I finally gave up on that cheap infrared paint curing system from Harbor Freight

Bought the $800 unit last year thinking it would speed up small jobs in my shop. It barely got warm enough to cure a clear coat properly, ended up with solvent pop on a customer's Mustang door. Had to strip and respray the whole panel, costing me about $400 in materials and a full day's labor. Anyone have a reliable infrared system under $2k that actually works?

3 comments

3 Comments

spencerm4617d ago

That solvent pop was probably from the paint being too thick, not the heat being too low. You need a good temp gun to check the surface, even with a better unit.

paulschmidt17d ago

Read a tech sheet that said solvent pop happens when the top layer skins over too fast, trapping thinner underneath. It can be from thick coats, but also from the first flash-off being too short or the booth temp spiking. A temp gun helps, but you gotta watch the whole process.

xena3739d ago

Wait, you spent $800 on that thing? That's insane for something that can't even get properly hot. I saw one of those in the store and it looked like a toy. @spencerm46 is right that a temp gun is key, but if the unit itself is junk, you're just measuring how bad it is. You need enough heat to actually drive the solvents out from the bottom up, not just warm the top. No wonder it skinned over and trapped everything.