So my brother has been painting friends motorcycles for years now. we usually rig up a 'paint booth' in my dad's garage that works well enough but the garage is pretty small. i was going to have him take a stab at my plymouth (we've never done a car before). my brother in law was going to let us use his body shop space after hours but that fell through now. anyone have any recommendations for alternatives? renting a space? setting up something outside? i don't know - just not sure if there's something i didn't think of that people have tried. i'm spending about $95 on paint so it's not like i need some top-notch operation.. i ran a seach of the forum and saw some mentions of building a booth outside with a frame of 2x4s, some plastic, and fans? Any input would be greatly appreciated! As always, thanks fellas!
thats what im gonna do with my 58 eventually, except i think pvc pipes would work better because A. they are light B. easily cut to fit C. you can take it apart and store it for another job later or sell them as a little kit to someone doing the samething and make some cash back on it. dont forget the filters on the fans so you dont suck in dirt and other impurities. or you could just wait for a nice clear day. my buddy painted his 63 chevy in his front yard without any sort of booth and has a very nice daily driver paint job. not perfect but looks very nice.
Ask around. Some body shops will rent out thier booths. $150 or less should get you a booth on a weekend or evening. Esp. in the summer when there is no heat bill. You will get good lights, ventilation, ect. No problems like your home made spray booth falling apart in the middle of the paint job.
Just make sure if you use someone's garage, to ventilate the house, or seal the door. A buddy of mine painted a truck in his garage, while wearing a mask. His wife came home and freaked, because the smell got into the house. He was afraid that he almost killed his dogs..
You can do a decent paint job in a pretty small garage. Just patience. That being said, I painted my satin in the driveway and its fine.
Just use a garage with a window and a box fan in it. Stick a couple furnace filters on the front of it, cover up your stuff with plastic, (they sell rolls of it at the paint store) wet down the floor, wipe her down and shoot it. Don't open any doors or windows till you shut that fan off though. Happy painting. And get a good respirator. Lippy
you couldnt kill your dogs with paint fumes. I worked in a shop that had a dog in the booth at all times during painting. she got hit by a car. may have died from lung cancer one day but that old girl inhaled more fumes than u could imagine.
You can achieve some pretty nice paint jobs at home...but you really have to be careful and safe when doing a whole car. It's one thing to spray a motorcycle tank and a pair of fenders.....its a whole other ball game when doing a car. I think the really important thing is if you are doing it in a home made booth is to make sure you are wearing a cheap face respirator. You can go to you local body shop supply place and get a cheap throw away one for $15. This is a good dual filter rubber and plastic respirator..not a paper cup and rubber band mask. Lowe's and Home Depot also sell something similar. Get one of these Next problem you'll run into is that an ordinary box fan will not pull out the overspray fast enough for you to properly see what the hell you're doing. This is especially true when spraying the clear coat on a base/clear job. You'll get half the car done and won't be able to see anything. Two box fans would help. The big problem with using box fans is that they are not explosion proof like a body shop exhaust fan. I've used box fans many times with no problems...but i'm just saying. Painting it outside, as someone suggested is also doable as long as you're out of sight and smell from your neighbors. Pick a nice day with a good forcast..wet the driveway down good and have at it. For about $50 you can get some cheap wood and a roll of heavy sheeting and build something nice. I'm all for spending a couple hundred and renting someone's booth if you want something really nice too. Just some suggestions.
If the garage is attached to the house don't paint in it. The fumes will almost always work their way into the house and not only smell up the house but cause health issues with family and pets. I know one guy around here that did and made his wife and kids sick in the process and came damned close to being divorced before it was over. Right now If I was going to set up a portable spray booth in the yard I would find one of those tent garage frames that someone is getting rid of because the wind/weather tore up the cover. They (bare frame) usually go for about 30 bucks around here and you can set them up easily and tear them down easily. a sheet of visqueen from the home repair store and you are in business.
Painted several cars at home. Base,clear,kandy, flake, etc. Dettached garage is best. PLastic cover everything. Fans are good. #1 rule.... make sure your neighbors are cool with the smell.
