Airbrushing Lacquer Paints in Garage - Ventilation Issues?

oldermodelguy

I saw a video where a guy was collecting airbrush fumes in his shop vac, till the day he went to turn it on and it blew up. He had a stay in the hospital for burns and a broken arm, as I recall. Bad scene in the basement. Volatile fumes collected in an enclosed container then adding spark, to me is not recommended. Most shop vacs I recall using had pretty open motors mounted on top. Be careful.

Tanker-Builder

JackL.2:

     Greetings and Salutations! Welcome to the Forum of Forums. In reality, the ONLY one that counts. You see, talking about models is actually fun. Plus, you get to gain or share knowledge with a bunch of like minded folks.

    Now as to your question.I recently bought a Vacuum.A "Wet or Dry" type.It came with a built in filter(Changeable) and I was able to fit a HEPA Box filter to it. Then I paint, In a garage with no windows. Collecting volatile fumes inside a closed container, add spark=explosion

   I do wear a safety mask with it's own filter system too. No problems yet and the plants in the garage are still growing fine. They are probably weeds, but why take the chance. They are hidden(Their Containers?) behind some stuff, so I don't know.The Landalady starts her plants in there. These are growing like weeds though.

 

I saw a video where a guy was collecting airbrush fumes in his shop vac, till the day he went to turn it on and it blew up. He had a stay in the hospital for burns and a broken arm, as I recall. Bad scene in the basement. Volatile fumes collected in an enclosed container then adding spark, to me is not recommended. Most shop vacs I recall using had pretty open motors mounted on top. Be careful.

JackL.2:

     Greetings and Salutations! Welcome to the Forum of Forums. In reality, the ONLY one that counts. You see, talking about models is actually fun. Plus, you get to gain or share knowledge with a bunch of like minded folks.

    Now as to your question.I recently bought a Vacuum.A "Wet or Dry" type.It came with a built in filter(Changeable) and I was able to fit a HEPA Box filter to it. Then I paint, In a garage with no windows.

   I do wear a safety mask with it's own filter system too. No problems yet and the plants in the garage are still growing fine. They are probably weeds, but why take the chance. They are hidden(Their Containers?) behind some stuff, so I don't know.The Landalady starts her plants in there. These are growing like weeds though.

What do you build 1/35 armor,1/48 a/c,1/24 cars,how prolonged is your spraying.If your air PSI is right you should be producing very little overspray,if your getting large gaseous clouds,then your using too much paint and air.Out of an abundance of caution,use a paint ventilator mask.

Poison an area that large ? I doubt it. Is it ideal? I doubt that too.

Now enamels I spray outdoors, if there is a booth inside or not. Because how I shoot them for model cars has a lot of over spray into the area. Lacquers I don't flood on, since they're mostly lighter coats and I wear a respirator when spraying, I just spray them into a kitchen trash can. There is very little over spray and any odor is gone within 10 minutes. Many decades ago I shot the lacquer based Floquil paints at a table by a window with fan blowing out  the window with no issues. Second floor apartment, never heard a complaint.

I'm not suggesting you to do any of what I stated but it's what I've done. I also use a booth. It all depends what paint and subject I'm spraying and how I go about that. I have to say the booth gets little use.