Using a Food Dehydrator to cure paint quicker

[Edbert]

Bottom line: the bulb in a box technique is a lot cheaper and just as effective.

Even without the airflow?

 

[Littlemarten]

Even without the airflow?

Gentle airflow is good, especially for the impatient who don't want to wait until the paint is "dry to touch" to begin forced curing. Too much airflow will get dust on the surface. Ninety-five percent of the time, I put the freshly painted part or model in an unsealed sheet-cake container once it is dry to touch.

Curing actually begins before the paint surface is "dry to the touch." Paint essentially consists of a binder (film forming portion) and pigment dissolved in one or more solvents. Curing is a chemical reaction during which polymer components link up to form a continuous network: the "film." This can be accelerated by application of heat. Note that lacquers do not cure, they only dry.

1. Paint applied to surface.
2. Sufficient solvent lost to evaporation that paint binder particles begin to contact and form the polymer. Paint is still "wet." This continues as more solvent is lost.
3. Most of the solvent is gone, but some remains in the solidifying coating. This is sometimes called "saturated surface dry." Coating can be damaged by handling or other contact.
4. Coating surface is "dry to touch," but not completely cured, nor has all the solvent left. Forced curing by application of heat can be started.
5. Curing is complete: the polymer is fully formed. Solvent is gone. Coating can be masked, further paint can be applied.