paint booth

[ejm1961Tbird]

Anybody using this curtain wall for body work and paint booth inside their shop, which can be pulled out of the way when not in use?
http://www.goffscurtainwalls.com/curtain-walls/body-shop-curtains

 

[OldCarGuy]

I'm not using portable curtains any longer. I finally bit the bullet and installed a paint booth in one of my garages...

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=89068

 

[ejm1961Tbird]

OldCarGuy - I just read the thread in your post above
Awesome paintbooth and garage! I am planning a 30' x 48' garage. I'm afraid that I will not have the space for a dedicated paint booth, but I would still like to spray a car now and then during some restoration projects. What kind of temporary setup did you have before your paint booth? Any recommendations on a good temporary booth? I am still in the designing stage of the garage. Thanks, Ed

 

[peter_x]

That's what we called a prep deck when I took auto collision classes. It was like a paint booth on three sides with the curtain in front. You can have the intake either on the roof (better) or the side like OCG's setup.

 

[ToolJunkie]

I did it for my garage. Bought steel wire and end links at the hardware store and cheap curtains at IKEA. Works great.

 

[ratdoggy]

Old car guy. What kind of plastic curtains were you using?

 

[go_n_low88]

Temporary Paint Booth:

Here is a link that I am gonna use for making a temporary paint booth.. Pretty inexpensive and dis-assemble when not in use.

http://duplicolortv.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dc_diy_paint_booth.pdf

 

[Plump]

I actually know these guys quite well. I was the best man in my buddy's wedding to a Goff!

I don't have one personally but their dad owns an auto body repair shop next door (and two others in the area) and I've seen them in action. Look like they do the job well and I do know that they do well for themselves. Great family.

 

[OldCarGuy]

Old car guy. What kind of plastic curtains were you using?

I made some curtains from heavy clear vinyl with eyelets every 12”. Using “S” hooks, I attached to a 3/16” diameter braided wire strung between the walls just below the ceiling. When not in use, I simply pulled them back..

 

[gregp]

I made some curtains from heavy clear vinyl with eyelets every 12”. Using “S” hooks, I attached to a 3/16” diameter braided wire strung between the walls just below the ceiling. When not in use, I simply pulled them back..

Did you find there was much sag in the wire when pulled close? I was thinking of doing something like this but didn't want a big gap/sag in the middle. I was also thinking of some type of track to hook it to (like in the hospitals) but coudn't come up with anything.

 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

Did you find there was much sag in the wire when pulled close? I was thinking of doing something like this but didn't want a big gap/sag in the middle. I was also thinking of some type of track to hook it to (like in the hospitals) but coudn't come up with anything.

Screw a hook into the ceiling every 3 or 4 feet. Pop the wire off of the hooks, pull your curtain out and then place the wire back on the hook. Reverse to get it out of the way. Simple, cheap and effective.

 

[89GLH]

Saw this in another forum I'm on, pretty clever. Not much for ventilation though.

http://gallery.visualrealms.com/categories.php?cat_id=74&page=7

 

[E.rodz]

check out this great idea.if the link does not work do a search on this forum sliding paint booth. not mine but a great idea for a shop with limited space. I just finished my booth and I am going to try it out in the battle of the killer clocks.you can check out the booth that i made in my build thread.hope this helps
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=80556&highlight=sliding+paint+booth

 

[MP&C]

I am planning a 30' x 48' garage. I'm afraid that I will not have the space for a dedicated paint booth, but I would still like to spray a car now and then during some restoration projects............... I am still in the designing stage of the garage. Thanks, Ed

While you are still in the design stages, here's some thoughts on a dedicated booth. When building my shop, we started our design with a size of 32 x 52. Most booths are 24' deep, and will have a plenum at the rear of 3'. Given this 27' depth, and the 5' door swing on the front, I would have needed to open the shop doors to the outside every time I needed to open the booth doors. We changed the shop dimensions to 34 x 52, and now with that extra depth, the booth doors can be opened while keeping the overhead shop door closed. Some of my work is spraying bikes, and I have various stands made up on casters for spraying bikes. This allows me to scotchbrite the stands (removing previous overspray and dust accumulation) once the parts are ready and blow everything off outside the booth, then roll into the booth for pre-clean and tack. I only mention this because you are not that far off on the depth that perhaps a used booth, if one came available, an extra 4' depth on your shop wouldn't be that much of an added expense now, but may make life easier down the road.


Here's my booth, 14' x 27' (including plenum) Devillbiss semi-downdraft.

Some of the stands I use....

Shop layout

The other benefit to the dedicated booth, I can keep all the welding, grinding, etc to the right of the booth. All my air compressor, paint mixer, etc, stays on the left side, so I keep somewhat of a separation. Plus, the booth will give you a nice area to park your finished hot rod and keep it away from those other shop conditions (welding, grinding) described above.


