Mickguard Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 I've been reading through the threads about using heat lamps and drying boxes to speed the curing process, and my question is related to that. I'm planning to close off part of my office and spraying (nitro) here. Obviously I won't be working in here during that time. My idea will be to heat the place then cut the power while I'm spraying. I have two doors, so I can cross-ventilate while spraying, without losing too much heat. I can work in front of a large window, so I should have plenty of natural light. The question is: how soon after spraying can I turn on the electricity again in order to restart the heater? I don't want to take any risk of explosion. Since according to some of the threads, a lot of people don't even bother to cut their electricity (and place heat lamps under the guitar 20 minutes after spraying), maybe I'm worried about nothing? After the spraying is done, I'll want to hang the guitar in a heated box of some sort -- not necessarily high heat, more to develop a constant heat and humidity, so I can keep the box in the garage, rather than in the office. I figure I can place a heat bulb in the bottom of a box/old cabinet, far enough from the guitar. Leave a good-sized opening at the top to ventilate. This way I won't have to worry about the fumes, but the guitar can remain at a fairly decent room temperature for the duration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biliousfrog Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 I can't help with the setup but I use a device that could be useful for keeping a constant temperature. It's called or made by "habistat" & is used with a ceramic heatlamp to regulate temperature. It's designed for reptiles & once setup works brilliantly. You place the sensor where you want to regulate the temperature & attach the lamp to the controller. You have a dial to control the temperature & can even use a timer to switch to a different setting. The regulator works by pulsing the lamp on & off (why ceramic lamps should be used) preventing the temperature from fluctuating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhoads56 Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 I would be very reluctant to have the heat source in the same room that you have sprayed the guitar in. Make a seperate room or box, and put the guitar in there after you've sprayed it. In my old factory, i used the toilet space as the heatbox. In the new one, i have a spray booth with a smaller room inside that contains the heat lamps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted January 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 I would be very reluctant to have the heat source in the same room that you have sprayed the guitar in. Make a seperate room or box, and put the guitar in there after you've sprayed it. In my old factory, i used the toilet space as the heatbox. In the new one, i have a spray booth with a smaller room inside that contains the heat lamps. I have a bathroom in here I can use for that, sure. I'd use it as a spray room, except there's no natural light in there. It even has a heat lamp on the wall already, but I never trusted that, so I don't use it. But how long after you've sprayed does it become safe to have the electricity on? This place is well insulated, so I could heat it up all morning, turn off the heat at noon and it will stay reasonably warm into the late afternoon. But it would be better if I could turn the heat back on after an hour or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikhailgtrski Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 Once you've evacuated the fumes you should be ok to turn things back on. Shouldn't take more 10 minutes or so, but it's best to keep the ventilation going while the nitro gasses off. Just plan on a slightly higher electric bill. Ideally you'd have a spray booth with sealed light fixtures, explosion proof fan, etc... But if you're careful, and spraying just one guitar, you can get by with tarping off the room and providing some sort of continuous forced ventilation. The main thing is to keep any arcing devices (switches, thermostats) outside the spray area. Overhead incandescent lights shouldn't be a problem, unless you've got dodgy wiring or bad sockets (in that case don't sleep in the house either ). It's tough to inspect the finish with only natural light. (Now, if les pompiers have to show up, you didn't hear any of this from me...) Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted January 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 Well, let me ask this: is there a significant difference between nitro spray cans and acrylic spray cans in this respect? I sprayed in here last winter, in a little makeshift spray booth. I didn't think of turning off the power then, but maybe there's a big difference in volatility between a can of nitro and a can of acrylic? This goes for the gassing off period too. It took a day or so of airing the place out to get rid of the odor, but this place stinks anyway, something wrong with the septic tank Like I said, it's not part of the main house, so no worries with the family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikhailgtrski Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 Well, let me ask this: is there a significant difference between nitro spray cans and acrylic spray cans in this respect? Nitro might have a higher VOC content... but I think you'll be fine. Just ventilate well and often, and avoid any arcing events while there are concentrated fumes about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sand Paper Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 We run a Mr. Heater in the door jam of our spray room and exhaust to the outside when the fumes get bad mid-spray, no explosions yet. I'm sure you all are probably 100 times safer than we are and our building shouldnt be standing according to safety sheets and such but we're still going strong. I wouldn't worry about blowing up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted January 24, 2007 Report Share Posted January 24, 2007 i would ALWAYS worry about blowng up... but i am so smokin' hot i catch everything on fire....but seriously...worry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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