Pre-Fab Paint Booths?

[red vette mike]

Have any of you folks bought one of the pre-fab (that's my name for them) paint booths that you see in some of the tool/body shop supply catalogs? They cost $4000-8000 (and up) and up and are about 14x26 (+/-) in size. They take 1-3 days to set up in an enclosed structure. I know there are zoning issues (I am in the county away form near neighbors.)
I am going to build a 30x50x12 garage. Another idea would be to build a room roughly the size stated above, light it and exhaust it properly. Have any of you done that? Any advice would be appreciated.
Mike

 

[OldCarGuy]

I would also be interested in information from anyone that has put together one of those paint booths. I know of two acquaintances that have built homemade paint booth rooms in part of their garages with fluorescent lights, exhaust fans and filter setups much like the pre-made units. One is built with the only access is by an outside door, the door to the other is through the main garage. Both work rather okay. Because of zoning issues I decided that I would just install one when no one’s looking.

I’m also keeping on eye on what sanctions will be put on painting by hobbyists before I make my purchase.

 

[AdamMopar]

http://p2forum.proboards56.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1134178276

Here's a guy on a board I frequent that put one up, or is putting one up. Check out the rest of the site too, lots of good info for paint and body guys. Adam

 

[red vette mike]

Sanctions?

OldCarGuy: What type of potential 'sanctions' are being considered? They will apply to hobbiests? Is this a Fed plan?
Mike

 

[Luckydevil]

It was brought up a while back on here, but I think it boiled down to the auto painting industry wanting stricter laws to keep people from doing backyard paint jobs.

I'll see if I can't find that old post for you.

*edit*: Here ya go... http://www.garagejunkies.net/showthread.php?t=1560&highlight=paint+industry

 

[vintagegto]

Have any of you folks bought one of the pre-fab (that's my name for them) paint booths that you see in some of the tool/body shop supply catalogs? They cost $4000-8000 (and up) and up and are about 14x26 (+/-) in size. They take 1-3 days to set up in an enclosed structure. I know there are zoning issues (I am in the county away form near neighbors.)
I am going to build a 30x50x12 garage. Another idea would be to build a room roughly the size stated above, light it and exhaust it properly. Have any of you done that? Any advice would be appreciated.
Mike

I've been in Autobody for 22 years now and I've used state of the art booths and I've sprayed outside and had good results all around. It really depends on what kind of booth your going to buy. For the kind of money your talking about, it's probably your basic cross draft booth,although I haven't seen what your looking at so I can't say for sure. If it's just a cross draft (same booths that have been used for the last 80 years) then I would save the money and build my own. It's nothing special but it does have to be lit well and completely sealed off and exhausted well. If your in a cold climate then you have to be able to get heat in the booth real fast because the fan will take all the heat with the overspray and then you'll get runs and sags and unhappyness.

On the other hand if you were going to buy a downdraft booth with baking capabilities,then your all set for climate control but it's a bit pricy for the hobbiest and it should be professionally installed. With one of these booths you need service and support due to the positive and negative air pressure that has to be maintained so that when you exit and enter the booth, you won't pull all the dust from outside the booth inside and all over your paint job. There is more to it but it would make for a real long post.



PS: If anyone is interested I would be glad to share my knowledge of any kind of Autobody issue from body/frame/paint .I know that it can be differcult when your not in the field to get the right answer to questions.
So ask on and if I can answer your questions I will .

 

[OldCarGuy]

red vette: Luckydevil pointed you in the right direction....


I know that a good paint job is possible without a paint booth. In fact my first paint job was powered using my mom’s old Kirby vacuum cleaner in the driveway some 45 years ago. Looked as good as any Earl Scheib’s $29.95 special at the time! LOL The reasons I want a paint booth is that I can keep overspray and prep dust from migrating to the rest of my garage. And the negative pressure created from the booth’s exhaust fan will achieve that goal. Spray painting equipment has come a long way since then. And seeing that the new HVLP guns gives off far less overspray than the old Kirby, do I really need a so-called state of the art booth?

With that in mind, would purchasing a kit and the time to assemble be greater than building one from scratch?

