Infrared Heat Lamps For Drying Paint and Powder
Drying paint and powder effectively can be difficult if you’re doing large items or working in a small shop where you can’t a large oven in place. We often get asked if our Infrared Curing Lamps actually work or are they the snake oil of paint products. We decided to give you some answers on why they work well and are superior in some cases.
Infrared Lamps Heat Objects
Unlike a forced air heater an infrared heating lamp heats objects it is aimed at. This means that even if the air temp in your garage isn’t as warm as you’d like; you can still paint and let it dry effectively. This is great for helping primers, paints, and clear coats dry more quickly during colder months. If you’re trying to heat an entire bay or booth that is extremely cold you may need to pair a forced air heater with an infrared heater to get both the air and the object up to temp. Remember both the air temp and object need to be within the application and curing temperature window or you may experienced issues with your coatings. If you need to cure a large object you may need multiple lamps aimed at the object to get all sides to the same temperature.
Curing Powder Coating with an Infrared Heat Lamp
Powder coating needs to be heated to 350F degrees and above most times to properly cure. This means that you need to REALLY get the surface temperature of the part hot. This is where a closed oven comes into play; but what if you don’t have an oven or one big enough? Then you can use an infrared heat lamp to heat the object up and cure large items in sections. Powder coating can luckily be cured in sections unlike solvent based paints. This means one lamp placed closely to the part can cure it as you move it around. One note; make sure you have an infrared thermometer handy so you can monitor the surface temperature to assure you’re curing the powder at the correctly.
So there you have it, infrared heat curing lamps DO work, but they have their limitations. We suggest pairing these lamps with a good forced air heater to get your paint area warm enough to spray as these aren’t the only solution for paint curing. To see our full line of paint and powder ovens and curing lamps visit our site HERE.