paint.jpg

Makeshift Paint Booth

Posted by 141drew Posted onMay 29, 2015 at 11:42 AM and filed under Projects
Updated onUpdated on May 28, 2021 at 11:40 AM


I thought you guys might get a kick out this… Essentially, we needed to paint a little roadster inside the new Atomic shop. The problem? We didn’t have a paint booth and the idea of a shop covered in over-spray didn’t seem all that grand.



So, we made a $300 paint booth using a cheap 10′ by 20′ pop up tent sourced from Home Depot, a **** load of duct  tape, a couple of filters, a barrel fan, some fluorescent lights, and some ingenuity.

The pictures tell the story:



 


See Comments on the forum.

View thread (40 replies)
A

ADSR

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 12, 2013
Messages
10,713
That's pretty good. If you wanted to make it a down draft booth, you could add 4" PVC pipe around the inside of the booth and plumb it into a box fan.
 
OP
R

Ryan

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Jan 26, 2006
Messages
5,705
Location
Texas/Hawaii
LORDDiESEL said:
That's pretty good. If you wanted to make it a down draft booth, you could add 4" PVC pipe around the inside of the booth and plumb it into a box fan.
Click to expand...

We were almost crazy enough to do that... But at the end of the day, this is a traditional hot rod paint job and we didn't want to go to overboard.
 
P

PCO6

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 25, 2008
Messages
4,573
Location
Newmarket, Ontario
Nice job. :thumbup:

I've painted car parts inside an old tent before. I've also sand blasted inside one. Not recommended but some times you do what you gotta do.
 
M

Mr. 360

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 23, 2012
Messages
662
Location
Bowmanville, Ontario
Looks good by me, decadent in fact. I once built a makeshift booth in my folk's barn out of lumber tarps, vapour barrier, wood scraps, and an electric rad-fan from a '90 Taurus running off a battery. cheap furnace filters at the front up high, fan scoop at the back down low, did the job for my old Wagoneer.

View media item 50975
View media item 50976
Sometimes the job just needs to get done, I say good on ya.
 
J

junktastic

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 24, 2014
Messages
89
That's awesome! I did the same thing when I painted my 68 Bronco. Don't think I would do it again, but is was a fun experience.
 
P

PECVD2

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 30, 2009
Messages
1,380
Location
Albuquerque, NM
I used similar technology when I painted a gold shell white to match my 01 supercrew. But my paint job is nowhere near a nice as yours. Nice job on both the booth and rod.

GALLERY]
 
Last edited:
S

Strouty

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 21, 2010
Messages
38,212
Location
Southern Maine
Looks like it worked pretty good Ryan. Good thing you didn't blow up the place, what would we do without GJ. Do you have a will with a plan of action for GJ in case something happens to you?
 
C

Colin Len

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 30, 2013
Messages
1,233
Location
Long Beach CA
That's a great setup, I wish I could set something like that up in my garage - but your booth wouldn't even fit in my garage! :beer:
 
B

Bill Bowman

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 28, 2007
Messages
3,146
Location
Metro Chicago
Ryan:

I understand what you were trying to accomplish. I think you knocked it out of the ballpark! Just looking at the photo's, I see a lot of thought and detail went into the fabrication. Starting with a floor cover was a very wise choice, not only for keeping the Atomic concrete clean, but also added a bit of cleanliness to the enclosed structure.

I wouldn't have a second thought about spraying in your structure. Kudo's to the Atomic design team!
 
T

TheEquineFencer

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 15, 2009
Messages
9,275
Location
Farmville, NC 27828
It seems I remember about a car magazine doing to story about "the best paint job", everyone could enter their car or truck. The guy that won it I think was from Rocky Mount,NC area. The magazine asked about coming over to see how he painted his car. They arrived and he led them out his back door of his mobile home and showed him the backyard. No shop, no shelter, just the yard. He told them he cut his grass short, bagged it then wet the yard down with a sprinkler and did the work when it wasn't wendy. If he got a bug in it, he just let it dry and sanded/spotted the primer again. He did the same with the paint. If a bug got in it, he let it dry and sanded it out and spot painted until he had several coats of paint on then just buffed it out slick.
 
N

NUTTSGT

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 14, 2009
Messages
50,869
Location
Northern Central Ohio
As soon as I saw it, I was wondering if a floor cover was put down.

Was anything put on the front of the bldg to keep the ousted overspray from attaching to the front of the Atomic garage ?
 
