British BBQ Society Forums

First ever post - please be gentle with me

I'm in the process of building my first UDS and have decided that I want to paint it to help prevent rust. I've read A LOT of forum posts etc over the last few weeks and the most commonly recommended types of paints seem to be general purpose very high temp paint and engine paint.

That's fine, and I've now looked at a few of these. They all seem to require that the painted object be heated up to X temp in order to cure the paint (in the case of engine paint, it recommends running the engine for X amount of time - probably to produce the required amount of heat/time).

So for a UDS, what are you guys doing once you've finished painting? Lighting a big ass fire in the fire basket or burning some charcoal as though you were doing a cook? Are you doing this after each coat or once after all coats have been applied? Does what you're doing seem to cure the paint as required? Would really appreciate any thoughts on this.

Also, I'm considering keeping the original stripped drum vibe - anyone know of a clear high temp varnish that would work as opposed to a paint?

I'll post pictures and notes when I'm done - thanks for all the inspiration & info that this forum has provided so far.

Further info...

VHT clear paint:

http://www.frost.co.uk/vht-very-high-te ... tAodR2oAmQ

The curing instructions sound like a bit of a stretch for a UDS though:

- Paint must be completely dry before curing

- Heat to 250°F (121°C) for 30 minutes

- Cool for 30 minutes

- Heat to 400°F (204°C) for 30 minutes

- Cool for 30 minutes

- Heat to 650°F (343°C ) for 30 minutes

found this one:

http://bbbqs.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f= ... mel#p28795

kwazulu wrote:found this one:

http://bbbqs.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f= ... mel#p28795

Thanks. I read that post the other day. Did some Googling after and it seems that most rad enamel withstands up to 100°C. I'm gonna be cooking above that temp (hopefully) most of the time, though I suppose that the paint will be on the exterior where it should be a lot cooler (cool enough?). Does radiator enamel not need to be cured in the same way as VHT paint?

Can't find a clear radiator enamel either...

Looks like this one comes in a "gloss clear" and has far more reasonable curing instructions: 200°F for 20 minutes - even my UDS can do that

http://www.vhtpaint.com/products/engineenamel/

Hi Mate
Basic radiator paint
Cheers
Si

CyderPig wrote:Hi Mate
Basic radiator paint
Cheers
Si

I know you've built quite a few Si, I take it you've had no problems with blistering, can I assume ( ) that like all good paint jobs good surface prep would be the key?

My freind, ignore all this sensible talk of paint, do what I did.

Paint about 1/3 of it, get impatient and start to use it, then realise 12 months later that you've still not got around to painting the rest of it but justify it to yourself that now it really is an UGLY Drum Smoker and carry on without painting it (but knowing that you really should and you're actually just a lazy sod bag)

stretchie_ wrote:My freind, ignore all this sensible talk of paint, do what I did.

Paint about 1/3 of it, get impatient and start to use it, then realise 12 months later that you've still not got around to painting the rest of it but justify it to yourself that now it really is an UGLY Drum Smoker and carry on without painting it (but knowing that you really should and you're actually just a lazy sod bag)

Haha, I've already started down that road but am keen to get it sorted... I seasoned it without painting in a mad rush to cook with it for guests last Saturday (turned out nice). But this being Britain, the rain will fall; and my shed being as over-stuffed as it is, the UDS will spend some time out in the elements. So now I've removed all the fittings, scrubbed it down clean and am picking it up from the sand blasting place later today. This paint is going on, all 2 coats of it!

I'm gonna decide what to do when I see the finish from the sand blasting. If it looks cool, I'm going for clear VHT engine paint. If it looks just rubbish or just "alright" then I'll save a couple quid and get some black rad enamel (can't find clear rad enamel anywhere - guessing it doesn't exist).

Thanks for all your help people!