New spray booth

tempestjohnny

Don when you say you don't vent outside. Does the furnace filter catch that much over spray. I'm in the process of making a booth but don't have easy access to get the air outside. If I could just catch ot with the filter that would make my build very easy. John

 

Yes, the filter is quite effective.  I notice no hint of paint color on wall near exhaust area.  I believe most of the smell we get with spray or airbrushed paint is thinner and other products coming off the aerosol droplets.  Such small droplets have a lot of surface area for their volume, which speeds up evaporation.

Once the paint is captured by the filter, I think the evaporation takes place over a much longer period of time, reducing the smell and the concentration.  I think you have a lower concentration for a longer period of time.  This certainly reduces smell, and probably fire potential, but may not reduce health hazards.  I have been less worried about the later.  But then, I have built models continually since I was seven or eight years old, including when in college and AF, and am 77 so far, so regular paints don't seem so hazardous to me. 

However, one time I sprayed body panels for my tiny full scale race car in basement using acrylic enamel (catalyzed stuff).  Effects were so bad I had to stop painting, leave spray gun uncleaned, and hurry out of area asap.  Bought a decent respirator to finish that project.  But don't use it for normal model painting.  I have also developed an allergy to sawdust and must wear a dust mask when doing anything with wood (love to carve wood- make most of my scratch models from wood).

Shipwreck

Don, back in a 2012 post you mentioned that you only use a spray booth for rattle cans and you do your airbrushing without using a booth. Have you changed your method of painting?

 

Nope, not yet.  However, one of the reasons for the lighter weight for the new booth is that I can move it over to building bench where I also do my airbrushing.  I have a stand next to my bench which I ordinarily use for rigging ships.  I thought about moving booth there for airbrushing.

Ordinarily I airbrush with very low flow, and build up finish by putting down several very thin layers in each airbrushing session.  As long as I do not have a model or part of a model directly behind what I am spraying (I usually hand hold subject I am airbrushing) I don't get objectionable overspray.  But, maybe I could speed up some preliminary painting if I used a heavier flow, and then I'd want the booth near the building bench.

I would not be able to vent to outside from that location, but in winter time I usually do not vent to outdoors much of the time anyway.

Don, back in a 2012 post you mentioned that you only use a spray booth for rattle cans and you do your airbrushing without using a booth. Have you changed your method of painting?

My old one hung on the wall.  I put a shelf on the wall there for the new one, and it is light enough to easily move to one of my workbenches.  It looks clean because I shot the pics before I did any spraying.  Those pics were from about three or four days ago- I guarantee it does not look that clean now!

nice...looks waaaay too clean...

Very capable and compact looking. 

I'll go and start being jealous now

Don Stauffer

Just finished my new spray booth.  This is about the seventh I have made, each one better than the previous one.  My last booth was too heavy, made from particle board, and it took a lot of work to change filters- you had to undo a bunch of screws and remove the top.  This new one is much lighter, made from 1/4 inch plywood, has a hinged rear section to easily replace filter (a standard furnace filter readily available at hardware and home improvement stores), and removable inner panels to replace for cleaning.  It still has the light that my previous one did.  I took pictures during the building, and could clean up the drawings I made.  If  anyone else would like to build it I can explore finding a place to put it online (I no longer have my own web page).  Any ideas?

I apologize for the poor photos- I did not want to use flash, as I felt that would not show the built-in light.  But that resulted in too slow a shutter speed :-(

 

 

Very well made and functional, Don. It looks similar to my homemade one, the third version, I needed to make it lighter and smaller. Yours looks to be at an elevation that allows you to stand while using it, is that correct?

It gives me an idea I should have thought of, mine is on my workbench at a sitting height, I'm going to build a shelf that it can sit on beside the bench, at an elevation so I can stand and spray for shorter sessions. I find that more comfortable and handy. It exhausts to the outside via fan through a 4 inch flex metal hose and sealed duct, so it can move back and forth from bench to stand conveniently.

Nice job, thanks very much for posting.

Patrick

I agree.  That looks really nice Don!  I like the design; clean, simple and efficient.  I wish I had room for one just like it.

Gary

Very nice, Don. It looks like you have the booth attached to the wall, right?