Got my airbrush and the pump is next (again, some good advice from the boards). However, while shopping around I noticed spray booths and it would appear that this would be a needed item, UNTIL I saw the price on them! Gads. Any suggestions/tips on what ya all do/use so I don’t kill off my last few remaining brain cells. If it’s the “right” way to go (especially with little ones in the house) then I’ll bite the bullet. And if so, what are your recommendations on which to buy. One other observation, they do seem rather large…
Thanks,
Loco
p.s. I some how think that a big cardboard box and can of spray paint out back in the shed as I often did back on the farm is NOT going to cut it. LOL
A cardboard box, as long as it incorporates a fan to draw the paint fumes away from you, would work. I built my booth out of some scrap plywood and particle board, and used an old bathroom vent fan (with light) to draw the fumes out. When in use, I connect it to the dryer vent line to blow the fumes outside, and I wear an air purifying respirator while doing the actual spraying.
I also built my own. I used a no longer needed wood closet organizer so i have a shelf to paint on & storage shelf’s below. I used an old stove exhaust hood with light and vented it to the outside with a dryer hose.
I built one out of plywood, has an overhead flourescent light, and put a Dayton explosion proof blower on it, used dryer vent hosing to the outside of my house. Works great!
I’ll try to snap a picture of it and post it later.
Hello “Loco,” The spray booth is a necessity, though there’s no reason you can’t build your own as others have suggested. As for the concern about the little ones, the best thing to take care of them and yourself – they do need you, right – is to use water-based acrylic paints and use distilled water as your primary thinner and cleanup solvent. The less you expose yourself and the little ones to organic (i.e. carbon-based, as in derived from oil) solvents, the better for all of you. I use Polly Scale acrylic paints almost exclusively and I’m verry happy with them. Best wishes, Andy
Excellent ideas on using the box and the dryer hose. Would have to find a blower… maybe at lower or home depo?? And my how times have changed. I unwrapped several boxes of my old modeling gear two weeks ago and the paint was all testors enamel and other trains, building and such. But the news paper they were all wrapped in was dated “1978” !!! And amazingly it was easy to read! LOL I spent way to much time reading the old news papers!!! So what’s the shelf life of them 1/4oz bolltes of paint hehehe???
You might try an industrial supply house or mill supply for an exhaust fan
Also may I recommend for safety an explosion proof blower.
I used a Dayton blower, cost me about 150 or 160 dollars, somewhere in there.
I’ll snap some pics of my setup later and post them.
The setup I have is actually a bit larger than the commercially available units, but does the job.
I really don’t have any plans, just sort of just scratched it out on paper, cut, and screwed it together.
Mostly plywood, one piece of pegboard which forms the floor as it is a downdraft with a plenum under the pegbboard., iir flows down the through the pegholes, and out the back to the dryer vent hose.
That depends on a few factors. Whether the bottles have been opened or not. If so, how well were they resealed? How long were they open?
The quickest way to tell if they’re still reusable, shake them up and see if they will mix. If so, they should be usable. If not, dispose of them. But remember, the old Testors model paint was thick, and would cover details quite well.
I couldn’t agree more. I made the switch to acrylics in the late '80’s and couldn’t be happier. The only solvent-based paint I still use is automotive spray primer, in large cans from Wal-Mart. It’s a fine-pigment spray paint and I use it for weathering track, large structures, and some scenery details, but only out-of-doors.
Polly-S used to sell an airbrush thinner for acrylic paints, and I beleive there are some other brands as well. These work VERY well for airbrushing acrylics, but you do need to keep a close eye on the airbrush and clean it frequently and well.
Acrylic-wise, I have obtained very good results from the large squeeze bottles of Ceramcoat and Folk-Art brand craft paints. The key is in proper thinning and applying in thin coats over a good primer coat.
Lastly, I heartily recomend Vallejo brand acrylic paints. these have incredibly fine pigmentation, and are in squeeze bottle with eye-dropper tops so you can place however much you need into a small mixing bowl or pallette, and not have to leave the top off and risk drying out the paint.
As to the original question regarding a sray booth, there are numerous plans on the web which a google search ought to bring up easily.
I was sort of being a “tad” bit sarcastic about actually using ‘em LOL. I’m not sure I have a big enough pair of Channel Locks to open them even if I did!! It was really weird to see all my old stuff from them teenage years and to reflect, after some 20+ years that I’m back - picking up where I left off. And how MUCH this hobby has really changed.