Mine is a Devillbiss semi-down draft that came from a local Ford dealership after it no longer had an in-house body shop. Paid 1K for it, fixed some rust issues, replaced some lights, filters, seals, etc. All in all , I have about 1600-1800 in it. At this point, I can't imagine doing what I do with a temporary setup. I have also seen booths advertized for free because a body shop has the latest downdraft technology being delivered in one week and need to move the present booth out of the way. Just something to consider.

 

[gregp]

Did you find there was much sag in the wire when pulled close? I was thinking of doing something like this but didn't want a big gap/sag in the middle. I was also thinking of some type of track to hook it to (like in the hospitals) but coudn't come up with anything.

In answer to my own question i found this on another thread.

http://www.colonialmedical.com/product.php?productid=18881

 

[e-tek]

I made some curtains from heavy clear vinyl with eyelets every 12”. Using “S” hooks, I attached to a 3/16” diameter braided wire strung between the walls just below the ceiling. When not in use, I simply pulled them back..

That's what I did - and although I've painted for 30 years, I will NEVER paint at home again. It's VERY bad for both me AND my neighbours. It's just BAD practice. (Fine if you have a "proper" fresh-air system AND an acreage I guess....).

OCG - Nice booth. Are you going to mount lights down low? You're going to want more light down there.

 

[e-tek]

check out this great idea.if the link does not work do a search on this forum sliding paint booth. not mine but a great idea for a shop with limited space. I just finished my booth and I am going to try it out in the battle of the killer clocks.you can check out the booth that i made in my build thread.hope this helps
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=80556&highlight=sliding+paint+booth

I'll just copy a comment I made in the thread you posted...

I use plastic drop sheet curtains and will just say that the hard-wall idea is probably the better of the 2. As soon as you put a decent fan in a plastic booth, you get trouble. Plus the pastic is good for one, MAYBE 2 uses, before it's too dusty, wrecked or contaminated to use again. That walled booth is brilliant.

 

[RoarkIndustrialSolutions]

I'm a rep for Goff's. Just supplied 3-wall system to high end detailer and previously worked with a GJ member for his wood shop. Let me know how I can help.

 

[sberry]

I thought I would have to replace the plastic but its been there 15 yrs, this works darn near as good as a commercial booth and is out of the way. http://dodconf.swri.org/2003Papers/Thelen.pdf

 

[Tscott]

I thought I would have to replace the plastic but its been there 15 yrs, this works darn near as good as a commercial booth and is out of the way. http://dodconf.swri.org/2003Papers/Thelen.pdf

Sberry,
I love this design and plan to copy it. One question though. How do you deal with dust. All the prep work on stuff has created a ton of dust in my shop. Anything that sits in one place for more than a few days tend to get covered. When you roll down your walls and get ready to paint, what do you do to control all that dust so it doesn't cover your paint projects?

Tom

 

[JCQuick]

man I sure hope those temporay booths with lights in them are using water bourne paints.Theres a reason paint booths have explosion proof lights

 

[sberry]

Jack, I really don't do a lot.I mainly turn it on and run for a couple minutes and paint. When its buttoned up the air comes over top of the end wall, fan at other end and it makes a downdraft. Pretty much anything that is lodged stays, its pretty clean. Dirt may be an issue in smaller room, maybe some localizes higher air movement?? . I slowed the fan a bit to conserve some heat during colder weather. I have used this in smaller garages too ideally to split the room in 2 if you can. Have had wood stoves and other heaters going full blast in other side while spraying in booth. Mine is just about right with man door to building open as intake, can see the curtains pull in, it clears well. It works good enough there are not fume build ups, use common light fixtures, most are up out of the way. I use a couple fluorescents and about 6 500W quartz and try to keep them out of direct over spray, its probably not impossible to get too much light to paint but its hard. My set up works good, wind up and out of the way when not in use. Makes it easy to shift pieces in and out, move around etc.
I liked this because the plastic could be one piece in the wall, I used a 40 ft alum tubing, 3 lines and the thing just tumbles and winds up with winch.

 

[DEJAVU]

Anybody built air intake and/or exhaust plenums for a curtain-wall type garage paint booth; with the intake drawing air from a stack/tube fan through the roof and exhausting through the rear wall (creating slight positive pressure inside the enclosed curtain wall)? If so, is there a formula for the plenum and fan size relative to the cubic feet of the booth?

 

[amcraft]

There are other options similar to this in which you can order directly from the manufacturer. Cut the middleman.

 

[Krash Kadillak]

If you're only painting once in a while, you might want to look in to renting a paint booth. If you can't find a listing for one, check with the automotive paint suppliers in your area. They should have some leads......

 

[vankaye]

I used to use a curtain wall homemade booth in my small shop. The amount of work for setting up and cleaning and prepping the paint area is not worth the time.
I started renting a booth about 30 minutes away and have perfected my system of bringing a prepped car to the booth and spending my time on final prep of the car and not the booth... My paint jobs started improving rather quickly when dealing with a properly vented spray booth.

