Airbrush Spray Booth Cleaning?

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

With a new air brush and a soon to have used spray booth, I’d like to find out if most of you use anything special to clean the booth when done. Like, some throw away something on the bottom when spraying? Do you clean it after every job, or just let it build up? What do you use? Or does the exhaust fan work so good that its a non-issue? Thanks for your comments.

Hal

2

I always keep the inside covered with cardboard, When it gets too cruddy, I just replace it.

3

My spray booth has two 10" x 20 " filters that catch most of the over spray. If the rest of the booth gets to bad I spray the inside with cheap white paint from a spray can.

4

I spray some water or Windex around inside my paint booth before airbrushing to keep dust etc from getting airborne. I normally wipe it down at that time. You would be surprised how overspray can work against you if ignored.

Bob

5

I line the bottom with butcher paper, and replace it with each project.

Nick

6

Thanks everyone for the tips on cleaning. Hal

7

I use sheets of newspaper but I think the butcher paper is probably better. When the inside gets really crudy, I spray organic paint thinner on the metal walls and then wipe them.

A couple of cautions here:

  1. Wear protective gloves, the kind you can buy in the market for handling meat, etc.
  2. Have the spray booth fan turned on to ventilate the fumes.
  3. Wear a chemical mask.
    You can buy one with cartridges at hardware stores for $8 or $9. Most of them come with cartridges for organics. Those are the ones you want.

Since I seem to be airbrushing mostly dark colors, the metal at the back of the booth gets pretty discolored; i.e., the area around the filter. If you cover the base of the booth, the back is what you mostly wind up cleaning. Just be aware that spraying paint thinner or mineral spirits is hazardous to your health if you don’t protect yourself.

8

My Exhaust fan seems to do the trick by itself. I just use an ordinary bathroom extraction fan mounted sideways. The fan is powerful enough to pull all the overspray out the vent to outdoors (well out windows actually).
I don’t paint anything sitting on the floor of the spray booth, I support the subject on something to get an even airflow around it. You get a better spray job and less mess.
I Must reiterate Scott Groff’s Comment - Make sure you are protected.
Most modelling solvents are neuro toxic (kill nerve cells). You may not feel any effects from low doses but the damage will be slowly done over years.
I use nitrile gloves ( the blue ones paramedics wear) and and organic solvent mask.

9

I line mine with cheap furnace filters cut to fit the inside of the booth. It catches the airborne overspray and helps keep the fan blades from building up to much paint and becoming out of balance or not as effective. Depending on how much you spray, I change mine when they look cloged.

Mike

10

The paper lining idea is probably about as good as any a hobbyist is likely to use. At one time one of my duties at work was to maintain 3 walk-in commercial spray booths. We did put paper on the floor, but on the walls we used a preperation that I believe we got from Sherwin-Williams that was painted on and formed a rubber like coating on the booth when dried. After the paint had built up to the point that the booth needed cleaning, we pealed the coating off. It really doesn’t bond to the booth like the paint would and if the project is tended to regularly, the pealing was relatively easy. Anyone who uses their booth heavily might want to check it out.