Over the years, I have seen a number of plans for a spray booth but now that I need them, I cannot find them. The source for a fan motor is of particular interest. I only use solvent based paint for now.
If a fan motor is brushless, does that make it OK to use in a booth? Squirrel cage or muffin?
Paint Shop: The Paint Shop spray booth
by Sperandeo, Andy
from Model Railroader January 1988 p. 128
I built one from these plans.
“Page not found” Max,an. ???
I guess search results are not linkable. Anyway it would just be the search results, not the actual article, you need that issue of MR to get the actual article with instructions.
The motor also needs to be outside the air flow. Do they have Grainger in Canada? Or an equivalent, industrial supply house, they have the proper sorts of flameproof/sparkproof motors and blowers to use for this sort of thing.
–Randy
Sorry, I just copied the info from my search and it showed up as a link. Randy is correct, that was just to give you a place to find an article in the magazine, not an actual link to the article.
If you want, I can try to take a picture of the actual booth as I built it.
The supplier in Canada is called Acklands- Grainder.
Wayne
I was looking at some used kitchen vent hoods last week with this in mind. I think I read somewhere that they make a good paint booth exhaust hood, just build a couple of walls and bottom. Maybe someone else remembers this?
-Bob
That’s what I have used over the years. The fan/ motor is within the flow, but I have yet to have any trouble using solvent paints. I find it best to cut/ modify the hood to be rear mount and fabricate a filter cartrige directly over the fan ( rear wall of booth). Ducting is 6" round, a 6" flue cap is used to plug when not in use. 1/2" birch or luan ply has worked well for the box. The fan has a decent cfm and by drawing to the rear very little overspray is ever noticed. Of coarse a downdraft is the best, but difficult to build or rather expensive to buy components.
I also use these modified hoods for basement ventilation. The unit is modified and fitted to a basement window. A simple and inexpenive venting system that has worked quite great for me for over 20 years.
I’ve never understood why a downdraft spray booth is preferable - I go through filters fast enough with an overhead exhaust. [(-D]
I built my booth from scraps found around the house: part of an old table top, some Masonite, and a bunch of angle stock left over from an aluminum siding job. The slide-in-to-change filter holder, below the top, is made from 1"x2" pine, and holds one half of a standard 11"x20" furnace filter. I used a duct adapter to house the fan, a left-over from an air hockey game. The flexible plastic duct was used for over 25 years, although I recently moved the paint shop to a separate room in my detached garage and replaced it with 4" smooth aluminum duct. With a separate controllable intake for fresh air, the exhaust is very effective.
The two lights outside the booth provide shadow-free lighting and remain clean as they’re not in the paint or exhaust flow. The turntable, beneath the newspaper, is, in my opinion, an extraneous option and of little use. [swg]
Wayne
Having been in the fire service for over 30 years, there are some things that need to be mentioned. There’s nothing wrong with building your own spray booth, as long as you take a few safety precautions. Someone already mentioned using flame proof/spark proof fan, YES, the fan drawing the air out of the paint area needs to be intrinsically safe and listed/approved for that use.
Someone mentioned using a fan from a hood vent that was over the stove, just make sure it is listed for flammable atmospheres. There is a difference bewteen the grease vapors that are generated from cooking versus the flammable vapors from spray painting. The flammable vapors from solvents/thinners/alcohols have a much lower flash point/ignition temperature than cooking grease vapors. It may not take much of an ignition source to have a flash fire (seen plenty of them over the years). Make sure there is a filter in front of the fan to catch the molecules before reaching the fan.
Other ways to control ignition sources are lights/lamps. It may not seem like a big problem, but lights generate a LOT of heat when illuminated. Ever try to change a bulb right after it burns out? Still hot? Depending on where the spraying operation is conducted (lots of layouts in garages), a gas fired water heater is another excellent ignition source.
Make sure the vent goes to an outside area so natural air currents can take away/dissipate the vapors. I have seen situations where it was only vented into the room where the booth was located. Hence, the vapors are still there. If you can smell it, it’s still there!
Cleaning and housekeeping are a MUST! Of course, this depends on how frequently you use it. But make sure residue that builds up on the sides, fan and filter are cleaned.
So, be careful. If you’re going to build one, just use the right parts/tools for the job. This may not seem like a big deal, but think about it…The booth you are working in is small and so is the rolling sto
I built my spray booth with 1/4 in plywood sides and a 3/4 plywood base and used a Dayton PSC blower made for a clothes dryer. The motor is outside the squirrel cage fan. I also use solvent paint and the spray booth has served me well for over 15 yrs.