I saw a unique set-up on a vintage airplane restoration website. They built several arch supports from pvc pipe and covered it with heavy plastic sheeting. Kinda looked like a mini quonset hut. What was unique about it is that they built it in a way they just "accordian-ed" (?) it together when finished to make it easier to store.
i use to work with a guy that put up 2x4s with plastic around them got 2 of the cheap walmart fans put on each end and taped a/c filters to them and taped up around the plastic to make sure they were no leaks and painted behind his house. the paint jobs come out good after color sanding and buffing
I've done it exactly like this, except I have a large Port-a-Cool to exhaust out a side window (detached gararge) They sell plastic at Sherwin Williams in a big box. Cover everything. Have everything organized and plan what your going to do and when. I had a guy at the local paint store tell me the paint jobs I have done are better than half the real body shops in town. It's not easy, but it can be done.
Kaliforniistan, eeeeesch. One of the best moves was 500 miles east. One acre of HOT paradise. Nobody cares about what I do. 12 cars, a motorhome a boat. I've sprayed satin and flat in the driveway. Unfortuneatly nowhere near good enough for gloss. Come on over,,,,,,,,,in two months.
Here's an idea for you: http://www.secondchancegarage.com/public/720.cfm I really don't like the idea of pulling air THROUGH the fan/fans because of the risk of explosion using a brushed-type fan (sparks = BOOM), but PUSHING air into a setup like this and then exhausting the air through filters sitting opposite the booth catching the cloud seems like a good idea. I'm actually thinking of doing something just like this with PVC, drop cloths, box fans or a shop fan, and then filters opposite.
Not sure where you live in NY, becareful some EPA law may bite you in the butt if you have a cranky neighbor!
I'm so glad I stumbled upon this thread. I'm gearing up to do the same thing. Thanks for all of the suggestions. I want to piss off my neighbors, so the garage with fans sounds like the way to go for me.
Any Vocational schools in the area? We have one here and it's pretty easy to talk the teacher into letting you use the booth in the autobody shop to demo for the students...or take an adult night class in autobody and they'll let you use it in the evenings during class as a project.
Many famous kustoms were painted in dirty garages. We painted a few cars using a PVC pipe-framed, plastic sheet-covered, box fan-vented "booth" with home AC filters and they always came out fine. There's also the chance that a small paint & body shop might let you rent their booth for spraying yourself.
All it takes is a call from a Neighbor complaining of the smell and then here comes the cops, fire department and a Hazmat team. ask me how I know? Then when your Home owners insurance finds out then its really all over! They will drop you in a heart beat! Once you have been dropped by a home owner insurance company Good luck getting home owners insurance again from ANY insurance company. They have some super secret deal between each other once a person is dropped none of the others will touch you. If you cant be insured your likely to loose your home from the bank. Its a requirement to have in your contract when you bought the home. I did the home paint job with 2x2's and plastic with box fans in a garage that was attached to a house. The house stunk with fumes for days afterwards, car came out great! Cops, Fire department, Hazmat team showed up after job was done and all was cleaned up and put away. I was lucky my insurance company never found out about it. Just my experience dont do it. What I didn't know then was today's Urethane paints are full of Isocyanates wich can be lethal even in extremely small doses, Once sensitized you will be forever sensitive to Isocyanates, By spraying in the attached garage I unknowingly exposed my whole family to the stuff, not cool. You do not have to breath the stuff to be exposed either! Isocyanates are absorbed through the eyes and skin! I now have a full shop out away from my home with a full size Paint booth in it with all the neat stuff to do Paint and body work.
Wet the floor like a few guys said, don't paint outside at dusk (bugs), extinguish any pilot lights, run a ground cable from the floor to the chassis, lots of lights.
"i'm spending about $95 on paint so it's not like i need some top-notch operation.." I'm more interested in hearing where you can source material to paint a car for $95. If your neighbors are close by (and grumpy) you might be better off with a booth rental. Otherwise, set up the garage and spray during a weekday when the neighbors are away at work/school. Shoot the car and quickly close down everything before the neighbors fugure out what's going on.
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