Metal Paint not drying....

[gerrymoore]

I wanted to paint one of my outside metal sculptures ..it has been outside for about 10 years and started to rust. So, I cleaned all the rust off and 'found' a tin of black paint that I'd had for years.... Managed, with difficulty, to get the lid off and there was a skin over the paint. Rather than buy new, stupid boy, I broke the skin and the paint underneath seemed fine.

It's now about a week since I painted it but there is still some paint not drying ... I read that cold water on it might help but it's still not all dry. It's a complicated beast of around 30 smallish pieces of 6mm steel welded together so not easy to rub down. Any suggestions what to do to get it to dry??

Normally it wouldn't bother me but I want to sell it and can't until it's dry

 

[fizzy]

I wanted to paint one of my outside metal sculptures ..it has been outside for about 10 years and started to rust. So, I cleaned all the rust off and 'found' a tin of black paint that I'd had for years.... Managed, with difficulty, to get the lid off and there was a skin over the paint. Rather than buy new, stupid boy, I broke the skin and the paint underneath seemed fine.

It's now about a week since I painted it but there is still some paint not drying ... I read that cold water on it might help but it's still not all dry. It's a complicated beast of around 30 smallish pieces of 6mm steel welded together so not easy to rub down. Any suggestions what to do to get it to dry??

Normally it wouldn't bother me but I want to sell it and can't until it's dry

You haven't used anti vandal paint in error have you

 

[Kram]

Not cold water, you want heat if its a solvent based paint. The solvent evaporates and leaves the coating residue. If you painted it tooo thick, the solvent cant easily get out and so it will stay soft for a very long time and may be best to start again.

 

[gerrymoore]

When you say start again should I use thinners to get shut of the new paint first? I have a heat gun should I try that first??

 

[steveo3002]

can it sit and wait , id suspect it might well harden up eventually

 

[gerrymoore]

Yes Steve I'm not in a hurry... may just leave it out in the sunshine (eh??) for a week or two ....

 

[OJCar]

You could just sit and watch it dry ?
better than what's on telly...

 

[qwakers]

you didn't paint it with uncatalyzed 2 pack did you?

 

[ukracer]

I painted a tin garage for my wife's electric scooter last year in March.
The paint took ages to dry totally.
I use some sealant and the paint never dried on that bit once covered by seam seller it dried after a while.

 

[Screwdriver]

Without knowing the size it's difficult to know if this might be helpful. Heat is your friend. Most reactions speed up with temperature and if this paint will ever cure, it should do so more quickly if it's warm. So you might be able to stand it on a hot plate for example and so long as it is well insulated (blanket/tent/panels of foam etc.) the entire body will eventually rise to the temperature of the hot plate!

Of course, nothing is ever perfectly well insulated but it is a remarkable property of most metals that they are so conductive, they will always be able to rise to the temperature of a flame - if well insulated.

The upshot being if you could perfectly insulate a battleship, you could bring the whole thing up to red heat with a candle.

A long lasting candle...

 

[ajlelectronics]

you didn't paint it with uncatalyzed 2 pack did you?

An excellent suggestion.

 

[gerrymoore]

Sorry it was just an old tin of metal paint I've had in for years ......

 

[gerrymoore]

In case anyone is wondering ............ this is the rascal that won't dry!!