Best paint booth for air draw and lighting?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I am looking to replace my homemade paint booth with a better one if it exists? I want one that pulls enough air to carry fumes out and has good lighting. I have mine set up but the fan unit is dying. I have 9 mini spot lights in side it for additional light. It doesn’t look like any come with lights. I think I am leaning towards replacing the fan but where is a good source to get a Safe brush-less motor?

Thanks

Sam

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Hey Sam - I like my Paasche 22-16. These can be had for $200 of you shop around - Chicago Airbrush supply has theirs on sale for $185 right now (I got mine from them)http://www.chicagoairbrushsupply.com/spraybooths.html

The thing to remember about spray booths is the average modeler probably very rarely, if ever, hits the lower explosive limit rating while using them. As you pointed out using a brushless unit is the way to go to prevent mishaps. I had a very nice and long talk with one of the tech guys at Passche about their units. They told me they have never had one ported incident, or even heard of one, involving a mishap in a hobby style spray booth - even with solvent based paints. The problem that most folks over look is they install non sealed lights inside the unit which pose a much higher risk than the motor ever will.

For lighting I have overhead lights (the same ones as the layout lights) and spray at the very front of the booth. My booth has enough draw that no smell is noticed outside the booth - even when using solvent based paints or rattle cans.

One thing I did to maximize my draw is to use kitchen/bath caulk at every seam, where the vent comes out of the unit in the back and taped all the joints to the duct work. I would say this improved the draw at the front by about a 1/3 since 100% of the air is coming from the front and not any of the gaps you you will with any unit that is not one piece.

BTW Passche use to sell their fan/motor unit for like $50. Check with them if you still want to go this route

I hope this helps. Drop me a note if you have any questions on the Passche

Merry Christmas

ratled

3

Ratled,

Thanks for the info. Just placed the order!

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I think you’ll be happy with it. One thing when you get it, drop the back panel flush with the bottom rather then how the directions say. You will have to re-drill a couple of holes though. This will give the real good seal that you are looking for.

Merry Christmas

ratled