Heat setting Createx Airbrush paint?

[VTBasser]

Exactly how do folks heat set Createx Airbrush paint and when or how do you know the process is done?

I have tried various amounts of heating with my 1200W hair drier and I am still able to remove the paint with water and a little rubbing.

Can you cure it with heat where a molecular bond occurs between the paint and primer and the paint with itself?

Does Createx Airbrush paint ever cure to the point that you can't wash it off?

Can you cure it with a 1200W hairdryer on high moving it around the plug for 5 minutes or so? Is a 1200W dryer not enough? Or do you use low and hold it in place for a while then move on to the next spot? Or do you have a heated box or a toaster oven and hold some temperature for a given time?

Supporting information: I Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane seal, BIN red label can prime (not spray), and paint with Createx Airbrush paint.

Thanks for the help!

[numbskull]

I used the oven at 150 degrees for 15-20 minutes and that worked great until my wife got pissed. Then I tried a toaster oven, but it seems to get too hot and drive sealer out through the paint. Lately I used a heat gun, but I don't think it does much either. Now I've decided to wait until my wife goes away for the day then burn some meat in the oven to cover the smell once I'm done. That way I can tell her I was cooking her a nice dinner, but screwed up, take her out to dinner, and maybe even get lucky when I get home. Building plugs requires innovation, you know.

[angler229]

What I've been doing is to set up a small space heater running on the plugs after I paint.

[BigFish]

I do not heat set...no need and no problems.

[VTBasser]

I'm just worried about toothy fish poking a hole in the top coat and the paint dissolving and lifting the top coat.

[ProfessorM]

shouldn't be a problem

[VTBasser]

Thanks to all. I'm new to the airbrush and have a bunch to paint and did not want to make a newbe fatal error to the batch.

[PNG]

Heats not "critical" but it sure helps. Innovate (ala numby) a hanger to hang over existing heat source. Just not too hot.

[ProfessorM]

your epoxy may fail and your paint may wear off eventually but after you heat set the stuff it is very tough to get off and I can't imagine it washing off in any fashion. I still have it on my fingernails 3 days later and I wash my hands a lot a work. Here is a picture of a new plug that just saw this one blue. It ate right thru to the wood. The epoxy is still there and the paint too, just bare wood where he ate thru it. It was fished the rest of the fall and saw no further sign of deterioration. Plug is retired.

[BigFish]

Let plug dry 24 hours before clear and they will wear like iron! Heat setting is only required on t-shirts!

[splinters]

i just blast it with a hair dryer for a few min between colors( like if i am doing scales) and then let em dry for a day or 2 before epoxy.

[numbskull]

I'm pretty sure this system three stuff adheres better during application (ie less fish eyes) if the plug has been heat set after painting, though it adheres so poorly that ain't saying much.

[PNG]

Originally Posted by numbskull

I'm pretty sure this system three stuff adheres better during application (ie less fish eyes) if the plug has been heat set after painting, though it adheres so poorly that ain't saying much.

upol as a scratch should help. ET works better IMO.
Ok > Heat plug for a time before spraying w/createx

[togue]

I can sympathize with this one big time. I made a batch of lures airbrushed with Createx last year that I was pretty happy with until they peeled clean down to the primer layer after taking several nice stripers in a row one night during the spring run. When I say peeled, I mean sloughing off clean leaving behind perfect virgin primer that looked like it had never been painted over. To this day I keep one sitting on top of my computer monitor just to remind me so I don't make this mistake again....

When it happened it really set me back, since I did my research, carefully selected my materials, and thought I had this nailed. After the paint failed I can't tell you how much time I spent looking into this all over the place, emailing and even talking directly with the folks that make Createx, etc.

I even switched over to AutoAir because they claimed it was in a different base that supposedly air cures without heat. That may be true if you permeat it with automotive grade urethane clear coats to seal it as the makers intended, but I can tell you first hand if you put in on top of an oil based primer and then use an epoxy like E-Tex for your finish clear coat, the paint will soften and it will slip off your lure like a Coney Island white fish as soon as you get a nick in it to let the water in - the paint layer s#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&g up water like one of those freaking Sham-Wows!

The long and short of it is none of these water based acrylics ever fully cures unless you put heat to it, and I am talking 150F-200F for at least 30 minutes. You need heat to cross-link the molecular bonds in the polymer base, which is how the acrylic permanently sets and becomes waterproof. I did the dunk and soak test to confirm it, get it wet months later and it rubs right off. The manufacturer also confirmed it.

Good news is if you can bake it, it holds up like iron. To prove this I have a pencil popper I fished hard August-October with well over 200 stripers landed, banged it off the rocks, beat on it every chance I could, even soaked it in a bucket over many a night. It is now battered veteran, worn down to the bare wood in too many spots to count, and none of the paint has come off even when I try and rub it off.

Only problem I now have is this baking stinks up the house when I use the oven in my kitchen - Yeah, my wife isn't too cool about that either. Now I am looking for another way to do this, but I don't want to run 220V into the man cave for an oven....supposedly heat lamps like they use in autobody shops also work, but that seems too much like a fire waiting to happen.

Larry, I have to hand it to you - your work is primo. I love the action your BigFish lures put out, and your finish is second to none, but I have to say I just don't know how you get Createx to work as well as you do. After watching your airbrushing demo at Plugfest last year, I certainly respect your talent. It must be the primer you are using, or some other secret sauce I haven't figured out yet.

Cheers!

[BigFish]

Thanks for the compliments but no "secret sauce" here! I do let the plugs dry for 48 hours before they get cleared. I have never had an issue ever, not once. I have a plug that was lost and found 5 weeks later wrapped around a potline in the water off Cutty. The plug was of course rock battered and most of the paint and primer had been rubbed off to bare wood by the rocks but not all of it! What remained was still hard as a rock! I have plugs in my bag that have fished 4-5 seasons now and they hold up well! The primer I use is simply the Zinseer Gold Cover Stain in the spray cans! Its great! Spray, let dry and sand.....then paint. Great adhesion for sure with the Createx! I bought some of the Auto Air Paint a few months ago but have yet to get a chance to try it.....how do you like it??

[Slipknot]

I thought the Auto-air was supposed to be heat-set??? That's what I do when I use it.

I use a heat gun and am careful

for the regular createx I use a hair dryer

[ProfessorM]

I like to hit every color with the hair dryer for about 30 to 40 seconds, especially pearl paints. Seems to help out and all i know is it is a bitch to get off my fingernails after. I have really never had any issues with the paint using this process , now epoxy, issues galore.

[PNG]

Createx pre-auto air use to sell the bond all agents(parts a&b equal mix) and it really helped. When they came out with A Air (bonding agents premixed in) they discontinued the bonding agents to make you buy the A A regardless how much regular createx you had.