My "rule of thumb" is: if you can smell it, it's not fully cured. Get your nose right up on the surface and take a good sniff. Smell anything? If so, it's not ready for top coating.

This has served me well and I have (knock on wood) never had a paint system failure.

But, this is also why I go with catalyzed acrylic urethanes- they are essentially epoxy, and cure via chemical reaction, rather than evaporation of solvents. So you can lay them on thick and once the cure time has expired, it is good to go.

Conversely, something like a nitrocellulose lacquer has to evaporate the solvents and that can take weeks. I used that for sunburst finishes and tinted the colors myself. Great stuff but it takes a lot more time.

Hi Jeff ,

Thanks for your input.. I really appreciate it. The paint is an Acrylic latex. I want to clear coat it just to protect and preserve the finish as much as i can. Paint is a semi gloss and i'll be using a satin lacquer to still retain a less glossy, more matt finish.. As for the smell test, i did like you recommended and i can barely make out the "paint smell"anymore, like it's almost completely gone. I also touched the shell and it's a lot drier than it was yesterday. I think using the word "tackiness" was probably not the proper word to describe the consistency of the finish. I rubbed the shell with my hands and had no paint residue come off,(not sure if that's a proper way to check:confused:) and my hand slid smoothly, whereas if it were actually "tacky", my hand wouldn't slide around that easily. If one of you guys actually touched the finish, you'd probably tell me it was dry as a bone and ready to finish. I'm going to wait another couple of days just to be sure.

Hi Mike,

I also tried your blow drying method and it seems to work. How long did you blow dry for,

and how often did you do it ? I'm trying all avenues to speed up the curing process..

Ever since i removed it from the laundry room, the shell is drying quicker. I'll know for sure in a couple of days.

Cheers,

Rob

So many great jokes blazed through my head regarding blowing your drums dry. If they weren't all so 'on-the-nose' I would have posted some, but I didn't want to derail the thread.

Just please... watch your phrasing when talking about blowing drums dry. :D

John

Lol..That's good.

I never leave the drier in one spot too long. I just go over the surface all the way slowly and then again and let it sit. Try it again at whatever intervals you have time. Just don't get one spot too hot to where the paint would crinkle up.

If I want to speed the dry time of something (not recommended really) I use my halogen shop light place a couple of feet away and the heat from it dries stuff real quick. But its best the product dries without that, just needs to be in a room that is 65 degrees or so.

Laughing HClapping Happy2 Very good Purdie !...

Should we have said, Quick speed air drying the drums instead ?:D

No halogen lamp, Jeff.. But i think i'll keep going with the, err..ahem, quick speed air drying

the shell a few times.:D:D