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I've just finished spraying my next guitar, a ribbon sapele dreadnought and wanted to try making a drying box to help speed up the cure time. I eyed my plywood supplies and found it a little wanting. I just happened to pop down into the basement and realized we had 3 wardrobe moving boxes left over from our last move, one of which was empty. It was perfect to make a drying box out of - tall, lightweight and easy to modify.

I wanted a box fan for the top of the box but do you think I could find one in any of the local stores? Seems it's a seasonal item so I've had to make do with a round oscillating fan.

I cut a hole in the top of the box for the fan and then cut some exhaust ports near the bottom of the box.

The wardrobe already comes with a steel center beam for hanging clothes which is perfect for hanging the neck and back off of.

I'm going to put a couple of pillows in the bottom - just in case lol.

I think this is a perfect, cheap method of building a drying box. I'm not sure how much one of these would cost from a moving company but I can't see them costing too much.

So am I missing anything in my design? Once the box fans are back in stores I'll swap out the oscillating fan.










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Rob Flindall
Flindall Guitars
http://www.flindallguitars.com
https://www.facebook.com/FlindallGuitars

maybe keep in mind that a lot of box fans aren't intended to run horizontally and the blades will scrape the grill. or the bearings may even get overheated, who knows.

If you have any young kids, Rob, make sure they don't make a fort out of it! When my girls were little, they turned every cardboard box into a "T.V." I would make sure that the area of the exhaust holes add up to the same area, or a little more, than the hole that the fan is blowing through, so that you don't restrict the air flow.

Alex

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And some filtering would be nice also, you don't want to blow a bunch of trash in there.
Btw, I think the little box fans they use to keep computers cool with would work too.


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I'll keep an eye on the fans as they run to see how the temperature fairs. Good call on the filters. I was going to lay a furnace filter over the top of the box fan when I purchased one. Or under - will have to see which works best. And Alex - already read the riot act to my girls

I do have a question for those that use a drying box - what speed should I run the fan, and how much does a drying box typically speed up the cure time of nitro?


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Rob Flindall
Flindall Guitars
http://www.flindallguitars.com
https://www.facebook.com/FlindallGuitars

Having worked as a painter in a body shop for many years I could make a couple of suggestions.

#1. You have way too much fan for the cubic feet of box you have. I would go to the hardware store and buy a 6" in duct fan. They are made to fit a standard 6" heat duct. Then you should get some of the ducting and some elbows to direct the exhaust either outside or into a room you don't use. The fumes from nitro are not good for people so exhausting them out of your house or shop is probably a good idea.

#2. Just pulling air over the finish will not do a lot to help dry lacquer. It will flash off the top surface but I don't think it will do a lot to speed up the drying. The way to actually dry lacquer faster is to apply heat, usually most painters use a portable infrared light to heat the panel up which does dry lacquer much faster... However I would NOT recommend using one on wood since it will suck every bit of moisture out. You could direct a heat source to the box and raise the temp up some, I think 80 - 90 degrees would speed up the drying enough to be effective.

#3. I would turn the fan around and pull the air from the box and put some filters in the bottom vents to keep dust from collecting in your finish and in the bottom of the box. If you are planning on spraying a couple of coats and then put it in the box you will want filters.

If you objective is to just put the guitar in after you spray a couple of coats to keep the dust off then I would not even bother with the fan and vents. Just a closed box will be fine to keep the dust off. A fan will actually create more dust then not having one. It will get pretty thick with lacquer fumes but you wont be blowing them around you shop and breathing in as much.

As a reference, when I was painting cars and sprayed a fender I could put a heat lamp (quarts infrared) on it for about 4 hours and then give it time to cool down and run a buffer over it and send it out the door. Doing that always required the customer to come back in a couple of weeks to get a final buff because it will dull out since it is not fully dry but for a job that had to be done in one day that is how we would do it.

Hope this info helps,

Cheers,
Bob