Which is the best to use?

[crbprb]

I am looking into buying a 1500watt IR lamp for curing bigger items but would a propane IR heater do a better job?What would be the pros and cons of each?Which one would you personally prefer?

[jtagger19]

I personally had a 1500 IR and never got it to work properly
even on small parts
it never reached the curing temp even on an enclosure made for it .

never had a propane IR so can't say anything about it.

[bzer1]

The propane heater would do a better job, but you really need to be very careful when curing with it. To begin with, they don't heat evenly so you might end up with partially cured areas, or you might have substantial over curing in others. This will be a huge problem when curing clears and some light colors. It will also cause what appears to be outgassing. I have used them in the past with mixed results, and the same rules as using an IR light apply. You still need to have some type of enclosure, in order to retain the heat. IR weather using a light or a propane(radiant) heater is line of sight. This means that only the surfaces that are facing the "element" are heated. The last issue and probably the most important is that you would be introducing an open flame into an environment where there could be potentialy explosive dust in the immediate area. It may not look like an open flame but it is. Even if you pickup the more expensive model which has a glass cover, the flame still needs air to burn and that means that the ambient air will be flowing into the unit. It is for this reason that I would not use one in my shop. If I were in a situation where I couldn't put in an oven I would use a higher wattage IR light...Like around 6000w. There are not many short cuts to be had where curing is concerned. In any shop safety should be your first and most imoprtant consideration.