Infrared device
Mike M. wrote 09/10/2017 at 22:26 • 0 pointsLooking for paid help to build a hand-held device to heat and soften old paint/ for old house restoration. We can do better than what is commercially available, and cheaper. Suggest using cylindrical quartz glass bulbs with 270 degree ceramic coating.
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Thank you for taking my defense- and I never even saw the insult!
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Assuming you are qualified to work with mains voltage:
A cheap source of infra red radiation would be a heating elements of a toaster or a small oven. But they might not be electrically isolated so you'd need a secure housing that makes sure they cannot be touched accidentally. Probably using some form of mesh or metal grid. Infra red bounces of metallic surfaces quite beautifully. So even moderately shiny metal can be used as a reflector. You probably need a double wall to make sure you can't touch the hot pieces.
Toasters, heat guns and hair dryers alls work with nichrome wire that can be brought into the desired shape. They should also contain the fibre glass pieces needed to wrap them around. They need to be electrically isolating and withstanding the heat.
If you use wires from something with a fan you will need to use more than one length as they are intended to be cooled by the air flow. By putting more wire in series the overall power is reduced and spread out over more wire. So it won't just melt right away.
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I am thinking that the ideal device could be maybe only an inch or two wide and 4-6 inches long. What you want is an area of softened but not scorched paint to scrape off, with an adjacent area ready by the time you finish the first.
Although I suppose one could have a small version for trim around windows and such and a larger version for large, broad surfaces.
Also, instead of several bulbs in succession, I guess one could use just one bulb and hold it at an angle, or mount it at an angle in the housing. For someone who knows what they are doing (unlike me) I think this would be rather trivial to make. One thing that I don't know is what the cost would be for the materials or where to get them in low volumes.
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Guten Morgen, and thanks for the interest and suggestions.
While common and relatively inexpensive, heat guns have several problems, the worst of which is that hot air can be forced through joints and cracks in the surface and start a fire underneath, something that you don't know until later when it breaks through to the surface. Also, heat guns can reach a temperature that will vaporize the lead in old paint that a dust mask will not protect from. Both of these problems are associated with the inefficiency of using a heated coil to heat forced air, which then is used to heat a surface. A source of IR light at lower watts and operating temperature can rapidly get the surface at a desired temperature, 400-600 degrees or so.
Here is a demonstration of the device that is on the market:
https://thecraftsmanblog.com/infrared-paint-removal-speedheater-cobra/
I have taken something like this commercially available space heater:
http://www.globalindustrial.com/p/hvac/heaters/portable-electric/cz-heater-ceiling-mount-quartz-czqtv5m-7501500w-5120-btu?infoParam.campaignId=T9F&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9a-4to-d1gIVhSaGCh1VBwxjEAQYBSABEgJn5_D_BwE
and removed the protective screen so I can get the bubs close to the surface of what I am trying to strip. The problem is this is cumbersome.
My main thought on improving such a device is to use a cylindrical quartz light that is partially coated with ceramic, which allows a device to forego much of the housing/shielding of heat. I would also think of using several bulbs in succession so the leading edge is being preheated (maybe 200-300 W bulb), but not to the point of scorching, and the trailing/working edge having a 500-600 W bulb.
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Well, you could at least specify the rough data points of the projects or give some links to the commercially available solutions you want to replace. Area to be heated, Wattage, expected temperature on on the surface, ...
The other question is: Why can't you just use a heat gun?
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My comment above was a reply to Florian Festi.
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Thank you, posted a reply
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