I am wanting to build a paint booth and would like your opinions and maybe some pics if you have some. I build a turntable yesterday from a piece of 3/4’’ plywood and attached it to an old bearing assemble from an old lawn mower deck, that is all I have so far, Any suggestions on the subject might save me some headaches in the future. I would like to have a light in it as well as a fan to vent the fumes outside. I have an old hood with a filter from a cook stove I thought would make a good exhaust fan and some duct work and I can get the fumes outside. With a paint booth I will be able to paint in the basement where my shop is in the winter and as well as on rainy days.
Get some 1/8" masonite and build some walls around the hood. Paint them white to reflect the light. You’ve already got the fan, light and duct work. They sell those dryer vent kits if you need longer duct work. Another source for turn tables are those spinning spice racks like you use in kitchen cabinets.
I would just worry about cleaning your airbrush with any solvents and spraying it into the booth. I doubt the fan in the range hood has a sealed motor and probably produces sparks.[B)]
They sell those larger computer cooling fans. (8") Those are usually sealed.
I don’t think an exhaust fan from a cook stove would be a very good idea for two reasons. First, they don’t move the volume of air that is required for a spray booth. You need to be pulling a good volume of air to get those fumes exhausted - a cook stove exhaust isn’t much more than a miniature bladed fan. Look for a decent sized “squirrel cage” exhaust blower, they move considerably higher volumes of air compared to a bladed fan within the same opening.
Secondly, be sure what-ever you use, the motor itself is NOT located within the path of the actual air-flow. The motor should be isolated outside the air passage with only the shaft and blades being exposed to the exhaust fumes. If the paint concentration is high enough, sparks from the motor brushes could ignite the fumes.
This is not an area to skimp on - better safe than sorry.
Here’s how I built mine, mostly out of scrap plywood and other materials I had laying around.I bought a Dayton blower and mounted on top with just some small bloks to hold it in place, and a couple of bungee straps so I could take it apart, and easily store it out of the way when not in use.The long silver hose in the upper right is a dryer exhaust vent hose.The one in the back center of the booth, is hooked to the blower so to cause a “downdraft” type booth.The air flows through the pegboard, and I have a flourescent light under the hood for lighting.
Under the pegboard is a furnace filter I can replace by lossening screws on the side of the pegboard, lift it up and replace the filter.Maybe this will give you an idea of how to work with your hood.
I made mine a decade ago based on a old Gordon Odegard article in MR. Alocal sheet metal shop cut the pieces and spotwelded them for me for about $50. I bought a squirrel cage fan with the motor outside the air flow. I installed an under the cabinet kitchen light fixture in it. With the all metal construction, quality fan I can use laquers, enamels or alcohol based paints with minimal fire hazard. Normally now I use waterbased acrylics but the overspray and odor is definitely controlled. The most important part is having a sealed exhaust and a good fan that is safe and has a high air flow.
Here’s another picture of my paint booth.I set it on an old TV cart, and can easily wheel it out of the way when I am done, and if extra room isn’t available, I can remove the blower and stow it under a workbench.It is 24 inches deep, 29 inches wide and 13 inches tall at the front opening.Not fancy, but it gets the job done, and was much less expensive than a commercial unit, and larger then most units.
I’ve been using vinyl dryer hose in my home made booth for years, no problem. By the time the fumes and particles get past the fan they are dry. I can see dried paint dust inside my plastic hose. My hose is attached to a strip of plywood that I insert in an adjacent window when painting. The dust gets on the window screen too, but brushes or vacuums off easily.
I use my backyard and a spray can a lot too,but when the weathers bad and I wanna paint here’s what I built. I got an old furnace blower and built it into a base with an air filter and a perf board , had a hood made, that was the expensive part,installed a light and voila! I believe that downdraft is the wy to go to avoid anything settling on your paint job. Was still way under the cost of a commercial unit.
Mine is simply a five sided plywood box with a bathroom fan ($15.-) hooked up to a switch and mounted in the back. The box matches one of the standard furnace filters which is a simple friction fit at the back of the box. Bathroom fans have brushless motors and are therefore sparkless and safe by code and they move plenty of air, (if you can’t smell the paint six inches from the booth it’s pulling enough air). I’m a custom painter and have been using this booth since 1989, (I replaced the fan a couple of years ago when the original died). I also used a vinyl dryer hose (4") with no problems except for the beehive some yellowjackets decided to build in it one spring when I wasn’t actively painting! I couldn’t figure out why the bees kept apearing in my shop. Make sure your outlet has a screen!
I mounted a pressure guage and regulator to the front edge of the booth and connected that via a long air (pressure) hose to my compressor which is located in the garage to keep the noise out of the basement. I used a cheap under the cabinet flourescent light to see what I’m doing.
Really nice booth If I may say… Where did you get the hood made? I was thinking of doing the same , framed out of wood and using tin or plexi or manbey just wood since it would also be a down draft…hook me up with some genral info/cost if you will… J
A few years back a friend of mine made a paint booth for his model hobby using a old top load washer or dryer case. The case formed 3 sides of the booth, a few bucks for some screen door screen on the bottom (down draft booth) and some plywood scraps finished it off. Not sure what he used for the fan but I recall he used a static wrist strap (like the ones you “should” use when inside your computer) because he got a few minor zaps. I think the wrist strap was grounded to the metal case along with his fan ground.
Also saw one in a magazine somewhere using a large poly tote that was a rear draft setup.
Re, my paint booth. I had the hood made at a heating and air conditioning company who has a sheetmetal shop. They do both private and commercial construction and maintenance. Cost was $168 materials and labor.They’re the guys we call when somethings wrong with the home hvac. The booth is vented out the bottom with a thru the wall fitting much like a dryer vent only 6"diameter instead of 4". The size of the blower is probably overkill, but I also use it to vent out the shop when I’m working with fiberglass.
I’ll post these pictures over at the Barn too and as mentioned there, I build a booth a few years ago, but I saw this thread and thought I would jump in.
When it comes to moving paint fumes and over spray…Is there such a thing as “over-kill”? About the only thing that can go wrong with moving too much air is that you won’t be able to get enough “make-up” air or the volume and speed of the moving air at the point of painting will cause the paint to dry on its way to what you are painting or ZOOM right past it.
Here is a rule of thumb in regard to the sizing of the blower: When using organic solvents, OSHA recommends an air flow of between 100 & 200 cfm (cubic feet per minute) at the point of spray, or in my case, at the level of the painting table. Two things determine that air flow; one being the size of the booth opening and the other being the capacity of the blower; the two go hand in hand. The formulas needed to size one to the other are really quite simple.
Size of the booth opening, height x width in sq. in. divided by 144 = sq.ft.
Blower rating in cfm divided by the booth opening in sq. ft. = the air flow.
Here is my case scenario as I worked out the numbers with thoughts of being able to use a Dayton Mod. # 4C445A Blower capable of moving 525 CFM, which I did.
With my 16" x 32" opening;
16 x 32 = 512 / 144 = 3.5
525 / 3.5 = 150
As for, what I felt was total safety, I installed the blower outside of the air-stream. This should also keep the motor cleaner!
A few safety tips:
Make sure the blower is correctly sized, installed outside of the air stream and/or has a brushless motor. (I have discovered that all the new Dayton motors are bru
