatatom]

I haven't measured it since I "calibrated the dial". When I first built it, the temp stayed steady for a couple of hours. I think I'll check it again and see.

[cherokeered]

So I got a new cheapo food dehydrator (fan type) that has no temperature control on it. I have read on here guys who have used a fan control set up for the convection type but I have the fan type. It runs at over 140 degrees and over 120 degrees with the lid completely removed so adding vents won't help. How can I control the temp on this thing and bring it down to 105-110 degrees?

[mikemodeler]

There is a great article in "the other model magazine" this month's issue about this very subject, you may want to check it out. Bob Downie was the author, he goes by the screen name Zoom Zoom here, I am sure he would answer your questions.

[Guest G Holding]

Bob said to leave the top off and use a thermometer

if yours is a fan type, no dimmer controls unless you know how to split a circuit

[Art Anderson]

Bob said to leave the top off and use a thermometer

if yours is a fan type, no dimmer controls unless you know how to split a circuit

Actually, you can buy a dimmer control, as used for dimming say, a table lamp, and that will work I'd be pretty sure. It's like an extension cord, with a slide dimmer control in the circuit.

Art

[cherokeered]

Great....I thought a light dimmer would work but they say to only use for light sources not anything like this. They also make an in-line light dimmer switch that allows you to plug the dehydrator in to the dimmer and the dimmer into the wall....(See Pic) Would this work ok?

[Guest G Holding]

Actually, you can buy a dimmer control, as used for dimming say, a table lamp, and that will work I'd be pretty sure. It's like an extension cord, with a slide dimmer control in the circuit.

Art

Thats true Art, and post #50 in this topic shows how to build a simple dimmer and the poster used it with sucess . I built the same deal in a box and I love it!. Another poster had a fan type and due to the wiring inside, when you dropped volts it stopped the fan and the temp was bouncing around. Jason posted a picture of one of the corded type.

[Faust]

Hey guys!

I've heard some of the guys at shows say something about baking their kits. They say that if you heat a kit up before applying paint, the paint goes on much more smoothly and dries better. I think they meant for lacquers, but I wonder if it would work for acrylics, too.

Here's what I'd like to know:

1.) Has anyone done this, and does it work?
2.) What kind of oven do you use? Would a toaster oven work, or is it not big enough?

3.) What temperature?

4.) Can you use this method to dry the paint once it's on?

5.) How do you support the kit inside the "hot box"? Clearly wooden splints would be a bad idea, but I'd be worried that a metal frame or support would cause localized heat zones and warping

6.) How long can you leave a car in heat before it melts?

I'm seriously considering this approach, especially for power drying the cars I build. I currently wait weeks for my Future to dry, and more in the summer (model room in the basement, near the furnace, which runs the A/C, so it's cold in the summer, hot in the winter... go figure...).

Thanks for any input!

[Ace-Garageguy]

Plastic melts, distorts, gets all wavy and bent when it reaches its 'glass transition temperature'.

"A round robin test was performed to determine the reliability of values for the glass transition temperatureT _g as determined by DTA on polymers. Ten different instruments were involved. The test material was high molecular weight polystyrene. Values forT _g (midpoint) were reported in the range 107°C±2 K. The respective heat flow curves differed considerably in shape. In the literature aT _g of 100°C is often given for polystyrene. The discrepancy between this value and the value of 107°C found in the round robin test is due to three differences: the thermal history of the sample, the evaluation of the heat flow curves, and the effect of finite sample size."

That's around 225deg. F. Boiling water.

I really don't recommend baking your models.

What you MIGHT have heard is guys using food dehydrators to cure paint faster.

[CadillacPat]

I could not do without the CadillacPat Fact-O-Bake Ovens I have used since 1998.

Very simply answered, and Derick has hit it square,Sure, raising the temp slightly will not only speed up drying and curing time, but it will make your paint and Clear lay down like glass.

I paint both DieCast and Plastic and my Ovens allow me to move on to multi tape paintjobs. or applying Decals, or spraying final clearcoats, in a fraction of normal drying time without them.

