does anyone use a heated rod drying box? It seems like a simple and efective way to cure finnish maybe alittle quicker too. What size light bulb do you use for heat?

Funny you mention it! I just finished putting in two porcelain fixtures in my rod box about 20 minutes ago..........
I put 100 watt bulbs in both and closed the doors. Temp was at 70 degrees when I closed the doors. Its now at
78 and climbing!! Box dimensions are 16" x 16" x 96" and have the two fixtures equally spaced.
Main reason for doing this is to speed up the drying of Aftcote!!!! If you wait for it to dry at 70 degrees it takes at least 12hrs if not more!!!

I will see how warm the box gets and if I need to I will go up to 150 watt bulbs.


Go for it!!

Halogen undercabinet fixtures. I have two 2-bulb fixtures (20 watts each bulb) in my box and can get the temp from the low 60's to the upper 80's in about an hour and half. Temp peaks at about 92 this time of year in Minnesota. Each fixture has a switch with high/low/off. I have them wired together and plugged into a timer on the outlet. I can have my box preheated and ready for finish by the time I get up in the morning and shut off after the finish has set.

Better to have and not need than to need and not have.

Matt, I had three of those undercabinet fixtures in my box with the same bulbs as yours and couldnt get the temp past 72 degrees(probably due to the fact that my box is in the basement near a crawl space)
But once i put the two porcelain fixtures in today the box goes right up to 86* in no time and holds there........

Should definitely speed up the drying time of the Aftcote finish...............................

Why use that clear if it takes so long to dry?? There are other clears out there that dry a lot faster.

This isn't a which epoxy is best thread, but since you brought it up why use an epoxy which cracks?

I have the undercabinet lights in my box, temp goes from 55-60 up to 85 in the Winter (my box is 12x12 x 13' long- I have 4 fixtures). In the summer the temp gets up over 100.

Matt - get yourself a timer from Raio Shcak for $8, this will shut the lights off after a couple of hours, you won't be wasting all that electricity, you dont' have to worry about it staying on forever in case you forget, etc. I've ont a timer for my lights, & a seperate one for my motors.

They are all good! Maybe the feet on your guides are not preped right? That is usually why an epoxy will crack

Don't know what to tell ya Russ. I live in Minnesota and it gets cold here. My box is in the basement against an exterior wall. I do have insulation between the box and the wall, but no where else. Room temps are commonly in the low 60's. Even when it's minus 40 outside and I only had one of those 2-bulb fixtures I was hitting the mid to upper 80's in about three hours. Adding another fixture didn't increase top end temps, it just speed up the time it took to get to temp.

I really prefer having a sealed, low profile fixture in my box. The fixtures are slim and hide right behind the frame of the box.


Billy - Got one! Great investment.



Better to have and not need than to need and not have.

Billy, I was just thinking that since they all are pretty good, if it gets real cold use a faster one in the cold, then change when the weather gets warm

Let " it " work for you

Also I use glass coat. And in the summer it drys real fast. So in the summer I thin it and slow it down???
Must be a controll thing?

Bill - how would you explain epoxy cracking on a butt wrap, or between the guide feet then?

I like GC myself, and it is hard enough to wrap over in 6 hours if the temps are right (quicker than that if its 100+ in the box). It too is extremely hard and will crack. Aftcote is much more flexible than most other epoxies, I will assume LS Supreme is very flexible as well, although I personally haven't tested it.

MAtt - I think you told me about these fixtures a few years ago? I remembe rhte Minnesota story, and that's why I decided to get them. I was fortunate, there was a guy sellig them on @#$%& for $5 Dutch @#$%&, I picked up 6. HAven't seen them since, they are around $30 when I last checked for someone last year. Good stuff.

I think Russ has the wrong bulbs..he uses those 'pink' bulbs...to make plants grow :>}

Thanks guys I use LS supreme and live in Wisconsin and my basement is about 63 deg. I dont have any problem with the finnish setting up. I would just like to speed it up and allow the rod a place nice and cozy warm protected from stupid me when I start messing with another rod while the one I just finnished is turning.

Keep it simple and set up some sort of lamps with heat bulbs in it

Matt,

That's a great idea about the timer!! Wish I'd have thought of it.

The temp's are pretty impressive for 40 watts. Is the box 3/4 plywood? Is it insulated?

Skip

I once had a box 2x2x12 the I strung 5 or 6...7 watt bulbs along the length of the bottom....brought the temp up to 80 degrees in a heartbeat. Total wattage.....42 watts.

Always one in the crowd huh Harv!!!!