I need a spray booth. All commercially available units I've found are WAY too pricey for my tastes. Would anyone have a set of drawings or sketches for a DIY hood/booth. I'm looking for something compact and benchtop. Collapsible is a plus. My guess is I could make a nice one for ~$100-150. A second question is, downdraft or back draft? Doug Harrington.
Doug, many years ago, I read an article about a homemade paint booth that was inexpensive and easy to construct. It was based on a standard (used) stove hood with a brushless motor fan. Brushless is important to prevent ignition of paint mist/vapors. IIRC, it was constructed of foam boards that were lined with aluminum foil. The foil could be swapped out when it became too nasty. The hood had lights with protective glass that could be removed for cleaning. Of course, the fan was ducted to the outside through a window or wall.
Now this is something like what I'm thinking. I really don't want a piece of furniture and a monument to my skills as a woodworker. Something practical and utile using cheap A/C filters and a surplus fan.
Paasche sells just their motor/fan unit for about $50. Most new motors are brush less these days and are more than fine to use with sprayed paint, even the solvent based ones. I know a lot of guys use kitchen and bath fans but most don't have enough CFM, air flow, (IMHO) to be effective. Especially when you look at how big of an opening they are making. If you look at most commercially built hobby sized units they have at least 100 CFM , even on the smaller units. Using things like computer fans or room box fans don't have enough draw, especially once you put it through a filter. Shop Vac motors are not brushless and should be avoided. The military modeler guys really go all out on making their units. Some are really questionable and some are really impressive. One thing I liked that a lot of them do is use the plastic totes from say WalMart for the box. Nice size, easy to work with, light and cheap to get. I looked hard at making one a few years ago (I use to use a cradle and sprayed out doors) but since I like to use solvent based paints I bought a Paasche 22-16 for under $200 delivered. If you look around you can still find them for $200 plus delivery. For the way I paint back draft works bets for me. One tip for any spray booth I got when I was talking to a Paasche rep, don't install a light inside the unit, especially if you use solvent based paints. Unless you spend the $ on a sealed unit (more than buying any spray booth would cost) you run the risk of as an ignition source. ratled
Hey Doug! I did nine installments on a blog showing how I built a small non collapsible spray booth. I copied it from a small booth comercial booth I borrowed from a friend, built by a company I could find nothing about. There weren't many hits on the blog so I didn't show the entire process, but there is enough there to show you how it was done. I don't know the specs for airflow across the face, but when I spray solvent based paints there is no odor at all in the house. My wife can't even tell I was painting if I keep all the solvent prep and clean in the booth. The only specialty tool was a duct work hand seamer. http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/entry.php?2621-How-I-built-my-Spray-Booth-Part-1 I'll send you a PM with my email. If you have any question don't be afraid to ask.
Thanks, John. I remember your original blog. This is EXACTLY what I wish to do. I'll get in touch for a few details when the time comes, a couple of weeks. Doug Harrington, Houston, TX
I know I'll probably start a flame war, but unless you are doing commercial levels of painting with solvent based paints, the whole brushless motor thing is . . . unnecessary. If you use only waterbased acrylics (Polly Scale, etc) you can't cause them to explode under any circumstance that would be found in a home, and the actual ignition concentrations required for solvent based paints exceed anything a hobbyist will ever do in a single sitting (or so one would conclude from reading the materiel safety data sheets for said paints). The range hood and bath fan ideas are actually sound, and most generate between 50 and 100 CFM which should be plenty. Should you go the range hood route, look around for a Habitat for Humanity ReStore or other architectural salvage business - you can get quality fans there for way less then retail.
