To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

Homemade Spray Booth

clappr

Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2019
Messages
8
Location
My home
I would like some ideas for how to build a spray booth. Mostly for small parts, 2’ x 3’.

I have seen designs using a box fan mounted to the back behind a air filter. I was told that a better method is to mount the fan to the base, thereby drawing air and paint downward.

Any suggestions?
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

rsanter

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 22, 2007
Messages
18,496
Location
visalia ca
Yes best is to have a grate on the bottom of the booth and draw the air and fumes down and then out
 

oldgoaly

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 3, 2006
Messages
395
Location
Shiloh, Il
We made one for my son for models, used foam board, bathroom exhaust fan, small fluorescent light, 3/4" plywood base. For filtering using replaceable window a/c filter material. The took a lazy susan mechanism put 1/2" plywood to make more usable. Air brush compressor is mounted on the base. You need a bit of screen or expanded metal to keep the filter from being sucked in to the fan. 1 by 2 for framework if needed. Little glue or tape to keep it together. Btw the fan mounts low rear. not under, lazy susan would be in the way most of the time. Base board is 3' by 4'.
 

PugetDude

ALLIANCE MEMBER
Joined
Mar 13, 2013
Messages
22,348
Location
Superstition Mountains, AZ
Wardrobe box, cut a 18 x 18 hole low in the back, 20" box fan with a furnace filter behind the hole; bungee cord to hold everything in place. You can hang stuff from the wardrobe shelf on a wire; if you need a shelf, get one from an old range.
Break it down and store it out of the way when you don't need it.
 

Marctrees

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 5, 2015
Messages
6,265
Location
TX/LA border - Toledo Bend
Typical "Box" fan is WAYY to much CFM... will be spraying in a crosswind.

More like $15 bath or just a bit bigger fan Pressurizing the chamber, NOT vacuuming it.

"Here,,, hold my beer while I clean my Lacquer gun in here"

Marc
 

Aaron_W

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 6, 2018
Messages
2,894
Location
Northern California
Actually you want a pretty good CFM to clear the fumes. The fan is pulling a draft not blowing across the parts so the velocity is fairly low.

I built one from plywood, roughly 30x30x20" with a 450cfm squirrel cage blower and 6" exhaust ducting and a furnace filter. I did mine as a cross draft, down draft is more efficient but cross draft is easier to use since you have a good solid base to put your work on.

I based mine on the information in this article

http://modelpaint.tripod.com/booth2.htm


Total cost was about $200 with the largest cost being the blower. It is solidly built with a quality fan, I'm pretty confident that this booth will outlast me. It was much cheaper than many similar size commercial spray booths and at least in my opinion better in every way.
 

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
Typical "Box" fan is WAYY to much CFM... will be spraying in a crosswind.

More like $15 bath or just a bit bigger fan Pressurizing the chamber, NOT vacuuming it.

"Here,,, hold my beer while I clean my Lacquer gun in here"

Marc

No, pressure blows fumes everywhere, a booth draws fumes out. A paint booth is not the same as a clean room.
 

GMCGarage

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 31, 2017
Messages
1,264
You want about 100FPM per square foot of filter area. So filter area X 100 = CFM.
 

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
There were some good pages regarding design but they been fugged up. Must have been so good once guys got the 8dea they didn't need the school... ha. But, a simple technique to get some idea is to put one of those little twin fans in a bedroom window and turn on, pUT some incense in the room, play with the door opening to see what effects flow. Note, door closed, no air movement, door too far open not enough draw on the room to move air orderly to the fan. Door cracked room clears. This assumes rest of the house leaks enough to let air in freely. Light rubber band on door is about right, open a couple inches.
Like a lot of "principles" and "fundamentals" once this is understood a guy can design something that works. A guy can do rudimentary design by the swag principle, observe etc.
 

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
A clean room,, or pressurized room blows out EVERYTHING crack, similar to a balloon with equel pressure everywhere inside. Under pressure fumes go out all openings and not just the opening you may want it to. A booth needs to be under negative pressure or draw, pulls air in every crack and draws it out.
A clean room is under pressure with filtered air, open door air pours out, blows air out of every leak. Booth may have filters air is drawn thru.
 

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
Finishing Academy has a good drawing as to how pressure drops across the room, helps with concept. That linc above is pretty good.
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
Actually same for any both that is evacuating fumes. It easy to get it backwards in a hurry,,,, I types some stuff here the other day I didn't think all the way thru.
 

niget2002

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 2, 2012
Messages
11,123
Location
Josephine, TX
I used structural foam, a box fan, and an ac filter when I made mine.

I put the box fan on the back and then used the foam to make the other 4 sides.

Taped all the seams. Worked great.
 

BCreekDave

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 17, 2015
Messages
206
Location
Dayton, OH
Here's what mine is.

