Appliance epoxy baking recipe

Supergyro

Active Member
Hey fellas, thought I'd share a little about what I learned last night baking Rustoleum appliance epoxy paint.

Last week I painted my aluminum fork lowers and steel headlight bucket with the gloss black epoxy paint. It went on glossy as advertised, with just a bit of orange peel from the can not being warmer than room temp. I let it sit for a week to gas off, and then placed it in the oven at 400 F for about 45 minutes. When it came out, the orange peel had re-flowed for a smoother coat, and the gloss had dulled to a pleasing semi-gloss. The enamel is now even harder and more scratch resistant, with a better match for my bike. I was pretty chuffed.

I also previously played with VHT semi gloss epoxy. It went on smoother than the Rustoleum, but dried to a much more matte finish. I baked the VHT at 200 for an hour to strengthen it, and the lower temp kept it from matting further.

Overall, I would recommend Rustoleum Appliance Epoxy for gloss and semi-gloss applications. Just tailor the bake time/temp for the level of gloss you want to retain. I'm interested to try VHT gloss to see how it cures, and I may play with higher temps and longer times for even further matting and see if the strength is affected.
 
Some pictures of the sheen/gloss after baking.
First one is the headlight bucket and fork lowers sprayed with Rustoleum appliance epoxy and baked at 400.

The next pic is the swingarm sprayed with VHT semi gloss and baked at 200. Notice how flat/matte it is.
 

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do you think mrs spotty would mind me using the oven in the kitchen for a little of this myself........there again, given the amount of time she actually spends in the kitchen she'll probably never notice

nice work, keep up the experiments and updates
 
I was also pleased with how little it gassed up the kitchen. After a 3-4 day curing time, it didn't really gas out any more. After experiencing this epoxy, I'm tempted to to paint a breather cover and some valve caps and see if they get chalky under running temps. It's much easier to use and more visually pleasing than the engine enamel I've experienced.
 
I've found the epoxy enamels become durable even without oven baking (at least overnight in a warmish environment).
 
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