diy uv paint booth

[desi2960]

i'm talking to my buddy who owns a auto body paint shop about a uv system to paint pool cues. he tells me that he uses a uv light to do spot repairs on cars. i need help with your ideas about building a homemade uv paint booth. i'm thinking plywood box painted silver inside for light reflection. something like a hair dryer for ventilation. a small dc motor to rotate the butt. i know nothing about these systems. can anyone offer any suggestions other that just go ahead and the spend the $4000.00. thanks chuck

 

[KJ Cues]

Chuck,
A little ingenuity and you should be able to build a booth in a weekend assuming you have all the parts. Hair dryer?.....bad idea. You'll clog it with over spray very quickly. You need a full fledged exhaust fan. Why UV? Is it because of the quick cure factor? Do you know that you can cure AutoClear (acrylic urethane) in 30 to 45 mins.? Ask your body shop guy. But regardless of what finish you intend to shoot you're going to need a booth. If you're contemplating the one I'm thinking of for $4,000 you can do a lot better for a lot cheaper. It's grossly over priced, misrepresented & no warranty or refund. The cost of the UV bulbs alone will cause you to go broke as they have a very short live expectancy and they're expensive. Unless you're shooting 1,000 cues a year, it's hard to justify the cost. Look, bottom line is, either finish comes with it's own risks. They're both dangerous. Pick your poison.

 

[rhncue]

Chuck,
A little ingenuity and you should be able to build a booth in a weekend assuming you have all the parts. Hair dryer?.....bad idea. You'll clog it with over spray very quickly. You need a full fledged exhaust fan. Why UV? Is it because of the quick cure factor? Do you know that you can cure AutoClear (acrylic urethane) in 30 to 45 mins.? Ask your body shop guy. But regardless of what finish you intend to shoot you're going to need a booth. If you're contemplating the one I'm thinking of for $4,000 you can do a lot better for a lot cheaper. It's grossly over priced, misrepresented & no warranty or refund. The cost of the UV bulbs alone will cause you to go broke as they have a very short live expectancy and they're expensive. Unless you're shooting 1,000 cues a year, it's hard to justify the cost. Look, bottom line is, either finish comes with it's own risks. They're both dangerous. Pick your poison.

I've been using a U.V. system for around four years now. I don't really like it but I've got it so I use it. I had a spray booth where I could spray 5 cues at once on a revolving cue system. I took out the bottom two cue holders and put in a 2X8 flat board 8' long. My booth is around 6' long so I cut a hole in the end for the board to protrude from. I took a 1X3" aluminum bar around 4' long and put on a 1" od roller bearing on each corner to act as wheels. I tacked down a narrow wood strip on each side of the 2X8 to act as a track so that this carriage would roll in a straight line. I then put a gear reduced motor on one end with a center to act as a drive and a spring loaded center on the other end. I then placed my U.V. light carrier at the exact recommended distance from the center line of this rolling lathe. I then built a plywood box completely enclosing this U.V. system. One end has an opening for the lathe to pass thru after passing the lamp and the other end, where the spraying is done, I have a sliding gate that is pulled up to let the lathe enter the box and U.V. light. This system keeps the light contained and sealed so that no or very little finish gets onto the bulb. I've had no problem with this system and have probably sprayed 3 to 400 cues.

The nice thing about U.V. is that it is very quick (Curing time around 10 seconds), you spray, put into lathe to sand back level and then spray another coat. It takes me around 10 minutes to put on and level 4 to 6 coats. The finish never gets hard unless it is hit by a U.V. light so I just leave the finish in the gun until the next time I need it. I clean the gun maybe once a year. The finish is very hard and resists scuffs and abrasions and such.

What I don't like about U.V. is that the types of finish I have been using are almost impossible to rub out. If you can spray a perfect finish so that it doesn't need rubbed out then it is as shiny as any finish on any cue in the world but if you have to sand or polish then your f....d. Menzerna really makes it shine good but Menzerna is a polish, not a rubbing compound. It will look great when first completed but later on down the road when the Menzerna wears you will be in real trouble as it will look horrible. There are other types of U.V. finishes that I haven't tried and other cue makers are having success rubbing out but I haven't found the right finish as of yet. I just got some new stuff that is supposed to rub out easily but I haven't tried it yet. Right now I use the U.V. as a filler instead of a finish. I spray from 2 to 6 coats so as to fill all of the pores and open grain in the wood and then I spray an automotive finish on top. If someone gives me a cue to refinish I still can remove old finish, spray on a sealer, put on the U.V. for a filler and the final finish in an evening and return the next day.

As far as the bulb go's. Mine is a 5" bulb and a new one is probably a couple of hundred dollars but the are good for around a 1000 hours of usage and I probably average around a half hour of usage per cue.

Dick