Tell me about your spray booth please...

[Yekoms]

Hi All,

I did some lookin' around on the internet and got some info, but I wanted to hear from some of you. If you're using a spray booth please school me on it. What brand,likes,dislikes? Pictures would be great. Thanks,Smokey

[modelman71]

20 bucks....oven range hood 1 piece of angle iron 2 old utility shelves vented out through dryer vent...shure beats 300 bucks and will suck paint fumes out of the room,allready has a filter and has a light

[Bridgebuster]

20 bucks....oven range hood 1 piece of angle iron 2 old utility shelves vented out through dryer vent...shure beats 300 bucks and will suck paint fumes out of the room,allready has a filter and has a light

Did you piece yours together or did you have some kind of plans? I'd love to be able to do one myself!

[Marc @ MPC Motorsports]

Pace Paint Booths are all you need to know. They are engineered by someone with 40+ years experience in the field. Safe and efficient too. Be careful with a home made booth or you could end up like this guy.

Paint Booth Explosion

[modelman71]

Did you piece yours together or did you have some kind of plans? I'd love to be able to do one myself!

no plans just off the top of my head...10 minuites to build i used steel shelves but ply wood would work too

[modelman71]

Pace Paint Booths are all you need to know. They are engineered by someone with 40+ years experience in the field. Safe and efficient too. Be careful with a home made booth or you could end up like this guy.

Paint Booth Explosion

never saw that before thanks for the post i have been using this setup for over 10 years with no problem spraying automotive paints never thought of this, as of the last year i have been shooting with fascolor acrylic baseed

[Ben]

Whatever you do, make sure to use an explosion proof motor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Using an oven vent hood motor that is not explosion proof can have very bad results!!!!

Vaporized paint is VERY flammable and the windings of a regular motor will ignite the fumes causing a huge fireball!!

[AzTom]

never saw that before thanks for the post i have been using this setup for over 10 years with no problem spraying automotive paints never thought of this, as of the last year i have been shooting with fascolor acrylic baseed

You are on borrowed time. The paint builds up on the windings and will cause them to overheat and short out. You do NOT want that to happen when spraying.

Tom

[AzTom]

Here is the Badger I have now. It works great and filters can be bought at local home stores.

I had a testors before this one and although it worked well I didn't like the down draft / filter on the floor design. It was not very stable setting paint stands and such on it.

AzTom

[jbwelda]

yep thats some scary stuff.

my paint booth, such as it is, currently consists of a cardboard box on a shelf in a semi-sealed tool shed. its shoot and get out style. not good and definately in need of an upgrade

[Wagoneer81]

Home built, spent about $20.00. I had the paneling and 1x2's in the garage, lighting is a 24" flourescent and it takes a 12"x20" furnace filter. My nephew gave me the 4" Squirrelcage blower. Yes, the motor is isolated from the airflow. I spent most of the money on the ducting, wiring and dryer vent that's outside. It's 42"x20"x20". I built it large because I still build 1/350 and larger warships... still not large enough for a 1/72 Revell Gato Class Sub (as told by the overspray on the wall ). The tank underneath will be my airsupply...as soon as I get around to setting it up with the proper fittings.

[Aaronw]

You do not need an explosion proof fan for a paint booth, none of us would be able to afford a spray booth if we did as they start around $1000 just for a small fan. An explosion proof fan is a very specific item meant for very hazardous atmospheres like venting a fuel bunker or a full size automotive spray booth. None of the commercial hobby booths use an explosion proof fan.

What is recommended is a fan that is not in the air flow like a shaded pole blower also known as a squirrel cage. The blower is on a rod allowing the motor to remain outside of the airflow. Almost all of the commercial hobby booths use this style of fan.

If you get a good fan it will generally be the most expensive part of your booth. I built mine for $200, the fan cost $144.

Edited April 27, 2010 by Aaronw

[LOBBS]

Here's another home-built one. It's of a down-draft design with a Dayton squirrel cage blower below the expanded metal stage. It takes a standard 14x25 furnace filter which slides between the expanded metal and the head space above the fan. I've attached a file given to me by Klaus Raddatz who was a regular over on the Hobby Heaven (now Spotlight Hobbies) board. It contains pretty much everything that you need to build a booth to industry specifications. For about $100 (back in 2004), most of which was the cost of the blower, I've got a commercial grade set-up that's given me years of trouble-free service.

We've got a big ole sheetmetal brake at work, so I plan to eventually go that route on my next one.

Edited April 27, 2010 by LOBBS

[mikelo]

First, let me say that for the money, an investment in a commercial paint booth is worth the money. With that said, if you do try to make one yourself out of parts laying around, pay particular attention to the fan motor. If it is anywhere near the paint fumes you do need an explosion proof motor, period. You can find them at affordable prices when you look to see if it is rated as TFEC. Brushless fans have this rating, but you will need to make sure that style fan is after your filter as anything getting into the blade will stop it from spinning eventually. Basically, you need it to be spark proof. With that said, the easiest way is to get the motor out of the airstream (like the style on Aaron's). I built this as an experiment to see if carbon would remove the fumes from painting. I already had the fan and filter from work, and the cabinet was part of my garage collection, so this cost me less than $100 ($90 for cabinet{actually it was a gift}, $5 for the light and $1.50 for the newspaper.). We used to buy these from Grainger if I remember correctly for about $30. There was just recently a story of a guy being rushed to the hostital from using a home made spray booth using a range hood(after using it for years with no problem). Here is what I ended up with.

Oh, in case you are wondering, while the carbon does work very well, there are some paints (primers and black for some reason) that it does not remove all the harmful fumes and should still be vented outdoors.

Mike

Edited April 27, 2010 by mikelo

[crispy]

I have a Paasche booth. At the time I bought mine I hadn't even heard of Pace booths, which come highly recommended.

The only drawback of this booth is getting filters. I buy them in bulk and when I get to my last few I start shopping again.

Here's mine:

I still love it. But, like anything else, printers need ink, cars need gas and oil, and these need filters. This booth can also be run with a charcoal filter as well reducing the smell. I have mine vented to go outside.

Chris

[Jon Cole]

Well, here is the booth I used to have. I didn't much care fer it, I always thought it wuz kinda small, an I had a heckuva time gittin' my model in n out without bangin it up an all...

So, my wife bought me this unit from Pace. It is the small booth they sell, and cost less than anything the competition had at the time. Made in the USA, stainless steel... can't go wrong! Unless of course you buy a larger unit from Pace!

BTW... I use the Press'n Seal to cover the sides & bottom... less wash up, no dried up overspray flaking off into my next paint job.

Yes, it does have a filter...

Edited April 27, 2010 by Spyder

[Yekoms]

Thanks very much for all of the info. I'll have time later to go through it better. It looks like lots of good stuff.

I hope that others find this in a search when they need it also.

Smokey

[CAL]

I built mine, and have been pretty happy with it.

[AMT Pacemakers]

Spyder, looks like your a fan of Popcorn, what a man!!! RIP Popcorn...

My booth is the great outdoors, seem everytime I sprayed in a both I got all kind of dust and such.

CCSS

[Junkman]

My booth is the great outdoors, seem everytime I sprayed in a both I got all kind of dust and such.

CCSS

Same here. In northwest England this gives me an astonishing 13 minutes to paint. Per year.

[Karl Sheffer]

Smokey, I have the middle size Pace that I got a year ago or so. I'll show it to you next weekend. Karl