a little info on booth air temp vs metal temp

  • Thread starter Airbrusharthart
  • Start date
A

Airbrusharthart

Ive been seeing a lot of post asking about the temps needed to shoot so as im heating up the shop here on this snowy 10 degree day I thought Ide share some info.

Im going to be spraying a 21 window vw bus today so I have the temp cranked up to about 80. Now that the shop is up to temp I got out my non-contact thermometer, a must have for everyone.

The air temp is a toasty 78 in the booth, so im good to shoot right? WRONG
well the metal temp on the roof of the bus is 69 so now im good to shoot right? Wrong again
I get down and measure the temp on the rocker panels... 57 degrees

Just a little food for thought for all the people having problems in cold temps who claim they keep the booth air temp above 60. Air temp vs metal temp is huge and cold air sinks so make sure the whole car is up to temp not just the hood. I hope this helps some people
 
A great point on the top vs. bottom, I've never seen that brought up before and is definitely a "duh" kind of thing.
 
Great info, if car metal is 55 degrees, and you pull it in a 70 shop, it will take 4-6 hours to reach a metal temp of 62-65 degrees, unless the heat is blowing on the car.
I got the old T-bird in my garage and I keep the garage 70 degrees, as I have paint from cars I did in the 80's stored.
Went out this weekend to check heat and it was 70 car hood, 65 the rocker 62 degrees.

ALSO the product temp of the stuff you are spraying can take 48 hours to warm up and if its 55 when you spray the product, it does not matter if the garage is 70 as all kind of problems can appear.
 
Not only do things take a while to warm up, they will stay cooler than the air because they will continuously radiate heat into the cold walls and floor. Basically we have found that we need "uncomfortably warm" air temps for surface temps to uniformly make it into the 65° or better zone in winter, especially down low as Airbrusharthart points out.

Non-contact thermometers should be mandatory for winter work especially.
 
Is there any concern if your compressor is in a out building that is non heated? Currently it is about 10* below freezing here. Sure the compressor heats it up some but what about that cold air mixing at the gun?
 
If you need to heat your product and guns,as I have to this time of year, get a styrofoam cooler with a locking lid. Cut a small hole in the lids center, insert the small end of the cone shaped attachment from your shop vac. The large end should accommodate a hair dryer. Put your items in and they will be very warm quickly.
 
Funny, I have people in the shop all the time in the winter to talk about how warm we have it and our heat bill must be massive. They just don't understand like what has been said already. Your first pass down an entire quarter with a skim coat of filler when the metal temp isn't around 65 degrees and you know why it is so warm. The employees don't complain though. Lol.

Even in the booth I have the heat set to 75 and will fluctuate a few degrees up and down but I will let the booth run for a good hour in the morning with whatever is needed to be painted inside to warm up. Being a downdraft it will pull the cold air in overnight and will take a little while to circulate the warm air and heat up all the metal ducts and booth interior so there isn't a lot of temp fluctuation once I'm ready to paint. Just adding more food for thought.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top