Baking Jigs

There are two main reasons that you get paint nipples. The first is that the powder flow isn't right and too much paint is getting on the jig. The most important reason however is the tempurature to which the paint is baked. Contrary to popular belief, all powder paint has a different "optimum" tempurature to bake at. Common paint that produces nipples (regardless of the amount), chartreuse, bright green, pearl, candy purple (to name a few).

CS powder coats has a listing of paint and the tempuratures to bake each color at. Over the years, I've found that the best overall tempurature when baking jigs is an even 300 degrees. NEVER trust the thermostate on the oven. I always utilize a thermometer to accurately locate the proper tempurature. 15 minutes of bake time at 300 degrees.

A little trick. I use my oven set at 400 degrees when painting. I am opening the door and grabbing a jig every 10 seconds or so. Because of this, the operating tempurature in the oven is right around 360 degrees. IF, by chance, you are operating in the 400 and above range, you are going to get too much paint on the jig. When I have exhausted the preheated jigs in my oven, I turn down the heat and pull the rack out. I have a stand that the rack sets in. I load up the rack with my jigs, and put the rack back in the oven.

No special rack, no special settings, no extra tools. I do NOT trust the timer on my oven either. On average, I am preheating jigs (i have a pan that goes on my rack) and baking about 100 jigs at a time and an average of 3000 to 5000 per week.

FYI, for fast preheating prior to painting, an electrict skillet works awesome!

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Baking Jigs