I’m planning to re-paint my car’s brake calipers, and the manufacturer of the paint I’m using (Duplicolor High Heat) recommends getting maximum hardness by heating the painted objects to 300 degrees for two hours, then to 400 for an hour and a half.
Their customer service line is closed until tomorrow morning (and I kind of expect them to say no, just for liability reasons), so I thought I’d check here: can I do this in my kitchen oven? I know it sounds a little ooky, but aside from some odor that will probably pass in a day or two, what harm could it do? I don’t see a mechanism by which toxic materials in the paint could contaminate the oven and re-contaminate food cooked in it later. Especially since I can do a high-temp cleaning afterwards.
And if not in my kitchen oven, what would you recommend?
(FYI, I’m a single guy, so no wife to object, and I don’t do a whole lot of baking. Broiling the occasional steak and cooking the Thanksgiving turkey once a year is about it.)
Even so, I’d let the paint dry for a couple days before popping it in the oven, and then leave the door cracked open. You do not want a buildup of flammable gases inside the oven.
I can’t speak about putting freshly sprayed stuff in an oven. I have heard of people buying used electric ovens for home powdercoating, but they keep them in the garage. I have the impression that the oven smells for a long time after that, but I’m not sure if it would really be that bad for a single guy. Just don’t cook for a girlfriend any time soon.
I’ve used the paint mentioned by the OP. It does smell up the house pretty much. It also changed the color of the paint quite a bit: Blue went to a dark or forest green. I liked the new color fine, but it is something to consider. Tip: If you want black, Barbecue/wood stove paint is much cheaper than the stuff targeted for automotive use.
So, you’re saying you used your kitchen oven? No problems? No poisoned food?
BTW, it’s not their caliper paint, but a different formulation that handles temps up to 1200 degrees. And it’s cheaper, too: only about $5 per spray can. Because it’s intended for higher temps, I’m hoping it won’t significantly change color. I’m using the silver.
If you’re doing powder coating, they tell you to NOT use your home oven. You need an oven designated to that use. Not sure if your paint application would be the same, but it’s worth looking into before you screw things up.
You might be better off finding a body shop and having them cook it for you (if they have an oven). Get everything ready before hand and offer the owner/manager $20 bucks to leave it in their oven for a few hours. Or possibly somebody (or a school) with a kiln.
For paint, and a small item like a brake caliper (relatively small, even for stop VERY fast brakes), couldn’t you just buy a toaster oven, and use that outside? 30 bucks or so is cheap insurance to keep SWMBO happy, and will allow you to continue your car related habit.
If it stinks too bad, toss it. If not, you’ve a spare toaster oven. They go to 500F at a minimum.
I haven’t dropped dead. If you can wait 60 years, I’ll let you know if I lived to over 100! But maybe my memory won’t be so hot by then and I’ll forget.
I was using the caliper paint (on inter-cooler ducting) so I only baked it at 300F. I cranked the oven to high for an hour afterward to “burn out” any remaining volatiles.
I recall looking at the paint you are using. I think it is ceramic/glass based. There is a chance it has lead in it, as this is common for low melting point glass. I’d worry more about that.
Customer service didn’t tell me not to do it, but they did say it would smell, possibly for a while. I think the high-heat cleaning might take care of that, but I’ll probably try the toaster oven first.
I bought the toaster oven ($40) yesterday, and the first pair of calipers have just finished cooking and are cooling down. So far, so good. I’ll do the other two tomorrow.
The only problem is that I don’t think that both big front calipers will fit in the toaster oven at the same time, as the small rear ones did. So it’ll take more than eight hours to do the last two, including cooling.
The toaster oven was a stroke of genius, because I could put it out on the deck where the odor wouldn’t permeate the whole house. I think doing it in the kitchen oven might have created a serious lingering odor problem. At the very least, it would have been a somewhat unpleasant day or two. Thanks for the idea, butler1850!
(Anyone wanna buy a practically new toaster oven? Cheap!)
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