T

trainer

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 28, 2005
Messages
2,019
Location
Northern Ontario, Canada
TheEquineFencer said:
It seems I remember about a car magazine doing to story about "the best paint job", everyone could enter their car or truck. The guy that won it I think was from Rocky Mount,NC area. The magazine asked about coming over to see how he painted his car. They arrived and he led them out his back door of his mobile home and showed him the backyard. No shop, no shelter, just the yard. He told them he cut his grass short, bagged it then wet the yard down with a sprinkler and did the work when it wasn't wendy. If he got a bug in it, he just let it dry and sanded/spotted the primer again. He did the same with the paint. If a bug got in it, he let it dry and sanded it out and spot painted until he had several coats of paint on then just buffed it out slick.
Click to expand...

I've done that a few times too. A very light breeze is best. A good urethane enamel with the proper reducer and hardener flashes almost instantly so there's really not that much chance of contamination.

Bright sunshine is great for spraying and being outside helps to keep fumes out of your respiratory system and from concentrating into explosive levels.

Somethng that scares me about makeshift booths is the possibility of static electricity buildup on plastic sheeting.
 
C

countryroad82

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 18, 2011
Messages
3,447
Location
Kentucky
You did good there man! Let a little age get you the Atomic shop, then you might not worry as much about overspray. I'll never forget my shops first paint job, the shop had just been built but I built it to do bodywork so it really didn't bother me to start spraying. BUT it was Imron. Still at almost 15 years later I see blue overspray from that first paint job!
 
R

rustyjames

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 28, 2008
Messages
1,077
Location
central nj
trainer said:
I've done that a few times too. A very light breeze is best. A good urethane enamel with the proper reducer and hardener flashes almost instantly so there's really not that much chance of contamination.

Bright sunshine is great for spraying and being outside helps to keep fumes out of your respiratory system and from concentrating into explosive levels.

Somethng that scares me about makeshift booths is the possibility of static electricity buildup on plastic sheeting.
Click to expand...

I've painted many vehicles outside with excellent results.
 
S

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
I remember blue overspray once in an old shop, I really didn't have the grip on venting I have today and can now tune a room almost by reflex. I got to agree outside in nice weather is about as good as it gets, you just cant make that kind of light.

This is the principle, understand this and you can vent a room. http://finishingacademy.com/training/aero/aero_mod3/aero_mod3_intro.html

There is no substitute for this basic knowledge.
 

Attachments

  • paint booth lit.JPG
    paint booth lit.JPG
    28 KB · Views: 288
  • paint booth half way 2.JPG
    paint booth half way 2.JPG
    42.1 KB · Views: 314
  • paint booth roll.JPG
    paint booth roll.JPG
    28.4 KB · Views: 258
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!
T

toolman9w

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 29, 2014
Messages
698
Location
Southern Indiana
Yep painted a few dirt racing chassis this way. Winter time or we would have done it outside. Black Rustoleom (sp) sticks to everything! Didnt cover the floor and tracked it in the house. oops. Wife is a real laid back person. I just had to clean it up before it totally dried. Nothing a little bake clean on a rag couldn't cure on linoleum.
 
K

KZ1000J

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 7, 2014
Messages
311
Location
U.S. of A.
Good job! The inside looks like a real paint booth. Lighting, filter, fan, duct tape......you covered all the bases.
 
M

Mopar_Ray

Active member
Joined
Dec 11, 2011
Messages
31
Did a similar paint job on my car, built tent, sprayed BC/CC paint job. Can't clean area enough! After clear coat took a LOT of wet sanding & buffing.
 
V

Vegaman_Dan

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 1, 2012
Messages
2,453
Location
Pacific, WA
I've seen this done before and it is effective. The canopies are relatively cheap and give you a clean work space to control the environment. You can get sides and end doors from Amazon to fit most standard A frame canopies for not a huge amount.