In my opinion, time is better spent prepping the item your about to paint rather than prepping the area you're about to paint in....

 

[amcraft]

Depends on how well-built the enclosure is.

 

[Saw]

I don't know if it was mentioned but we use "Booth Coat" to cover the interior of the galvanized metal booth. Spray on clear coat that covers the interior of the booth, glass covered florescent lights, door, door window, everything except filters. Put down military grade paper for floor covering, any overspray could be sweep up and vacuumed, used round magnets to hold paper down to metal floor. When the paper floor covering got torn up, pitch it and cover it again. When the water based booth coat became covered with overspray, fill your spray gun with water, spray down interior and peel of old coating, respray with new coating once dry.

This was a cross draft booth.

 

[pharmon]

While this is older one thing I didn't see covered is that if your spraying solvents you would want to consider an explosion proof fan as most fans do not isolate electric components from the material your spraying. With solvent materials they could come in contact with the electric source and ignite. You can also buy an exhaust chamber which is the filter section of a paint booth. This would remove any overspray out of your exhaust air.

 

[sberry]

Anybody built air intake and/or exhaust plenums for a curtain-wall type garage paint booth; with the intake drawing air from a stack/tube fan through the roof and exhausting through the rear wall (creating slight positive pressure inside the enclosed curtain wall)? If so, is there a formula for the plenum and fan size relative to the cubic feet of the booth?

This is not a paint booth, positive pressure is for a clean room. A booth needs a draw or negative pressure on it. Mine is not explosion proof but I keep electric out of the exhaust stream

 

[sberry]

http://finishingacademy.com/training/aero/aero_mod3/aero_mod3_intro.html The principles here are about like electrical grounding, once they are understood its simple to make air flow.

 

[ryan77]

fount this somewhere on the internet, it slides out on the celling tracks and folds.

 

[brownbagg]

a couple years ago, there was a guy here that had a panel wall that would fold up and lay against the wall. it was a fold up paint room.

 

[sberry]

More roll.

 

[sberry]

Sberry,
I love this design and plan to copy it. One question though. How do you deal with dust. All the prep work on stuff has created a ton of dust in my shop. Anything that sits in one place for more than a few days tend to get covered. When you roll down your walls and get ready to paint, what do you do to control all that dust so it doesn't cover your paint projects?

Tom

The air and airstream comes from the top end and any dust settles and slides along the floor, half the time I don't even sweep up, its really amazingly clean.

 

[Tscott]

The air and airstream comes from the top end and any dust settles and slides along the floor, half the time I don't even sweep up, its really amazingly clean.

I actually built your setup a few years back to paint my old center console boat. Worked awesome and the paint job came out great. Didn't have to wet the floor or anything. I found a great deal on a sealed fan designed to be used in wet locations. As a bonus, I got a shop fan that moves a ton of air and should last forever.

The only long term issue I had was that the plastic began to breakdown in spots as a result of the UV coming in through the skylight panels on in the roof. I just recently pulled down all the rollers and plastic. I've got a few ideas on how to improve the system that I'll implement next time I need to paint something.

Tom

 

[sberry]

I figured that I would need to replace the plastic. Only hole in it was someone hitting it with a hot light bulb and only real overspray is a dingle berry aiming a gun at it cause he is stupid. I made a few mistakes along the way, now that I have a pretty good grip on what I am doing am really done with most of it.
I slowed my fan down which didn't hurt a thing. I cut the blades off and re shroud it. I should have done it before, would have saved some heat but I can tune the wind a little with the doors and the corners **** right up. I open the man door to the building for intake air. I toss some filter over the fan and have the motor in a fresh air stream, 1 gun at a time, none of it is really explosion proof its just that it moves the air well, clears in a predictable fashion in a large enough area that it never builds up fumes. So much air going thru the fan its not very rich.
I can set up, turn around and don't have to overspray myself or the job. Its really super for painting tractors. If I want can paint out the basic tractor and rack all the parts downwind, have painted a tractor, chassis, pieces all at one shot or even in stages. Can spray at the fan end of the booth.
It can be seen in pics above, in moderate weather simply sat the plow in front of the fan. In one of the pics above can see a tractor in pieces. Parts are on boxes/carts so they can be moved with pallet jack. I can set it out of the way a little, rotate boxes, stage it so I can cover or protect any overspray as I go, paint my way to the fan so to speak and even move finished product up wind.
I know,,,, I forgot to say, thought I would need to replace the curtain, ver have. 20 yrs and no reason to think not another 20

 

[sberry]

I simply duct taped it to a roof purlin and it rolls up with a boat winch. 3 -3/16 nylon lines. The endwall doesn't even have a winch but I simply let 2 ropes down, the aluminum tubing aint but 1/2 # to the foot, even on the side wall its only a pound.
One edge of the sheet duct taped to a purlin or header and the other side to the aluminum tubing. About 10 pr 15 yrs in has some tape come loose in the ceiling and caught it in time, used up another roll and taped right on over it and great since.