Spray Paint Booth

[ed]

I am in the market for a paint booth. I have seen several brands on the market. Does anyone have recommendations for a booth?

Thanks.

Ed

[fredmoehrle]

How fancy do you want to get?
There was a person in FSM a month or two ago that took a cardboard box, a furnace filter and a window box fan and made one that way.
Cut a hole in the bottom of the box a little smaller then the furnace filter, which was a bit smaller then the window box fan, and set the whole thing in a spare room/ garage window (can't remember which).
The box was fairly sturdy the other said, and he/she lined it with cheep white contact paper that would come off the waxed cardboard box fairly easily for replacement.
Total cost, $25-30 US.

[alco539]

Ed,

Maybe you've seen the MicroMart spray booths. They appear to be nice units, but are "pricey" in my opinion. I've used the box idea for years, but I don't paint much now-a-days. For larger work I use my basement stairway with a recycled "air-handler" (240v) fan to move the air outside.

If you go the home made box route. Try to find a fan that the motor is "outside the air flow" if possible. Most fan motors are shaded pole, so don't have starting switches, read "contacts that make sparks". That's a bad thing with solvent fumes, but even a shaded pole motor can run hot or worse, short a winding which could cause a fire/explosion. The filter only traps the paint particles, not very good by the way.

Professional spary boothes use charcoal or water traps to catch the particles and solvents. The MicroMart booth has a filter that removes solvents, charcoal?, I don't know, its black. Maybe that's why it's pricey and a good deal after-all.

If you only plan on using water base paints, the solvent problem, "won't be a problem", LOL. You may know all this, but since you never know the experience level of a member, too much info is best. I hope this helps.

Regards Charley.

[calzephyr]

Sept 21, 2012 5:07:21 GMT -8 fredmoehrle said:

How fancy do you want to get?
There was a person in FSM a month or two ago that took a cardboard box, a furnace filter and a window box fan and made one that way.
Cut a hole in the bottom of the box a little smaller then the furnace filter, which was a bit smaller then the window box fan, and set the whole thing in a spare room/ garage window (can't remember which).
The box was fairly sturdy the other said, and he/she lined it with cheep white contact paper that would come off the waxed cardboard box fairly easily for replacement.
Total cost, $25-30 US.

I built mine out of plywood and purchased a large squirrel Cage type of blower to provide the suction to get the fumes out of the box at the rear near the top section.

A regular fan could be dangerous if you are painting with anything other than water based paint since the fumes can be highly explosive.
Larry

[riggelweg]

I am also in the market for a spray booth. I researched building one on my own, and I don't think it will be worth it.

Here's a good tutorial on what is required to build your own spray booth:
www.briansmodelcars.com/tutorials/tutorial.asp?tutorialid=23&curpage=1

To me, it makes the most sense to build one with a rear exhaust, not a bottom exhaust. I suppose you'd want a bottom exhaust if you hold a spray can and spray in a downward direction. Most of us don't use our paint brushes that way, and I think a bottom exhaust could cause problems with overspray settling on the model.

So, to design a rear exhaust booth that draws 100 cfm at the face of the booth, you need a fan capable of drawing an amount of air that provides 100 cfm at the face while pushing it out through an exhaust duct. Using the calculations suggested at the link and also using a static pressure calculator on the Internet, I determined that about a 300 cfm blower fan is needed for a booth that is about 22 inches wide and about 14 inches tall. (I can't remember the exact dimensions I used.) This will cost about $120-$140. Adding in the costs of the wood or metal to construct the booth, and you are looking at close to $200.

You can get a Paasche spray booth for $200, and its fan runs at 270 cfm, which sounds about right. I think that's the way to go.
www.amazon.com/Paasche-HSSB-22-16-Hobby-22-Inch-18-Inch/dp/B0038DANR6/

Yes, it's not cheap, but your health is worth it.

[bsklarski]

Just make your own for about $100. Its easy and cheap.

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