How to tell if Thermark is dry?

[Mike vonBuelow]

Will it turn white, from grey?

Time-wise, about how long on a 80 degree day? 5 min?

Can you do a touch test - where no residual on finger = dry?


My first attempt looked dry, had a nice black mark, but did not adhere to the metal.

Using 60sp/60pwr on my 25W

[Scott Shepherd]

I've not used Thermark, but for Cermark, with the can, it's about 10-15 minutes, with an airbrush, it's a couple of minutes.

I also think with 25W, you're way off on your settings. Probably more like 100% power, 5-10% speed is where I'd start. Cermark recommends (and I finally broke down and did it) to make small grid and use a system for changing it from one square to the next, then wash it all off, and you'll see which one stuck the best. It'll take 15-20 minutes to do it, but it's well worth the time spent.

[Mike Null]

I agree with Steve on the settings and even increase your dpi to 1000.

[Bruce Volden]

Mike,

I don't know what type of surface you were trying to mark? When I use "Cerdec / Cermark" it is almost always dry in less than 2 minutes, but just for giggles I even engraved when it was wet! This was on some knives and it worked just fine. How thick / thin is your application? This is where things get "fuzzy" as I ALWAYS dilute the mixture to a very thin consistency and apply with a foam brush (on the knives).

Bruce

[Mike vonBuelow]

Took about 5 min to dry to my liking... found a bunch of articles here and there.

Had to go to 3% sp and 100% pwr and 1000 dpi... came out fine that way, but takes way too long with my machine. slooooooooooooooooooooooow


Good news - I can show my wife that I now need a bigger toy!!!

[Mike Null]

If you have time run some tests. Try the settings you're using but change the dpi to 500. That'll decrease the run time considerable. Then try other samples where you've increased the speed to 10% 0r 15%.

It's also possible you're not getting the full 25 watts.