jamiekim•9d agoMost Upvoted

Wasted $300 on a paint curing lamp that barely sped up drying time

Bought this infrared curing lamp from a supplier in Cleveland thinking it'd cut my bake time in half, but after testing it on four panels I still had to wait the full hour for the clear to harden, has anyone else had luck with a different brand or method for forcing dry?

2 comments

2 Comments

alicem299d ago

I feel your pain, especially after dropping three bills on something that promised faster results. That "barely sped up drying time" part hits hard because I've been there with a similar lamp from a different supplier. Infrared isn't magic, it mostly just heats the surface layer and can cause issues if you're not careful. What actually worked for me was switching to a better hardener ratio and bumping up my shop temperature to around 75 degrees with a couple of space heaters. You might also check if your clear coat is compatible with forced drying, some cheaper stuff just won't cure fast no matter what you do. Have you tried adding a few extra drops of catalyst to see if that helps?

jana_lewis169d ago

Oh man, you know what, I used to be one of those people who swore by infrared lamps lmao. Thought they were the secret sauce for fast paint jobs and all that. But reading your experience and alicem's honestly changed my mind big time. I never really thought about how it just heats the surface and can mess things up underneath. Now I'm rethinking my whole setup and probably gonna focus more on temp control and hardener ratios instead. Really appreciate you guys laying it out like this, it's making me step back and look at the actual science instead of just hype.