* Put down a large tarp to serve as your floor.
* Install disposable drop cloth plastic over / outside the frame. Tape this to the pipework where you can to help drooping.
* Install the normal canopy material on top of this disposable plastic. This will give your plastic support but also be protected by that drop cloth plastic. Tape where you can together.
* Tape the side and end walls to your floor tarp. You're making a sealed room here.
* Install your fans on one end with filters, Install vent holes at the opposite end with filters as well. If done right, you'll end up with a positive pressure chamber so any air leaks will push dirt *out* and not let dust, dirt, or bugs into the space. There's lots of schools of thought on this. KISS works. Explosion proof fans are not needed if you're not drawing contaminated air through them, and in a pressure setup, this doesn't happen.
* Ratchet straps are your friend. Use them between supports to give more mounting supports for your roof, side panels, etc. They can help hold lights too.
* Flourescent lights are great. I recommend running a few loops of clear packing tape around the housing and bulbs to hold the bulbs in case you bump into one. Simple cheap insurance. I do it for all my lights even in the garage.
* Work space- put in a folding table *with tarp cover*, maybe a wire shelf rack or similar for storage of all your materials inside where you need them. You don't want to be doing your mixing outside of the tent. Keep all your materials at the same equalized temperatures and where you need them.
* Don't skimp on a cheap respirator. Your health is important. If you're sick, you can't be enjoying your garage, your car, or your life. Get a good respirator with replaceable cartridges. Good rule of thumb- if you can smell the solvent, you're in danger. A good respirator will fit your face and seal.

And with all this said, I still hesitate and wonder if I could just take my car body to a shop to spray instead and not deal with the hassle, but then again, all of this prep work is kinda cool so... HMM. Do you or don't you?
 
T

tcianci

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 7, 2009
Messages
4,242
Location
Walpole, Ma
While its doubtful that there was any serious danger from explosion as a result of the paint fumes. There are a couple of things that can be done to a home grown paint booth to improve the effectiveness.

The setup shown looks to have an exhaust fan and a filter on the other end of the booth for the intake. The fan is most likely an induction motor so there's no danger of ignition from the motor itself unless there's a failure or the motor switch is activated when vapor concentrations are conducive to combustion. A safer and more effective approach would be to put the filter ahead of the fan, to clean the air entering the booth. It's still a good idea to supply filters on the exhaust to minimize overspray escaping into the rest of the shop.
Using the fan to pressurize the booth provides several advantages;

The air drawn into the booth is filtered and the booth is run at a positive pressure. Even a whole Depot worth of duct tape can't perfectly seal a home grown spray booth. When you're using a fan as an exhaust, you're making the assumption that all the air entering the booth came through that filter when in fact in came in through every breach in the enclosure, bringing **** and dust with it.

The fan only has fresh, filtered air running over it with no concentration of solvent vapors, much safer

The fan may even live long enough to be useful for future paint jobs instead of being encrusted in overspray.

I have concentrated on the fan but the lights could probably be a safety issue too. Fluorescent ballast outputs run much higher than line voltage so although remote, there's a possibility of arcing and ignition there too. Clear plastic windows installed in the booth with the lights placed outside the enclosure would be the safest bet, and the lights stay clean and bright.

Just remember that all this sage advice is coming from the guy who just said screw it and shot all my primer in the garage with no fan, lights or filters. Thank God for good HVLP guns, the overspray was negligible.
 
T

tcianci

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 7, 2009
Messages
4,242
Location
Walpole, Ma
Ryan said:
We were almost crazy enough to do that... But at the end of the day, this is a traditional hot rod paint job and we didn't want to go to overboard.
Click to expand...

Without wording my reply too strongly, I'm having a great deal of difficulty with this thread now having coined the definition of a traditional paint job when there is no standard definition of what constitutes traditional dirt. So now, we're supposed to understand that a "traditional" paint job seems to be one that starts out with good intentions, a fair amount of planning, but intentionally ends up with **** in it?

I love Garage Journal and the H.A. M. B. but it almost always goes up my **** sideways when someone tries to own and define the concept of "traditional" subsequently creating a level of exclusivity for a certain bunch of guys, that simply doesn't exist.

But then again, I'm not capable of making a living off a website with enough adherents that advertisers will actually spring big bucks to hawk their wares here. So what do I know.
 
S

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
at the opposite end with filters as well. If done right, you'll end up with a positive pressure chamber so any air leaks will push dirt *out* and not
Click to expand...
It's still a good idea to supply filters on the exhaust to minimize overspray escaping into the rest of the shop.
Using the fan to pressurize the booth provides several advantages;

The air drawn into the booth is filtered and the booth is run at a positive pressure. Even a whole Depot worth of duct tape can't perfectly seal a home grown spray booth. When you're using a fan as an exhaust, you're making the assumption that all the air entering the booth came through that filter when in fact in came in through every breach in the enclosure, bringing **** and dust with it.
Click to expand...
The air drawn into the booth is filtered and the booth is run at a positive pressure.
Click to expand...
This should be read again. Just out of curiosity did you guys open the link to paint booth basics I listed here? The air is drawn in under positive pressure, this would be blowing it in. There is a huge confusion here between a clean room and a paint booth. a paint booth is negative pressure. You want to draw fumes out in an orderly fashion. A room under pressure forces fumes everywhere in the room and doesnt clear.
 
