Open Faced Paint Booth

[jtillery]

Has anyone used an open faced paint booth? If so, how well do they work for controlling overspray and fumes?

Reason I ask is I found a 6'x6'x7' open faced booth for about $500 locally. It has an explosion proof light and explosion proof 24" fan. I will be painting about 5 motorcycles a year so I would like something to control the overspray and fumes but not take up alot of space in the shop.

Thanks

 

[e-tek]

Has anyone used an open faced paint booth? If so, how well do they work for controlling overspray and fumes?

Reason I ask is I found a 6'x6'x7' open faced booth for about $500 locally. It has an explosion proof light and explosion proof 24" fan. I will be painting about 5 motorcycles a year so I would like something to control the overspray and fumes but not take up alot of space in the shop.

Thanks

I built a smaler version (also called a "fume hood") for spraying small parts and it's been an AWESOME add to my shop. ANyone who sprays more than one part a month should have one. I would think your "Pro-grade" booth would do an even betterjob - controlling overspray, fumesand the mess associated. Problem with your application would be getting "around " the bike, but if you can hang everything, you can rotate them. They also control dust to a greater extent than spraying in the open!

 

[bowanna03]

how did you build that fume hood do you have any pics

 

[sberry]

There are several ways to make a small booth, I used plastic sheet on tubing used as a roller. Here is the good link on paint booth theory.
http://dodconf.swri.org/2003Papers/Thelen.pdf

 

[Iron-Iceberg]

They work good on overspray and fumes. Not as good on dust in your paint. It just depends on your shop if its clean and pretty dust free it works good, if its dirty with lots of stuff floating around it will all get sucked into your paint job.
I have a small booth that I open the doors on if I want to spray something large, and use it as an open face.

 

[ddrewyor]

I had built a similar booth with the plastic roll up walls and used box fans with filters to remove the fumes. Dust and stuff did get sucked in but I picked up some of the blue cheap furnace filters and made a holder for them on the air inlet. I just wet them down and it stopped almost all the junk from getting into the booth. Also, use a HVLP gun as they really control the overspray and reduce your cost of materials.

Dave
________
Mflb

 

[billspit]

Don't let the idea of using an open faced spray booth trick you into spraying isocyanate paint and thinking you are safe. I don't think that will offer you enough protection.
I think having one would be nice, but I would try to dicker the price down a bit.

 

[cnyeco1]

Hey e-tek, can you post a pick of the hood you built???

Thanks, Cam.

 

[mag99]

Hey e-tek, can you post a pick of the hood you built???

Thanks, Cam.

CAM,
Look on this thread, 2nd page toward the bottom #31, I think


http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32075

 

[e-tek]

Here's the original thread - pretty simple - but it works great. Still using it today. Could exhaust it outside, but even inside through allergenic furnace filter works well.

http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24339&highlight=booth

 

[35mastr]

If your going to use it temporary.I would just put a flexable long dryer hose on it out a window or a door.Using the dryer style louver cover if you are going to make a hole in the wall.

 

[e-tek]

There are several ways to make a small booth, I used plastic sheet on tubing used as a roller. Here is the good link on paint booth theory.
http://dodconf.swri.org/2003Papers/Thelen.pdf

Sbery - I'm sure you find you get overspray build up on your plastic walls - do you change them after so many paints or what?

 

[john mac]

Sberry, that looks like a good idea, do you wet the floor down before you spray to keep dust out of your paint? How do you exhaust?
E-tek, I like your small paint booth idea, have you made any changes to make it better? Heating the space for winter painting is good idea as long you don't heat it up a little too much.

 

[e-tek]

Sberry, that looks like a good idea, do you wet the floor down before you spray to keep dust out of your paint? How do you exhaust?
E-tek, I like your small paint booth idea, have you made any changes to make it better? Heating the space for winter painting is good idea as long you don't heat it up a little too much.

I'm not Sberry, but I do a similar thing for full paints. I hang plastic off aircraft wire strung around the shop near the ceiling. In that portion of the shop I have a 1/3 HP fan in the wall and I crack a window and place a pleated furnace filter in it. My shop is clean and I wet the floor, here are the results.

As for the parts-booth, no mods, works great. The Chicken-Littles go on about safety, but thus far the sky hasn't fallen. I heat it up to 90F, then TURN OFF the heater, turn on the exhaust fan and spray. The paint flows better and dries fasterthan doing it in the shop. And of course - no overspray or fumes in the shop.

 

[sberry]

I thought I might have to change it out but its been there for at least 12 yrs. My fan clears so well that I don't get any over spray unless I hit it direct with the gun. I do on occasion wet the floor but basically I don't get much dirt, the warm air near the ceiling comes in down draft fashion, just zooms it right out and a lot of the stuff I do is perched on pallet boxes.
I have a good draw and have it tuned, it really clears and I am familiar with it. I do paint Imron in it, but,,,,,, I do not have supplied air,,, but,,,, I cover up, full face mask and can stand up wind. You can stand right next to it and not smell it or get it on you. I also don't paint daily or even weekly anymore for that matter. Little stuff I can do next to the fan without rigging the booth.
Because it is separated I can generate heat outside the booth during paint, clears so well that lighting etc isn't an explosion issue. I can tune the draw by the amount of air I am letting into the building.

 

[sberry]

I work back to front. Can stage parts. You can see in the last pic where the overspray was drawn right to the floor.

 

[jtillery]

Thanks for all the responses. I got ******* working on the shop and wasn't able to check back until today. I decided to pass on the booth. I just don't think 6'x6'x7' is quite big enough, especially since I paint sport bikes so there are several pieces of bodywork. I was throwing the idea around of buying the booth and figuring out a way to expand it, but I don't think it will be worth the hassle. He wouldn't go below $500 and the fan was the only thing I would definitely use (I found similar fans for $450 new).

Now all I need to decide is if I should build/buy a permanent booth, or just setup a temporary one whenever I need to spray.

 

[autoist]

My painter has one in his shop for small items during a restoration...they use it every day.