Epoxy and collision work

[Barry]

Here is what we are talking about for people that don't know what lamp is.
I have a short wave H & S and a medium at home, but they all work the same and all worth their weight in gold.

 

[El Toro]

Could not said it better Crash!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[AAE]

I've used lights for years but have always wondered what the actual dry times are with lamps vs the heat from a heated booth. If Universal dries in 15 min at 120 in a booth how long would it be with a lamp that dries from the inside out. The lamp instructions say 5 mins for clear. If I use a shortwave and get the product to 110-120 how long do I need to keep it there?

 

[jcclark]

I've always believed for my lamp 1 hr of time was equal to about 24 hrs of air dry time.
I find after using the lamp for an hour on epoxy I could sand it
about the same as if it was air dried for a day.
(crude, but it works for me)

 

[ksungela]

I'm used to painting in my garage and having all the time in the world, but using my garage is getting old. I'll have a heated booth available to me for my next vette project. I want to apply 3 coats of epoxy followed by 3-4 coats of Slicksand. If I'm using a heated booth that can go up to at least 120, how can I minimize the cycle time. Meaning, how long between epoxy coats and at what temperature, then how long to wait before slicksand and at what temp.?

 

[texasking]

Lots of ground has been covered here and good info, too. I know that I've had close to 14 years of trying with varying degrees of success to use SPI epoxy in collision work. Along with all the special techniques, heat, time, late nights and weekends, lets not forget to educate our customers about the advantages of being given extra time to do the job. The idea that improved cycle times benefit repairers is a fiction invented by insurance companies to lower rental bills and discourage supplements. My customers, at least the ones who care for their vehicles, are very open to the idea that quality takes time. Once you take the time to educate them and get them on board with the idea that your shop uses processes that are superior but a bit slower, the rest becomes much easier.

Very good points, crash. I usually have plenty of time on insurance jobs, because I normally don't schedule more than 1 or 2 at a time. The rush jobs for me usually come from customer pay jobs, especially ones that use their vehicles daily to make a living or the "mom's taxi". They won't be "inconvenienced" for more than a day or 2 and don't have rental insurance, or don't want to make a claim. A lot are work trucks that the owners just want the tailgate to open after backing into something. The bumper, bedside repair type jobs. The speed clear helps out a lot on those type jobs. They are looking for functionality more than perfection, and the rest of the truck is usually pretty rough, anyway. I get lots of work from customers like that, and when their "nice" vehicle gets damaged, they bring it to me because I got them out of a bind on their everyday work truck. As crash said, most understand that quality takes more time, and don't mind giving the extra time it takes to fix their "nice" vehicle, which is only an extra day or 2 when using epoxy. I have a med. wave infrared that only gets used occasionally, usually in the winter, but always thought epoxy needed time, regardless. This post has opened my eyes to some new things to try.