Body Shops Without Baking Booths

[velobard]

This sounds in line with what what I would've guessed. The shop my car is at uses Sikkens and is a one-man operation. I'm not sure exactly how long he leaves cars in the booth once he's done painting, but I've been to his shop before and know he doesn't rush cars back outside right away. I'll probably ask him about it tomorrow.

I talked to my body guy today. He said it depends on what paint system you use as far a curing time (of course). He doesn't have a high-volume operation so there's no pressure to rush a car out. He lets it cure, without heat, at least 12 hours before he starts to polish the paint. That's plenty for me to be happy, even without a heat booth.



P.S. Paints vary, but I did find this link on Dupont ChromaClear that talks about drying times for paint for anyone who's interested.

http://www.performancecoatings.dupont.com/dpc/en/us/html/prodinfo/chromasystem/H-19365_G2-4700S.pdf

 

[EdLancer]

Are you referring to lacquers or enamels?

99% of all piant used today is still water based arcrylics. Chemistry places a big part in the mixing with hardeners and reducers depending on the climate of the spray area.



Robots spray the paint and the heat lamps tack the paint so it can move on in the line without chance of contamination settle on wet paint. What is amazing now is that with theses new paint system, color changes on the line takes less than 30 secs so they are no longer restricted to painting all the same colors before changing.