Cooler weather and Dingotone

[wokkaboy]

Sure does Bman and hipshot tuners too !

[Raven]

I live in the hills east of Melbourne at an altitude of about 500m and the temperature range at this time of year is depressing at best (0-10C). Following a trick I learned a number of years ago for drying paint on plastic models I was thinking about making a drying box - basically a large plastic storage tub with a low wattage incandescent light inside and a cheap meat roasting thermometer inserted through the lid to monitor internal temperature. Any comments on viability or issues ? Is there an upper temperature limit to be observed ?
(I've just started on my first project - an Ash body Jagmaster and was going to put DT on it)

[Fretworn]

I have no experience with this, but my only question would be around humidity in the box. Once the humidity goes up it takes longer for curing to occur, especially for the top coats. Plastic models aren't porous and you are painting them with enamel paint, whereas wood is porous and you are filling those pores with stain, so a closed, warm environment may be detrimental to both the finish and wood.

If you want to try to try it find some off cut of large pored wood (ash, like your guitar if you can find it) and run some tests first.

[Simon Barden]

A box with some holes in for ventilation would help to reduce the build up of evaporated solvents in the box whilst allowing some of the heat to escape so that it doesn't get overly warm in the box. If you warm air up, its relative humidity drops and so encourages evaporation. If the solvent and any evaporated moisture from the wood has nowhere to go, then the %RH and solvent content of the air in the box will increase and inhibit further drying. So you certainly need to encourage some cross-ventilation in the box - low down holes on one side and high-up holes on the other side. Making quite a few holes and then using tape to decrease or increase the number of ventilation holes can help regulate the internal temperature. I'd also suggest screening the bulb so that no direct light falls on the guitar body. At close range you can get a lot of radiant heat from a lightbulb, which can cause local hotspots on the body and you'll get uneven drying. You could even rig up a small computer style fan in the box to circulate the air. I'd keep the body raised on blocks so that air can get all around it - you've got enough cavities on the guitar to use when propping it up so that you don't need to use and props on the finish.

Meat thermometers aren't very accurate, especially in the low temperature range, so I'd do a rough calibration of one against a better thermometer first. Just leave them both sitting in the same location for 30 minutes - making sure that neither the thermometer bulb or the point of the meat thermometer is touching any surface, they are just in the air, and there is no direct sunlight falling on them.

I have no experience with DT, but I'd have thought a maximum of 30°-35°C in the box should be OK.