My Ovens perform several duties that the final results benefit from.

Here is a copy of part of one of my Tutorials on my Ovens,----------------

In line with the posting I've been doing about the tools I invent and employ to create my Customs, I would like to show here a very useful tool that any of you can build to improve your paint jobs and speed up the time it takes to create your Customs.

My CadillacPat Ovens allow me to create even complex 2 or 3 tone paintjob Customs in less than 24 hrs. from Disassembly all the way to Reassembly. Everything including Decals and ClearCoat in less than one day.

This shot of the first 21 of a total of 50 HWCGermany Convention cars were all Primered, painted with 3 coats of Shimrin White, Decaled, Detailed, ClearCoated with House Of Kolor Urethane Enamel Clear and then reassembled in less than 24 hrs with the help of my CadillacPat Ovens.

As a kid I remembered the banks of flood lights used in Automobile paint shops so when I began Customizing DieCast I knew I could incorporate this idea into my own brand of Ovens for causing paint to warm up and lay down like glass.

Additional benefits include a dust free environment for the painted cars to sit in and vastly speeded up curing time of any type paint used.

These 3 benefits make these Ovens a Grand Slam when added to anyone's Custom Shop.

One of my small portable Ovens I show at DieCast Conventions,

Here you can see a piece of 1/4" glass that is placed between the light bulbs and the Customs.

This glass absorbs and radiates heat in a uniform manner.

It also serves as a shelf for quickly curing ClearCoated Printed Decal pages and curing body mods where QuikSteel, J.B. Weld, Milliput, or Apoxie Sculpt is used.

And,

It serves as a dust barrier.

My large Oven which holds 55 to 60 painted castings.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v483/CadillacPat/PICT0178.jpg[/IMG]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v483/CadillacPat/PICT0179.jpg[/IMG]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v483/CadillacPat/Customizing%20Tools/groupstandshot.jpg[/IMG]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v483/CadillacPat/Customizing%20Tools/standinsertshot.jpg[/IMG]

And my oldest and most used middle size CadillacPat Custom Fact-O-Bake Oven directly below my Custom made tabletop Paint Booth.

These Ovens of mine are easy and inexpensive to make.

With their use it is no sweat at all to create and finish a complete Custom, or even several, in less than 24 hrs.

Stay tuned as I am drawing up plans to show you how to build your own CadillacPat Custom Fact-O-Bake Oven from a single inexpensive length of 1" x 12" by 10' board of lumber.

I also Customize a lot of Plastic bodies.

For those of you making Models of Plastic you just need to think of the words Baking or Oven as gently assisting in raising the temperature.

You just want to raise the temp to somewhere below or around 100 degrees, for Plastic Models.

Your curing and drying times still decrease greatly, your paint stays safe and dust free, and everything lays down like glass, expeciall solvents like House Of Kolor paint.

For plastic Models just envision the size of the body and Paint Stand used, and build your Oven accordingly.

Size your Oven so you can place and remove Plastic Bodies on a Paint Stand without harming the paint.

An Oven 22" on a side will suffice for up to 1/18 scale

Built with 2 or 3 light receptacles wired in parallel you can slightly unscrew 1 or 2 allowing only 1 bulb to burn when curing paint on Plastic, and then screw in all 3 bulbs for Metal DieCast.

All you need to do is determine what kind of Paint Stand you want to use.

I prefer the ones I make from wooden dowels that go from Paint Booth to Oven and vice versa.

See my "CadillacPat Paint Stands" thread.

However, for Plastic Bodies I would lean towards fabricating some kind of X-Frame setup (stiill on a dowel) to secure the body from the inside.

Just slightly raising the surrounding temperature, in the case of Plastic, to say 95 degrees doesn't sound like a lot,

But if you're in a shop that is 60 degrees it means a great deal to have a small enclosed controlled environment dedicated to drying your projects.

CadillacPat

Edited February 11, 2013 by CadillacPat