 

[red vette mike]

Pre Fab Paint Booths

I appreciate the continuing responses as regards the 'mail-order' paint booths. I am beginning to believe that I could save the money and time and build one myself. I do some 'piddling' in a shop that has a self made booth (15x29). They had some doors fabricated by a sheet metal shop that house the inlet filters. There are 12 sets of 8' flourescent lights and then an approved exhaust fan. It seems to work well.
The thoughts about getting heat inside the booth is a good point. However I am in the deep South and it generally doesn't get bitterly cold here often. The walls in the shop are going to be some sort of plywood. The walls in the booth could be sheetrock. Is that a good idea or not?
Thanks for all the ideas and help.
Mike

 

[vintagegto]

red vette: Luckydevil pointed you in the right direction....


I know that a good paint job is possible without a paint booth. In fact my first paint job was powered using my mom’s old Kirby vacuum cleaner in the driveway some 45 years ago. Looked as good as any Earl Scheib’s $29.95 special at the time! LOL The reasons I want a paint booth is that I can keep overspray and prep dust from migrating to the rest of my garage. And the negative pressure created from the booth’s exhaust fan will achieve that goal. Spray painting equipment has come a long way since then. And seeing that the new HVLP guns gives off far less overspray than the old Kirby, do I really need a so-called state of the art booth?

With that in mind, would purchasing a kit and the time to assemble be greater than building one from scratch?

HVLP guns are not for the non professional if you use it as an HVLP. HVLP guns can be used as a traditional syphon type of gun. In other words you can use them with low pressure or high pressure. If used with low pressure, it will take a lot of practice to get the technique down. They are very differcult to use and in my opinion they don't spray very well at low pressure. I use an HVLP but I spray at around 35 psi. and I never have a problem. Oh and it does depend on what type of paint you are using. If you are spraying acrylic enamel then you don't want to use an HVLP,you will need to get a good 60-70 psi with that type of paint.
HVLP was designed for the base coat/clear coat system like PPG DBC 2000 or DBU.

To answer your second question...I would say no you don't need a state of the art booth. It would be overkill and expensive.Oh and if for any reason you decide to move...well you will have to have that monster relocated.Plus most of those downdraft booths call for a trench to be dug so you can obtain that downdraft.
So a homemade one would be fine just try and remember that the inside needs to be completely smooth with all the lights recessed so there is nothing that can collect dust.You don't want to be in the middle of a perfect paint job and have a piece of dirt fall right on the hood.

 

[vintagegto]

I appreciate the continuing responses as regards the 'mail-order' paint booths. I am beginning to believe that I could save the money and time and build one myself. I do some 'piddling' in a shop that has a self made booth (15x29). They had some doors fabricated by a sheet metal shop that house the inlet filters. There are 12 sets of 8' flourescent lights and then an approved exhaust fan. It seems to work well.
The thoughts about getting heat inside the booth is a good point. However I am in the deep South and it generally doesn't get bitterly cold here often. The walls in the shop are going to be some sort of plywood. The walls in the booth could be sheetrock. Is that a good idea or not?
Thanks for all the ideas and help.
Mike

I would say you are all set on the heat being down there but I bet you have a lot of bugs.That's a good reason to seal it really good.

 

[red vette mike]

Test

 

[red vette mike]

I appreciate the continuing responses concerning a 'mail order' paint booths. I believe that my best course of action is to build a permanent wall to make the booth then properly lightning, exhausting and filtering it. Vintagegto, I went to a local Community College for 2 semesters this last year taking a course in auto body tecnology (body shop). I had a good deal of experience in painting and body work on vehicles while in this class. I became fairly proficient in painting. I need more practice in doing metal work on damaged vehicles. We used SATA paint guns-both HVLP and regular pressure guns. I am going to have to buy some paint guns. My past experience tells me that you get what you pay for. I wonder if you think the $400-600 price of these SATA guns are worth the quality of the guns? Others-Sharp, deVilbiss, some other off brands are much less expensive. What is your opinion?
Mike

 

[paintdaddy]

I just got my booth from Standard tools.Havent assembled it yet but its finally here.As far as paint regulations ,its going to get hard for a hobyist to do their own cars.This is why I decided to move into a comercial building with correct zoning.It has cost me through the nose but it is paying off already.Before this I was working in a 30x30 home shop with a wall down the middle .It has filters in the wall on one end and the exhaust fan at the other end of the booth.It has worked well for the past 10 years but I have outgrown the place.Cant wait until Im completely moved out to makeover the old shop.