Last edited:
T

tcianci

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 7, 2009
Messages
4,242
Location
Walpole, Ma
sberry said:
This should be read again. Just out of curiosity did you guys open the link to paint booth basics I listed here? The air is drawn in under positive pressure, this would be blowing it in. There is a huge confusion here between a clean room and a paint booth. a paint booth is negative pressure. You want to draw fumes out in an orderly fashion. A room under pressure forces fumes everywhere in the room and doesnt clear.
Click to expand...


Yup I read it again, and it doesn't state anything about a proper paint booth needing to be a positive or negative pressure. I stand by what I posted. If you're building a home hacked spray paint enclosure. You're better off pressurizing it with a fan since you don't typically have the caulking and sealing that your reference mentions. Granted, you also wont have any real sort of air balancing capabilities like the two fan systems referenced in your link. So it's possible that the positive pressure booth may or may not clear as well as a negative pressure enclosure like they type Ryan illustrated. But typically the purpose of the enclosure is to mitigate problems associated with dirt in the air. Anyone who has painted in a plain old garage with no fans is aware of the build up of overspray to be expected and the amount of **** in the finish to be expected. It's unlikely you're going to nail both problems with a plastic tent and simple single point ventilator. So according to your link, the big disadvantage to pressurizing a booth is the leakage of solvent fumes into the adjacent room because of the pressure differential. It says nothing about how well the booth will clear. Solvent fumes are the part of the paint you can smell, what you can't smell is the typical presence of isocyanates and that's the dangerous part of today's paints. The reason I posted to create a positive pressure still stands since for a home crafted, single fan enclosure such as was shown by Ryan, there's no exhaust to the exterior of the building so the isocyanate fumes are going to find their way into the adjacent space either way and that's going to take a a level of caution on the part of the people spraying and people in the the rest of the shop. Pressurizing a home built enclosure still has the positive aspects I mentioned such as safer operation of the fan, and less chance of admitting contaminants into the space.

Your link, while technically accurate, simply doesn't apply to simple, single fan enclosures that aren't vented to the exterior of the building. Read it again.
 
S

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
all I can add is you need to read it again, this is correct you cant seal a room. A booth under pressure blows fumes everywhere, everywhere, out every crack. All paint booths are negative, the pull or "balance" is adjusted, it is never under pressure.
This is a principle in paint school first week.
 
S

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
You want to "pull" air thru the room with the exhaust fan, the intake size is tuned so it pulls the curtains like you see in the pic, minor air leaks are pulled toward the exhaust. There needs to be an air inlet to the building, this needs to be larger than the inlet to the booth, you want to pull more on the booth than the building.
In a real booth there would be a meter measuring the draw but after some experience a guy can feel it.
I have tuned mine a bit since I firt did it. It wasn't that I didn't know but didn't fix it mostly for economy .
A booth in a body shop full of dust needs to be caulked, activity all around it etc but all one needs is a room. My shop isn't real clean and I finally did slow my fan but I simply hang the sheets against the walls, they pull together pretty good under vacuum and the air intake is from the top, draft from the bottom and you can feel it **** the building heat in, makes for downdraft and really don't even got to sweep the floor.
Same principle for smaller garages especially where you need heat. You cannot pressureize a room full of fumes. I can generate heat, cut and weld while painting is going on due to the fact the fire is in one room and the paint in another with the fresh air being drawn thru the first,,, so I got the stove wide open and the radiant furnace on while painting. All fumes being DRAWN out of building by an exhaust fan.
 
S

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
I can see from the repeat and hearsay this is about like electrical grounding. A lot of home brew theory being applied to basic principle.
Pressurized tuning is for production and even then they only assist the balance. In often changing circumstances or strict parameters its done but these home baked deals need to deal with a single exhaust fan, being able to change the placement helps and an easy way to reduce explosion is to simply move more than we need so we don't end up in explosive range. I can spray in my own all upwind, small shops and cars are more of an issue but now we, we as in its available, have hvlp and gravity stuff, way less overspray anyway.
 
Last edited:
R

rubberrodder

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 6, 2007
Messages
616
Location
Tacomatose Wa.
Easy does it fella's! I think you both are getting way too technical for a home grown project. Ryan is not doing this for a living or he would have one of those fancy "balanced" paint booths
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!