Portable Paint Booth Filter - Have you guys seen this?

[tlmartin84]

http://www.shop-pro.com/

Basically it uses charcoal and normal filters to clean the air before dumping it back into the booth.

I am debating on building something similar for my booth, it would elimate any vaccuum from my main shop, and would not **** all of the warm heat out.

It seems like a good idea.

I would also like to have some heaters in the room to speed up curing, any recommendations on heaters?

 

[sberry]

How often do you paint? A tube infared heater may work depending on booth and same for that thing. You may still need to pull on the booth, this keeps fumes out of the rest of the shop and allows for heating equipment to run there.

 

[Bill Bowman]

Mobile prep stations have been around for quite some time. It takes a fair amount of engineering to be an efficient means of filtering the over spray. It appears to be only a supplement to a regular down draft booth (mainly used for fenders, doors, maybe a core support, etc.) and in my experience, I see some rather expensive consumables that are required to keep it operating at optimum levels.

Not sure how a "homemade" setup would/could work efficiently. Probably depends on your engineering skill level. As far as curing, infrared is probably, IMHO, the most efficient and cost effective. My down draft has a one million btu, direct gas fired heater (mounted outside the building) which is pumped in the booth during bake cycle. Expensive to run, for sure.

All that said, there's no free lunch. If you do refinish work on a professional level (and I assume you might), my suggestion would be to do what you do best (fix cars) and make enough money to buy the best equipment you can afford to get a quality job out the door.

p.s. What does this contraption cost these days?

 

[tlmartin84]

Not often, a vehicle every couple years. No more than I paint, my shop build didn't really justify a dedicated booth, but it doubles a parking bay. So it was worth the extra material.

The room is sealed up, I am putting a metal ceiling and sides on it. One larger garage door that exits to the outside, and a 6' exterior sealed French Door door that exits into the shop.

I know a guy from another forum that built one and uses it. Says there aren't any fumes left over. He actually just paints in his shop, not even in a dedicated room.

 

[tlmartin84]

Roughly $15,000.

I can engineer one with no issues, that being said there is still a lot of trial and error and a TON of variables.

I have a bunch of spare furnace parts. Fans, Ductwork etc. The only cost I will have is the filters.

You mentioned heated intake. That was also an Idea, I have a 10K BTU spare airhandler. I had debated putting an intake into my main shop, and heating the intake. Then filtering through the above filters and dumping that air back into the shop.

The other option is heating exterior air pulled through that air handler/intake, and Dumping outside. Just seems like a waste of energy if those units work as well as they say.

 

[sberry]

10 K wont be a fart in a whirlwind for paint work. Read the pages in this link. There is really no substitute for the basic know how of paint booths and once a guy has it down can usually make do with some plastic, some tape and a couple box fans especially with the advent of the HVLP.
http://finishingacademy.com/training/aero/aero_mod3/aero_mod3_intro.html

 

[sberry]

I don't use a dedicated booth and glad I didn't get started down that road. A convertable is ideal for this kind of use. You may be able to build something but it isn't worth it all when there are so many easier ways to do it with basics.

 

[sberry]

The room is sealed up, I am putting a metal ceiling and sides on it. One larger garage door that exits to the outside, and a 6' exterior sealed French Door door that exits into the shop.

This is ideal, use the French door to regulate pull on the booth room, you do not want the door sealed but need to let air in to create movement.
A good experiment is a small double window fan in to a bedroom. Play with the door to get the feel of air movement and can hear the fan change.
You need unrestricted air to enter building with enough restriction on booth door to create a draw.
http://finishingacademy.com/training/aero/aero_mod3/aero_mod3_intro.html Really read this link, its the bible or how too for booths. Sometimes it takes practice, I was a little slow but now its second nature.

 

[tlmartin84]

I was trying to multitask and didnt finish my thought........see the red.

Roughly $15,000.

I can engineer one with no issues, that being said there is still a lot of trial and error and a TON of variables.

I have a bunch of spare furnace parts. Fans, Ductwork etc. The only cost I will have is the filters.

You mentioned heated intake. That was also an Idea, I have a 10K BTU (It is a 10KW heat strip (Around 35-40K BTU)) spare airhandler. I had debated putting an intake into my main shop, and heating the intake. Then filtering through the above filters and dumping that air back into the shop.

The other option is heating exterior air pulled through that air handler/intake, and Dumping outside. Just seems like a waste of energy if those units work as well as they say.

 

[tlmartin84]

I don't use a dedicated booth and glad I didn't get started down that road. A convertable is ideal for this kind of use. You may be able to build something but it isn't worth it all when there are so many easier ways to do it with basics.

Where are you exhausting to and pulling air from in your setup?

 

[tlmartin84]

How often do you paint? A tube infared heater may work depending on booth and same for that thing. You may still need to pull on the booth, this keeps fumes out of the rest of the shop and allows for heating equipment to run there.

In respect to "pulling on the booth".

Even with the mobile unit, the same volume of air is moving and contained within the booth. Wouldn't just the fact the the air is being circulated in the room keep it at a lower pressure than anything outside?

Like the shower curtain effect?

With the air being constantly filtered through the charcoal there should be no fumes...

 

[sberry]

Its simply going to circulate air. It wont change the pressure in the room. That thing may have a place but you don't want it.
I have filter I put in front of fan but the air enters my building thru the walk door and enters the booth overhead on the end you can see in a pic above.