Thanks for the info on building spray booth. I was just a thinking… what if I put hinges on the sides, cover the seams with a lets say 1.5” or 2.0” rubber strip and make it “Foldable”? This way it wouldn’t take up so much room when not in use. They make them portable air-conditioner vents that will mount in a window and are very easy to pop in and then pop out……
Here’s a few pictures of mine, all homebuilt, not real pretty, but it works great!
It is 24 inches deep, 29 3/4 inches across and 13 inches high at the front.
Small flourescent light is mounted on the top forward underside edge, gives great illumination.
I ran the dryer vent hosing into a fitting on the fllor of the paint booth, and it draws air down and through the holes in the pegboard, essentially being a downdraft booth.
The pegboard sets up on a frame made 2 x 2 cross pieces and forms a plenum chamber underneath that is sealed with foam camper shell mounting tape , giving an air tight seal.
I used screws to hold the pegboard down.
I simply strapped down the the Dayton blower which rests on top ( sealed with foam camper tape) where it sets over the hole in the roof of the booth.
The blower is explosion proof for safety reasons.
A little more money than a bathroom vent fan, but a lot safer.
It’s runs very quietly also.
I did get a decent discount on it.
I used bungee straps, so when I get done I can roll it out of the way, it sets on an old TV cart, and I can pull the blower off and stash it if I want for a little more room to fit it under my workbench and out of the way.
The small blue box in the upper right hand corner is the electric utility box I used to wire it up, the light goes to it, as well as the blower.
Recently cleaned it up real good, so it’s not all slopped up with paint.
Dryer hose goes out the back and up to a outside mounted dryer vent.
Works great!
I can get some rather large pieces into it at the size I built it at.
I built my booth using the 1988 MR plans and used a Dayton blower. The only problem I had was not checking with my local hardware store on the sizes of furnace filters they stock, so have been cutting down filters for the past many years.
Even if you use acrylics, some people use isopropanol (rubbing alchol) to thin the paint. Once you do this you are back into flammable solvents. Also, most spray cans use flammable propellants, not to mention products like Badger Propel. Using a bathroom fan is not a good idea. Most of them have motors with brushes: sparks + fumes = BOOM!! The ones with lightbulbs are also bad because lightbulbs get hot, well above the flash point of paint fumes and fumes could migrate to the bulb.
On my spray booth, I use an undercounter type fluroescent light on the top of the booth shining through a plexiglass window. I get plenty of light, and the light source is away from the direction I am spraying - most of the time
Hi George,
My flourescent light is an under the counter type, it is completely sealed up and mostly out of the way of spraying. I forgot to mention I have a furnace filter under the pegboard.
Other than the blower and filter and light, it was built with scrapwood I had laying around from various projects.
It’s also larger than most of the commercially available units, so I can get some large pieces in it if needed.
I just scratched out a plan on a piece of paper and built it.
gets the job done!
Hi George,
Yes, plus the fact it is a downdraft setup.
Paint fumes, etc are pulled downward and out.
I feel there’s enough space bewteen the floor of the booth and the light, as it is 13 inches from the floor up to the light., and my airbrush will be held near the bottom of the unit anyway.
The blower does agreat job of sucking air through.
When I first turned it on, I took a piece of 8 by 11 printer paper, and it held it fast to the pegboard.
Yet it’s very quiet.
When I am done, I can disconnect the exhaust hose, pull the blower off and stash it, and roll the whole thing off to one side of the shop and out of the way until it’s needed again.
I just take the exhuast hose and set it up on a top shelf out of the way near where it exits to the outside through a standard dryer vent I installed.
I looked at different commercial units and plans, and came up with the idea of a downdraft system from full size car spray painting booths.
Had a bunch of left over lumber, plywood, pegboard, so just threw it together and came up with what you see in the pictures.
I also have a building on my property where I work on full size vintage airplanes that has a 20 by 28 by 10 foot fully equipped spray painting booth for anything bigger!
While the use of water-based acrylic paints will allow you to avoid exposure to organic solvents, you should still protect your lungs from the very fine particulate aerosol that is created from the solid components of the paint when it is passed through an airbrush. As an added precaution, even when using my spray booth, I wear an organic vapor respirator that filters out both particulates as well as organic solvent vapors if I happen to be using solvent-based paints at the time. These repirators can be purchased at Lowe’s and Home Depot in their Safety Equipment Section.
If you’re going to build your own spray booth, be sure to use an explosion-proof exhaust fan to move the air through the booth. I have been told that an exhaust fan with a squirrel-cage blower and a motor that is completely outside the airflow tract will reduce the chances of an explosion or fire if you are using solvent-based paints.
years that I’m back - picking up where I left off. And how MUCH this hobby has really changed.