I have been working on a home paintbooth the last couple of weekends and wanted to know if anyone with experience sees a big hole in my plans. I cut off a corner of my workshop with a wall and a double hinged door. The area is about 13 ft. by 24 ft. I am almost done putting 4 mil thick plastic on the walls and the floor. Everywhere there is a seam I have been duct taping it. I double hinged the door because of space limitations. I put 2 20 in. fans in one wall (the doors) and in the back ceiling I put 4 20x25 filters. I was totally guessing at how much filter area I would need. Do you think this system will give adequate ventilation? I have seen other home shops on the web with fans like this but I am concerned that the fans will blow paint into the rest of the shop. Should I put filters on the fans also? I also put a door in the back corner of the shop for convenience. Is there something also I should do while I am building the shop? Besides learn how to paint :-) There is an outlet in the enclosed area so I can plug in things like curing lights.

Check out the unfinished booth. I haven't finished putting up all the plastic.

Unfinished paint booth

 

Well, can't comment on if you are missing anything to me.. it looks great though.. But the one thing I did notice is that awesome dolly your car is on.. man where did you find that.. :hail:

 

You have the fans blowing air in, not pulling air out, correct? You want the room to be in positive pressure. Otherwise you have an explosive hazard due to the VOC's of the paint and the fans not having motors that are properly shielded for a hazardous environment. You'll need to put filter material over the face of the fans. Also I've been told to wet down the floor before you start spraying to keep dust and paint overspray to a minimum. Otherwise it looks good.

Lon

 

painting in a garage my friend used some box fans with the door closed on them and a hose turned on running down and out the door to pick up dust in the air, car came out decent too

 

Ionsal, I had been going back and forth on that simply because I didn't know. I guess I will be pushing air in now. I wonder if I should change my filter location to a lower paint now.

FastElectrics, The car routisserie is from www.whirlyjig.com. If you click on the link for the paint booth there are links at the top of that page. There is a quick and dirty movie of the whirly jig in action and a couple of still photos I think.


Thanks,

Glen

 

I meant to say "lower point" in the previous post not "lower paint". I guess I have paint on the brain.

 

That paint booth looks really slick!

 

I am envious. Real envious. Great job on that paint booth.:hail:

 

wow that booth looks great i want one!
make sure that any opening (in or out) has got filters
the idea of wetting down the floor is a good one (not too much water though). also you said that your sealing the seams with duct tape? you may want to try a good seam sealer or caulking.
i've worked in a couple of paint shops so this advice is from experiance.

 

There are a couple things that would concern me...one, the issue of using regular home type fans to ventilate a booth. All it takes is one spark, and you will blow up your booth! I'd get in touch with Grainger and get some fans that can operate safely in that kind of environment. Also, never operate any electrical equipment in the spray area (lamps, etc) while the air is full of overspray. A slight positive pressure is desirable in the booth.

Also, the filters you are using look like standard furnace filters, correct? For painting, you really need a 10 micron filter, and I doubt the average furnace filter can provide this (anything smaller than 10 microns is invisible to the naked eye). I would contact a local paint/body supplier or paint booth service company to obtain proper filters.

You might want to check out my company's website...I work for Team Blowtherm, the world's leading spray boot manufacturer.

http://www.teamblowtherm.com

Also, NEVER mop inside the booth...vaccum everything with a wet/dry vac. You wouldn't believe how much lint and dust is created by mopping. Something that seems obvious, too, that I see professional shops doing incorrectly all the time: NEVER sand in the booth!!!

 

Thanks LT1guy. I did have that thought about the filters. I'll check into that. It also looks like I'm just going to have to splurge for a nice fan that won't kill me. Oh well, that's why I posted this before I was done. I don't think my wife would forgive me if I blew myself up.

Thanks,

Glen

 

Oh yeah. What about the lights? Are they going to cause an explosion also? Are all these guys painting there parts in garages just getting lucky not blowing themselves up? I meant that seriously not sarcastically.

Thanks for the info.

Glen

 

I notice you're in Canton, not too far from me (Atlanta-off Fulton Industrial, close to Six Flags)...if you'd like to come by our tech center sometime and check out our booths, you're welcome to do so. Just give me a call at 800-300-1546 x 1320. It may help you with some ideas to improve your home booth. Good job so far BTW!

 

Yes, another good point. The lights we use are pretty much just standard flourescent tubes, but they are sealed off behind a polycarbonate or glass face with allen head screws. You could make similar covers out of Lexan.

 

I would make sure that you have alot of light...I just painted my car myself at a paint booth at my dad's work. It had standard flourescent(sp?) lights on both sides of the car and lights at the top of the booth. It was a really big booth because they paint big forklifts in it, so that might have made a difference, but I still did not have enough light, so my car didn't come out that great, though it was my first paint job so I think it looks pretty good. Light is essential.

 

White walls and a light colored floor (we use Evercoat Peelable coating in light gray...awesome stuff) help a lot with lighting. Do that, and you won't need as many lights in the booth.

 

I just paint outside Actually only a couple of boat trailers and a dune buggy, everything else has been in a proper booth. The dune buggy actually came out very very good, no bugs got in it and it has a very high gloss.

 

I just flipped for a 16in explosion proof fan and some better filters. That really hurt the wallet but at least I won't blow myself up. Not really sure where I am going to mount the one fan. I don't want it blowing directly on part of the car. I'll figure something out.

Thanks for the input.

Glen

 

The Air should be drawn in from outside the back of the booth through the filters into the booth and out through the front filters being PULLED through the booth by the fans. The fans should be mounted in the front of the booth AFTER the filters and blowing out into the shop area. This Pulls the air through the booth. This way the air coming into the booth is filtered and the air exiting the booth is filtered before going out. Here is a quick drawing:

 

Thanks GKK, That is the way I was going to do it originally. It just seemed easier. It has been suggested earlier in this post that a slight positive pressure in the booth is a good thing. That would require that the fans blow inward. Has your experience been different? I know I won't ever get this thing airtight so a positive pressure in the booth seems like a good thing. If there is a leak the air will blow out instead of unfiltered air coming in.

 

just from my experience, all the boothe's i've painted in pull air out, the only problem i see with this, is if you have a leak of air, dust will be pulled in. moral of the story, don't have leaks, could someone explaiun the higher pressure thing.?

good job on the booth

btw, i bet you already know this, but make sure when you painting, you paint so that overspray is not being pulled or pushed over the areas already painted. ie if fans are pulling start far away from them and work towards them, and if they push, start near, and work away.

 

I wouldn't have any air blowing INTO a home made booth because unless you have very high quality paintbooth filters, dust from outside the booth will also be blown in if the filters are not able to trap it. Also, when spraying make sure the paint gun pressure is not too high I use about 30-35 psi depending on what material I'm using. If the booth is all cloudy inside that means most of the paint is in the air and not on the car. It's best to watch someone that knows how to paint to get the right technique down.

 

Thanks for all the info guys. I definitely learned a thing or two. I'm going to soak all this is in and go finish the booth and try to paint something.

Thanks,

Glen

 

start with my car