 

[vintagegto]

I appreciate the continuing responses concerning a 'mail order' paint booths. I believe that my best course of action is to build a permanent wall to make the booth then properly lightning, exhausting and filtering it. Vintagegto, I went to a local Community College for 2 semesters this last year taking a course in auto body tecnology (body shop). I had a good deal of experience in painting and body work on vehicles while in this class. I became fairly proficient in painting. I need more practice in doing metal work on damaged vehicles. We used SATA paint guns-both HVLP and regular pressure guns. I am going to have to buy some paint guns. My past experience tells me that you get what you pay for. I wonder if you think the $400-600 price of these SATA guns are worth the quality of the guns? Others-Sharp, deVilbiss, some other off brands are much less expensive. What is your opinion?
Mike

The SATA is a good gun along with the GEO 5000, Iwata and Devilbis. I don't think any of those guns are worth their price tag that they have.I think the Iwata is around $1000 now so that's definately out.

Are you sitting down? OK,now I will give you an inside secret about HVLP Gravity feed guns (cup is on top of the gun-for those reading that don't know) is that they are so simple in design that they rarely have any issues,key word "simple".
With that being said I would highly recommend that you don't buy one of those brand name guns. You can buy an aftermarket gun for a fraction of the price and they spray just as good as any one of those big dollar guns. I have used the best of the best when it comes to guns and I can tell you right now that those brand name guns are so overpriced it's rediculous.

I would suggest that if you have a Lowes near by that you go there and buy their HVLP gun for $99 and you won't be unhapppy with the resuls. For the money of those other guns, you could buy an arcenal of guns for each step of painting:

1. Base coat/single stage color (dedicated gun)
2. Clear coat (only used for clear coat)
3. Sealer gun (only used for sealer)
4. Primer gun (only used for primer)

In fact Lowes even has a smaller HVLP touch up gun for I think around $70?

I have been using this gun I bought at Lowes for about a 1.5 yrs now and I haven't had one problem with it and it also comes with a 1 quart ""chrome" cup that looks very professional. It sprays as good as any of the guns that is listed here.

Whatever gun you buy,make sure you use a metal cup because the plastic cups that most guns come with are garbage and break down. They also have screw on covers while the metal cups have pop on covers that are very easy to work with.
The plastic cups are also harder to clean and are smaller so you will be refilling your cup alot more than with a metal cup.

The key to any gun is to make sure you keep it clean,I mean spotless and after every use you need to break it down and blow any thinner out of it, no gun should have thinner sitting in it for any length of time.

 

[paintdaddy]

Are you sitting down? OK,now I will give you an inside secret about HVLP Gravity feed guns (cup is on top of the gun-for those reading that don't know) is that they are so simple in design that they rarely have any issues,key word "simple".

Most of what you said is correct but this is not.There are hvlp guns that are siphon fed(have a cup under the gun)and there are convetional guns that are gravity fed.I have two jobs,one is a company I own where I use Iwatas.The other is fleet painting commercial aircraft where I use a cheap "Harbor Freight 'Gun.I have beat the livin shiot out of the cheap gun for the past 6 years and it works great.Cost me about 40 bucks.But there is no way I would do a 13k paint job on a muscle car with a harbor freight gun,just my opinion.

 

[vintagegto]

Most of what you said is correct but this is not.There are hvlp guns that are siphon fed(have a cup under the gun)and there are convetional guns that are gravity fed.I have two jobs,one is a company I own where I use Iwatas.The other is fleet painting commercial aircraft where I use a cheap "Harbor Freight 'Gun.I have beat the livin shiot out of the cheap gun for the past 6 years and it works great.Cost me about 40 bucks.But there is no way I would do a 13k paint job on a muscle car with a harbor freight gun,just my opinion.

I tried to be as precise as I could and you are right about the HVLP which I didn't account for due to trying not to be too long of a post.
I have used the syphon type of HVLP which were the earlier guns that were available when HVLP first became popular but really weren't a true HVLP,they were a pressurized cup actually.
They were not too efficient,but this is just my experience with them.

And you are right about the gravity fed guns not all being HVLP, but I didn't say that all gravity fed guns were HVLP,I was referring to the gravity fed HVLP.

As far as the Harbor Freight gun goes,I don't know much about that one but Lowes sells an HVLP gun that I would at any time paint a 13k Muscle Car paint job with. In fact in about 2 weeks I will be painting my 69 GTO with it and there is nobody that would ever be able to tell what kind of gun I used.

I have painted 30k cars with it so I think it's past the test. I will be painting an original 69 BOSS 302 Mustang later this spring too.

Just IMHO.