sealing/painting in the winter
 

I am new to plug building and my workspace is in my basement. So the temps are below 60 in the winter.


What sort of considerations are there for sealing/painting in the winter?


I seal with the spar/spirit mix.

I have been thinking of setting up a box to 4" vent outside with an exhaust fan. Has anyone done this? Sort of want to minimize the fumes. If you have an there are considerations or even design/pics, please share.

My basement’s the same
I used a halogen work light for heat
Plugs hung from wire on ceiling
You need to figure out how close to put the lamp, hang a piece of wood and check it in a few minutes
Worked fine
For ventilation, more for rattlecans than sealer (I used waterborne poly) I used my saw dust blower that goes outside
I bet you can find something on the handyman’s favorite
YouTube
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Thanks!

Puppet, many paint brands make an accelerator for cold weather, and the opposite for warmer tropic weather (retarder). This wouldn’t help for your spar/MS mix but it would for any Catalyzed variety of paint/sealer/clear coat your using. I have been looking at a large explosion proof spray booth made by JC Metal Fabrication Incorporation, recommended to me by Jim Jaget. With any heat make sure there is no open flames.

It was pointed out to me that with a booth, any particulate in the air behind you will be sucked along and hit the plugs while painting.
Tommy

Tommy Im currently using a Daytona exhaust fan in my booth. Externally mounted out of main air stream. Not officially classified as an explosion proof fan, only the squirrel cage blades are in the tube. I dont often spray rattlecans in my booth, just waterbase paints. When I do spray primers I run fan for a few minutes to establish an exhaust flow to aid in any stagnant air holding fumes. Funny I read an article on this booth design and they discussed this Daytona set up with this disclosure. If u need some info, let me know.
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If I can manage to plan ahead, I try to get as many plugs as I can sealed before the cold weather rolls in. But, that rarely happens and I'll surely be sealing some bodies this winter too. Generally use my paint booth which is ventilated to the outside thru a basement window, and just plan on not being able to paint in there for at least a week. If this winter goes according to plan, I'm attempting to build another paint booth so having one tied up with a sealer batch doesn't shut down my painting.

As for design/build of booth? I'm figuring it out a little better with each one. Paasche airbrush selling a counter-top sheet metal booth with fans out the back. 4" ductwork can easily be run out through a window. This booth isn't super large, but would probably get the job done for small batches. I used the same concept, and the same fans from Paasche, to build a small closet basically. Fans force the air out thru a basement window, where I removed the glass and replaced with PVC trim board to prevent any bugs/critters from getting in.

Please share info, thanks. I plan to spray more than water based paints. Are you using explosion proof lights?

No my lighting is in ceiling.
The most volatile material is my scratch of clear satin lacquer. 99% I'm shooting this outside. I prefer the scratch coat because I assemble the plug fully prior to epoxy coating. Utilizes the fastening to lures to spinner with wire loops in plug. Occassionally Ill do bodies only like jointed pikes and swimmers.
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I am trying a new sealer right now, high end yacht enamel. The stuff is pretty nauseating, even outside.
I like to wire after everything else is done, just the way I do it. I don’t use a spinner when I brush epoxy, just flip.
I know a lot of guys also like the clear enamel lacquer, makes it much easier to epoxy over; I haven’t yet tried it.

Tommy

Tommy.I.flipped for many years then convinced myself to build a spinner. Never go back to.flipping. I hit the epoxy with the heat gun to it in suspension and pop any bubbles. Amazing results.
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Thanks Tommy. It was a thread from last January. I build for myself, so the winter is mostly for experimenting ideas and testing. I just need to seal not paint, so i dont need anything heavy duty. I did not set snything up last year but might this year. It will probably be pretty low tech. Just a vent outside and a computer fan circulating air.
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