Spray Booth Advice

If you have the skills it is fairly easy and much more economical to build your own. Lots of folks on here have posted pics of homemade booths and even schematics.

I've got an Artograph 1520 booth, and judging from the pictures they're basically the same thing, so here goes:

Fan is decently quiet (I'd say it's barely quieter than my vacuum cleaner and about the same as my stove's range hood on high).

I like the fact it's got the filters because my situation doesn't exactly lend itself to outside venting.  That being said, I've only used enamels and acrylics in it, and am considering limiting myself to acrylics in the future as long as I'm not venting outside (the filters work pretty well... there's a vent on the back, and I have yet to find any paint build up on the wall behind it).  I would not consider using lacquers due to lack of outside venting, but that's sort of a situational thing... if I were able to vent it outside, I'd give it some thought.

I wouldn't recommend using it with spray cans or airbrushes spraying at full power.

Size is decent.  A 1/48 F-15 was sort of a tight fit; 1/48 WWII fighters, 1/35 armor, and 1/25 autos haven't been a problem.  

I bought it as an Artograph, which came with a cardboard hood, and then purchased the metal hood separately...  it turned out to be cheaper that way at the time (~5 years ago).  The microlux unit looks like the metal hood is standard.  I believe Testors sells this same unit, too.

Hello ckfredericskson...thank you for your review.  I have been looking at the Artograph but find them a bit more expensive.  I have the same problem with venting.  My hobby shop is in our basement; however, we have no windows and the only external venting I could do would be with the clothes dryer, awkward to say the least.  As I have researched spray booths, the smaller ones all seem to be similar.  Does your unit exhaust at the back or from the bottom?  Does this make a significant difference?  Myscout

I hadn't realized that the Micromark was now cheaper, and in checking that it I've noticed that there is probably a minor difference between the units (there may be others that are not as apparent).

If you look at the picture here,  the air exits the unit from the port in the left side of the base.  On the artograph 1520, that port is on the back of the base.

Also, the artograph switch is on the front of the unit, while I don't see it on the Micromark, so I'm guessing it's on the right side of the base... I just measured the base and it's pretty much square, so my guess is that the base is rotated 90 degrees between the 2 units.

The exact geometry of your hobby area will dictate which one will take up less space; beyond that I don't think it makes a difference.