Should I Bake Paint?
 

for durability?

quicker drying?

back ye olden days, down in the swamp... this was a common procedure - maybe because we were all excited to get electricity or something

I'm not talking about paint on a car body - just Rustoleum stuck on a bracket with a Q-tip; or a primer sprayed on from a rattle can

I was doing that today and thought "Does this really do anything?"

I know it is not required but hey it's a German vehicle...

Should I bake a cake?

I use to, I would use a small convection oven, but now, I have everything powder coated.

If it's warm were you then there's no need but using something like a UV lamp is a good idea in damp or cold conditions. Either way it wont do any harm.

The most important thing is to paint on a dry base so using heat BEFORE painting is always a good idea.

thanks!

Also, many times you get a better, more consistent spray pattern if you immerse the spray can in hot tap water in a tupperware or similar container (with a lid) for 30 minutes or so before painting.

One of my uncles had a large body shop back in the 50's and 60's. One of the most popular paint treatments was "baked on enamel". He had large banks of heat lights and it really hardened the enamel. But, that was in the 60's.

A marketing scheme, even before marketing.
You either bake paint to speed up cure time, (air dry), or you bake it to cure, @ heat cross links the system. There is no performance advantages to force dry an air dry system, (other than marketing ;) ).

This, but not too hot, or you'll make things worse.

And don't paint in direct sunlight.

All you are doing is lowering the viscosity of the paint by heating it. A good thing in a hot environment. If you do the same in a colder environment you will run into a sag, runs, drips, errors, scenario.

It is my understanding that modern paints do polymerize when "drying". Baking would help with the polymerization and lead to longer molecules and therefore more durable paint. How that works with water based paints, I don't know.

Baking helps with the "speed" of cure in an air dry system, nothing more. Coatings that require heat to cross-link will not dry period without heat.