Structural foam boards that fit into a typical 9 foot wide garage door opening.

Sets up in 10 minutes.

Held together with Velcro straps. No tool assembly. tongue in groove top panel locks the sides in.

Box fan in a wood panel on a shelf with shot pins.

When I'm done painting I close the garage door.

Shown with a radiator core support
 

Attachments

  • fr_1067_size880.jpg
    fr_1067_size880.jpg
    61.3 KB · Views: 135

Marctrees

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 5, 2015
Messages
6,265
Location
TX/LA border - Toledo Bend
sberry - I think you misunderstood...

I was talking about a positive pressure sealed chamber w filtered air blowing IN, and then going out vents to atmosphere...

as opposed to a neg pressure room w fan blowing out.

The idea is to keep the fan and any switch etc outside of the heavy fumes path.

I spray nitro lacquer... just use basic precautions, no big deal, but surprised no one here has mentioned explosion possibility, however rare.

Marc
 

Aaron_W

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 6, 2018
Messages
2,894
Location
Northern California
sberry - I think you misunderstood...

I was talking about a positive pressure sealed chamber w filtered air blowing IN, and then going out vents to atmosphere...

as opposed to a neg pressure room w fan blowing out.

The idea is to keep the fan and any switch etc outside of the heavy fumes path.

I spray nitro lacquer... just use basic precautions, no big deal, but surprised no one here has mentioned explosion possibility, however rare.

Marc

I've given up on that quest, too many people want to talk about throwing matches in gasoline as proof it isn't a problem.


The squirrel cage blowers are my preference because they keep the motor out of the fume stream. Personally while cheap I'd be uncomfortable with box fan model that pulls the fumes right through the working bits.

Even ignoring the fire potential, that has to effect life expectancy of the fan.
 

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
I am not sure I understand. A paint booth should have the fumes drawn thru it and vented outside, could hook it up thru a window. This is why the fuss over the motor,,,, its not a problem to pressurize a booth but it doesn't clear fumes,,, it blows them everywhere. You need a draw with restriction on the inlet to move air in an orderly fashion, drawing across the room. Sucking thru filters, even cracks. My booth isn't sealed but has enough fan to pull the gaps together and I am familiar where it draws, where dust may come in, the sweet spot that if I stand along the wall and shoot paint across the bay can see it drawn in to a plume and exhausted out as evidenced by a total lack of overspray.
The cut down of the fan is not finished in one of the pics, I flashed it. After I set up I run it a minute. Most of the air comes over the end downdraft. I don't really even got to sweep the floor neat on a lot of it. Dust aint much a deal.
I open the walk door to the building. I cut the fan down some, it was really too much. As I mention the pic isn't complete, I put filter in front of it after the flashing. 1 hp motor. I open the walk door on the building. I can heat on the building side, blaze the wood stove.
 

Attachments

  • paint booth down.JPG
    paint booth down.JPG
    29.3 KB · Views: 45
  • paint booth lit.JPG
    paint booth lit.JPG
    28 KB · Views: 41
  • paint booth half way 2.JPG
    paint booth half way 2.JPG
    42.1 KB · Views: 44
  • paint fan inside.JPG
    paint fan inside.JPG
    57.7 KB · Views: 41
  • paint fan.JPG
    paint fan.JPG
    34.8 KB · Views: 37
  • paint fan remod.jpg
    paint fan remod.jpg
    80.2 KB · Views: 40
Last edited:

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
You can see the difference between pic 1 and 2 with the fan on. On this one its hard to see but the air from the motor is drawn from outside thru a duct and thru the exhaust fan which is belt driven. You can so this with a smaller scale, sometimes box fan in window works, ideally in a separate enclosure or room.
 

Attachments

  • paint fan outside.JPG
    paint fan outside.JPG
    53.2 KB · Views: 37
Last edited:

LS6 Tommy

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 27, 2013
Messages
26,162
Location
Northern NJ
Not playing Safety Nazi, but keep in mind, any fan that is exhausting fumes instead of pressurizing the space to force fumes out a vent, should have it's motor out of the airstream.

Tommy
 

John in OH

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 2, 2007
Messages
2,444
Location
SE Ohio & Eastern Virginia
I may not be a smart man, but I sure don't get why any paint booth would be pressurized. Sberry has it right ... pressurizing a paint booth would only cause paint fumes and overspray to leak out every crack and create a lot of turbulence in the booth. Common sense says a uniform flow through a negative drafted booth would be best.

I covet sberry's painting set up!!!
 
Last edited:

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
Pressurizing does not remove fumes, you can't force them out a vent. Some go.out there but it's kind of like a baloon with pressure on all sides of the room. A pressurized room is a clean room,,,, not a paint booth. Only a draw on the room works.
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!
Top Bottom