Small Paint Booth Question??

BILL WZOREK

BILL WZOREK

Well-known member
Has any one ever built a small vented paint booth ?
I am in the possess of doing this, mine well be about 2' X 2' X 3' high.
Any suggestions as to what you used for a fan & filter arrangement or Plans would be even better.:)

THANKS GUYS
 
Several years ago, I remember an article in one of the model railroad magazines on building such a booth. Model railroaders do a lot of airbrushing models with solvent based paints. Unfortunately, Fords have kind of pushed their way in front of my train interests and I have no way of finding that article. You might try looking up websites for the airbrush manufacturers, such as Badger?
 
X2 with Grumpys suggestion. I've made one to do small stuff in. You may want to use real booth filters as the furnace filters seemed to fill faster. Try a an auto paint supplier for booth filters.
 
Binx said:
CAUTION: Reducer fumes and electrical motors are a bad combo
Click to expand...

I thought about that when I did my set up. No way would I use a shop vac. The sparky brush type motor is usually in the air flow. It could make a flame trower under the right conditions. I used a 20" box fan with an induction motor. No brushes in them to spark.
 
A neat little trick I learned many years ago was to run a ground wire from the item to be painted to a grounding rod.. i.e. a brass rod driven into the ground, or a water pipe.
Dust is magnetically charged as is the material to be painted, grounding the item to be painted, the static charge is eliminated on the item to be painted and thereby repels the dust...
I have relayed this info to several of my friends that paint their own cars... Most of them were very doubtful until they tried the grounding trick... Very amazing how much trash is eliminated from the painted surface...
 
Bill - I'm going to build a 4-sided (bottom, 2 sides adn a back) box topped off with an external stove vent hood and fan. It's already 30" wide and I'll probably get a more powerful fan for it to "soup it up a little". It will be for small parts, especially when I paint them in the winter ....
 
TomT
Have you thought out a filter of some sort?
I heard that should try to find a spray booth filter that a furnace filter is made up different a will not get any life out of it.
 
I made a spray booth[model trains] using 1/2 plywood with a small furnace filter in the rear wall and two muffin fans mounted outside the filter.Used it for years,the RR club is still using it.
 
If you're search engine savvy, I'd suggest looking for a 120 volt computer fan and an adapter cord with a variable speed rheostat. You can duct the fan with a short piece of dryer duct into a bellmouth made out of cardboard and duct tape to fit the filter you choose. The variable airflow would be coming towards you as you are facing the part you're spraying. This is basically a "clean air station" that I had to use in the Air Force when rebuilding aircraft hydraulic components. How clean depends on the filter you use. The rheostat lets you adjust your airflow. A big box fan would probably blow all the paint back at you.

Lonnie
 
Just add to all the good posts ,If you wana get real fancy use a box and a trough of water then run a wall down to it with a fan on the other side ,when you spray the solids /air change direction and dump the residue into the water .This is a bit like how a Ford oil bath air cleaner work's .I spayed for years with .a pedestal box and a 14" fan .A turn table is worth considering a Ford axle housing with a hub and wheel poked up through the lower platform works great .The regulation motor should be used such as the Flame proof type ,I wouldn't worry about filters unless you are exhausting over the nabors fence .But depends on regulations ,
 
Make your box the same height & width dimensions as a furnace filter. Cut a hole in the back to mount a squirrel cage fan. Stuff at least three furnace filters inside the box and just shove them to the back so they will be easily removeable. Leave a gap of an inch or two between the filters and the back panel of the box so the whole filter surface can do the work instead of just the area near the fan. That way the airflow will be slower and the filters can pick up the particles easier. The furnace filters will catch the paint particles before the fan so it won't get clogged up with them. The first filter will catch most of the paint so that one will have to be replaced most often.
You can find ideal squirrel cage fans salvaged from window air conditioners.
 
Thanks grumpy. I got tired of cleaning the dried paint off the fan blades. The leading edges would pick up a thick layer that also cut down on the efficiency of the fan blade. Filters are cheap.
 
Painting this time of the year (winter) and venting can be bring in very cold air to your paint area. Cold is not good for painting. I've been painting with no venting til done. Vent and get the heat back on. Can get very foggy in the garage. I don't like painting like this but need to get it done now, not in the Spring.
 
Tony, I fully understand the reasoning for your method. Please be carefull as the concentrated vapors (foggy) could be a disaster.

On industrial booths that I set up a minimum air flow of 100 feet/minute must be maintained. The industrial set up require a makeup air unit slightly larger than the exhaust fan. In the winter they are very expensive to run.
Back to something for use at home. A 20" box fan will move between 1500 to 2500 CFM. So with a fan rated at 2500CFM could support a 5' X 5' open front booth. That is until the furnace filters start getting blocked. The large cardboard box reinforced with some strapping makes a good temporary booth. The booth I used was 2' x 3' x 3' deep. A 15" x 20" hole was cut in the back wall and a 16" x21" filter was taped on the inside. a 20" fan was placed behind the filter on the outside. The hole affair was on a folding table. This was positioned to exhaust though and open window. Simple and effective.
 
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