Spraying Epoxy in cooler weather

B

bing98

I understand the low side temperature limitations of epoxy. 65 degrees minimum for 24 hours. I live in the northeast where the overnight temps are starting to dip into the mid 60s. I probably won't be ready to start priming for 2 weeks where the overnight temps might start touching the high 50s.

I'm working in an attached 1-car garage that is half insulated and sheet rocked(haven't had the time to finish). The temps should be correct during the day when I spray. Once the epoxy' parts can be handled I can move them into the house so they can cure properly. Is that safe or will they give off fumes?

For the parts on the car in the garage I was planning on buying a couple of small quartz space heaters. It's not safe to leave the heaters on overnight so I plan on putting them on repeat cycle timers to turn them on and off every 30 minutes or so to maintain warm temps overnight. It should work great as the garage will remain warmer than the outside for most of the night.....

Does this sound like an effective plan? Anyone want to share their methods of keep the painted metal at the correct temp?

Thanks
 
The epoxy will certainly create quite a smell if you're going to be bringing them in your house shortly after you've sprayed. I wouldn't recommend that. As for the heaters, just make sure the over spray has properly evacuated for a while before you turn them on. I purchased a construction heater that I think crashtech had recommended to keep my temps up in my booth overnight when I epoxied anything. It has a thermostat on it so it will kick on and off during the night. It keeps the booth plenty warm during the colder months when I just want to keep the booth warm overnight and not turn the huge shop heater on. I also made a vent block off for the exhaust so the heat wasn't just going right out of the booth. I would have the thermostat set around 70 and I would come in to metal at 85+. It required a 220 outlet, but well worth it for the peace of mind knowing the temps stayed up how they should for the epoxy.
 
For parts not bigger than say a car door, a couple "flood lights" work real good for keeping the
entire panel warm, much warmer than a heated space, and a lot less energy than heating
an entire room. I use a short wave lamp that is well worth the money, it's great for
one panel at a time.
 
My first thought was for you to get some beer, some buddies and some insulation and insulated that space. Cover it in heavy plastic until you can drywall it. Your big issue will be resolved.
 
As mentioned in older posts on this subject, getting parts out in the sun a few hours if possible would help. Sun will do a lot more in a short time towards curing.
Another idea thrown at me that I never tried would be laying an electric blanket over parts where possible. This could give a pretty regulated heat source.
 
Thanks for the replies. I have 220 and the garage is well ventilated with a large HVAC cage fan. The areas of the car to be primed are the inner rocker and some of the rear floor pan just in front of the rear wheel. Kind of long and low and impossible to roll out into the sun. This is why i thougt two of those small quartz heater from Holmes would work they are low to the ground and i can cycle the power every 20 min or so in order to not have them on all night.

All the pieces not on the car will definately be placed in the sun as soon as i can. How long before you can handle the parts after spraying?

If i spray in the morning, let them sit in the sun all afternoon would it be safe to put them in the basement to cure or would the fumes still be to strong?

I haven't work with epoxy before and havent worked with automotive paints since the mid 80s.

Excellence is the contruction heater you mentioned expensive? Its not a propane or kerosine heater i trust. They generate to much moisture. I use a convection propane heater in the winter and it creates a trememdous amount of humidity.
 
I use a medium wave infrared heating lamp on smaller panels to cure epoxy in the winter. I have still been bit in the butt, sanding down some filler and I noticed my epoxy below it wasn't feathering. I could scrape it off with a fingernail. I had to sand it all off, then start over in that section, very disappointing and a lot of wasted work. Now I'm overly cautious with temp.
 
Two $8.00 250w heat lamp bulbs. One red one clear.
Cheap clamp on bulb holders pictured no good because in this 10 min test they were 300F and climbing.
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If we are just talking about 1 panel, I use two 500W halogen lights this time of year. Keeps the temps +80 degrees. I have a gas furnace that I don't like to use when I'm painting for obvious reasons. I'm thinking about installing a mini split unit later this year.



 
Thanks fellas. I have been stressing bad about getting this done by the first or second week of October. This takes the pressure off. EddieF and rustover, what were the outside temps when you did this? Rustover I noticed the date stamp on the pics is Feb? Must have been pretty cold outside.

I have car on jack stands and have to prime the rocker area which is a good 5 feet long. I might try two of these from HF. Each lamp is only 250 Watts and the top comes off. I can set them on the ground and point them up at the rocker.....

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