i was wonder if i need to leave rotato run all night during dryer the high building finish ?? or few hours then turn it off and let it sit all night ?? i just put 1 coat on for a test with gold and a cp ..
Josh

Generally, with most of the common thread wrap epoxies we normally use, 3 hours is enough rotation time to ensure the finish sets to the point where it will no longer move. This should hold true unless you're working in very cool conditions.

Some builders will rig their dryer motor through a lamp timer and set it to stop after 3 or so hours. This saves a lot of wear and tear on the motor versus allowing it to run all night. Go 3-1/2 for a little extra margin and you should be fine.

.............

Josh,
Tom is right. About three hours is enough to ensure that the finish won't run.

Whenever finishing a rod, I always leave the extra mix by the rod or rods that have been coated with the mix. That way, as time goes by, I can touch the mix to check on the tackiness of the mix as it is on the mixing sheet, and NOT on the rod.
Once the mix is tack free, I will turn off the dryer and touch the finish in a spot that is not obvious to be sure that the blank itself has completely dried.

The use of a timer is a good way to limit the wear on the dryer etc. or if you want, you can certainly let it run 8-12 hours as most of the commercial shops do on their driers.

Many of the commercial shops literally never turn ther dryers off. i.e. there might be temporarty stops and starts as a rod is added or taken off, but the dryer can turn for weeks at a time with very little down time.

Take care
REW

sorry double post



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/29/2010 06:12PM by Barry Thomas Sr.

Josh; Tom and Roger got it I use a Mechanical timer I picked up at Lowes, No need for clock setting just twist the knob to hours you want. you will ned to wire it to a plug. or you can use a plug in lamp timer

I always let mine run all night. Other than wear and tear on the motor is there any downside to letting it run all night?

PS -- I hook my dryer up to a battery backup system (UPS) just in case the power goes out or something like that.

James,
No downside, and a lot of upside. Now and then you happen to have a batch of finish that takes quite a bit longer to set up. So, it is never a bad idea to let the dryer run all night, as long as the dryer and the rod continue to rotate properly.
Roger