I have had a problem with one shot lettering enamel not curing. Does anyone know why this happens from time to time? I have used it wednesday on a wooden sign to paint the stipes and thursday to paint the sculptured letters. By friday the letters are cured but the stripes are still wet......The paint came out of the same can. Thanks in advance
Posted by Jeffrey Vrstal (Member # 2271) on :
Questions come to mind... First of all, Welcome to Letterville. Send in your dues now and get a free Tramp CD. You won't be sorry.
Back to my questions, what type of "wooden" sign? Is it primed correctly? Is it primed at all? What type of wood is it? Is your paint fresh and mixed well? What color are you talking about... anything red or maroon takes a little longer, especially in cool or humid temps. Did you thin the paint? With what?
Posted by Lotti Prokott (Member # 2684) on :
Hi and welcome I have had this happen to me too. I think the problem is not stirring long enough. Older, 3/4 empty cans create problems like that too sometimes, because part of the paint has been removed with the skin before every use. Left at the bottom of the can is just pigment and not much else. It will dry eventually though.
Posted by Steve Nuttle (Member # 2645) on :
First off welcome to the neighborhood! Once in a while we have had similar problems and it can be hard to pinpoint. Everything said so far is right on and I will add a couple more possibilities. We store all our quills and lettering brushes in a tray after they have been cleaned and dipped in ewe's oil or lard. We have had folks in the shop grab a brush and forget to clean out the ewe's oil or clean it but not thoroughly enough and the residue has cause the 1-Shot not to dry. We have had people transfer small quanities of 1-Shot into waxed paper cups and that has caused problems. Just a couple of more thought to throw into the pot. Good luck and I hope you solve it.
Posted by Carl Wood (Member # 1223) on :
Temperature & Humidity are the main culprits outside of contamination on One-Shot Lettering Enamels. I always just use straight out of the can with no adulteration. It helps to paint in direct sunlight, of course, if you don't have a warm environment; i.e. heated shop/shed/garage-hey in a pinch I ain't ashamed to say I've used my Living Room to git paint to dry.........
Posted by Kent Smith (Member # 251) on :
Another variable is the type and amount of reducer used. Mineral spirits can cause the dry problem by itself. Need more specifics to answer.
Posted by Rick Sacks (Member # 379) on :
Is there any oilyness to the finish on the surface of the board?
Posted by Monte Jumper (Member # 1106) on :
Weve encountered some pretty interesting problems with rags...we use an industrial rag service (red rags) and cleaning surfaces with them can create some interesting circumstances...all the way from "fisheye" to limited adherance of paint...so thinking ahead of the curve we decided to keep our own rags (in the form of dish towels) and launder them ourselves...low and behold all kinds of weird things started happening (even worse than industrial rags)we were having retarder problems...sometimes all over...sometimes in spots. The culprit??? FABRIC SOFTNER...and it seems to get worse if you use a little lacquer thinner or spirits on the rag when your cleaning.
Patsee quit using the fabric softner and all our problems quit too.
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Good luck and I hope you solve it.