Going to try and do some painting this winter small garage has hot water heat planning on using box fan in the window HVLP gun but need a fresh air respirator setup, I have COPD so not breathing to well anymore, probably from the last 50 years of painting lol but that's another story ,looking for ideas on building one or where to buy one reasonable, also if anyone thinks I will have any issues shooting lacquer in this small area flame out etc take care sam
If you already have COPD, why are you looking for a cheap way to protect yourself? If I knew I had breathing issues, I would be buying the best stuff I could find so I didn't make things worse. Sometimes the things we do or think about make little sense. Gene
I didn't see anything about him cheaping out. He is looking for something he can afford! To the OP, Why wouldn't a good quality NIOSH mask with the right filters for paint fumes work for you? I found a used industrial sand blast hood, that had a squirrel cage fan set-up to blow fresh air into it. It was set-up with a hose similar to what a vacuum cleaner uses, but would take a lot of hose to get outside fresh air. I think it would be too cumbersome for painting, but I use it for sandblasting.
3m makes a good one for $25.00 at your local body shop supply. It is in a ziplock plastic bag. I like the way it fits and it works great.
That is not a fresh air respirator. It simply filters the dirty air from inside the paint booth. I bought a supplied air setup a couple years ago from SAS, it works off of your compressor air. Has worked good for me, so much nicer not to have to fight for breath while painting. They cost $400 or so now. http://www.autobodytoolmart.com/sas-pure-air-2000-gray-half-mask-p-12240.aspx
Here's a link you may want read as well and consider a full face mask and other protection if you plan on using some of the modern primers: http://autobodystore.com/forum/showthread.php?10642-urethane-and-polyurethane-base
I don't want to sound nasty, but you have COPD, It is a disease with no cure. You are never going to recover. Every thing about paint and bodywork is bad for you. Farm that stuff out.
Be careful breathing shop air! If there is oil in the shop air it will mess up your lungs bad! There are oil-less compressors for breathing air.
Not saying this is the answer for the OP, but it worked for me. Fresh cool air the whole time I was painting. The mask, hose and filter were a garage sale find, you can still see the price sticker on it. Air supply is a leaf blower. Home made adapters to a new fresh water hose. Leaf blower mounted outside on opposite side of garage from exhaust from spraying. Doesn't pick up any fumes, just clean cool air. Doesn't contaminate air with oil. Bad points --- noisey if you are outside The hose would be better if it was more flexible, still working on that. Connectors will be fixed up over the winter. Supplies more air than you can breath, some leakage out of mask around edges. Canuck
thanks CANUCK this is exactly what I was looking for ,I appreciate all the responses and advice and I realize that with breathing problems I would be better to farm it out, I tried that on my bird, 4000 dollars and over a year later I got it back with a crappy job ,I am no expert but in my 62 years I painted quite a few cars without any problems until I sprayed some Imiron, being used to old enamel and not smart enough to read the warnings I got pretty sick on it,I have a few projects I would like to finish so I plan on using old school paint as much as I can, none of them will be show vehicles only have to please me ,so I was looking for a way to accomplish this in a reasonable way and I really do appreciate all the advice, you guys are always the people to go too, thanks again
I use the Hobby Air shown in the post above, one of the best items I have purchased! I use it for painting, sand blasting, chemical stripping and if I could I would mount it on my riding mower and use it while mowing. Several years ago I sprayed some POR-15, outside in the open air using just a cartridge type filter mask. I have never gotten over the damage that did to my system. Now I can just get near someone using a spray can of paint and it affects me so I am still very sensitive to paint products but with the Hobby Air II system and a full paint suit I can paint in an enclosed area without suffering any ill affects. The Hobby Air is cheaper than a gallon of good paint so given you issues now how could you not consider using something that will offer the best protection? Look for the systems that operate off the garage compressor to be outlawed soon. Just to many lung related problems caused or aggravated by using them. Scott...
Attached is a picture of a fresh air system that I built, using a new shop vac. the only part not pictured is the hose for the air intake. the ball valve bleeds off the excess air going to the mask. Bob
There was a thread a while ago about building a system using a small shop vac as the air supply-might try a search.
All the hose that I used is 1 1/4" thin wall, corrugated hose. I believe the correct name is "sump pump discharge hose", should be available at Lowes, Home Depot or your local hardware store. I believe the post about using a small shop vac was mine. Bob
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