Projects 26 T Roadster Pick Up build Thread

Yes I had thought of just hanging some plastic sheeting but this is going to much nicer I think and it really isn't costing a lot of $.
With my 12" confined space vent fan that moves 2800 CFM of air I think it will work well.

 

The paint booth is taking shape. Doors are made and hung and top plastic is on.
Soon I can spray primer.

 

Nice.

 

I like the latch on the walk-in door!

 

An old construction shack type latch a 1x3 piece of lumber slides for the latch and a piece of 1" dowl is the handle.
A little more plastic to hang then lights and ventilation.
The top of the walk in door gets filters for intake air.

 

You may want to have more intake than that, otherwise it will be trying to suck air in any place it can and will bring dirt in with it.

 

I can double the air intake with a couple more filters and then it should be fine.
And I'll likely put a row of filters on the end doors too.

 

Nice paint booth!

 

Your are doing an excellent job of your roadster pick up.
We built the same style booth but slightly larger to paint airplane wings, fuselage and sub assemblies. We put a row of furnace filters across the top front wall for the air going in. There was a plywood box for exhaust in a lower rear corner at the opposite end of the booth. It was about 28 inches square x 3 ft long that went through the back wall. The filter section was in the booth with the rest of the box outside so it did not cut into the work area. The box had furnace filters on 3 sides and top with a furnace fan for the exhaust fan. The filters on the exhaust kept the fan from fouling up with paint & to stop paint from blowing all over the world. We built a plywood box duct to put the exhaust out the back door. The air is drawn in high and goes downwards then away so the air quality was always good. The exhaust filters will have to get changed out occasionally. The furnace fan gave excellent ventilation and removed the paint atmosphere efficiently. I think it was about an air change about every minute or there about with a 1600 CFM fan. We could not feel the draft but could definitely see the paint mist going down to the fan. I would build another booth like yours to paint again. You can calculate the volume of the booth and divide it by the 2800CFM to see air change rate. With the size of your booth it will be really good. The booth will get really good cross flow with filters across the front wall so the air is drawn evenly across the booth. That way the air does its job without creating strong currents and it does not short circuit to the fan.
We vacuumed the wood and the plastic to keep it clean.
Look forward to seeing more of your work.

 

One foot note to add is to make sure that the fan exhausts outside & that there is a source of fresh air. Our booth was in a large shop & we started painting in the winter. We heated the shop up to about 85 -90 and cracked a door for fresh air. Exhausting the booth in the shop made the air go toxic so fast that we had to make changes. The booth was close to the shop's rear door so we constructed a false door to duct the paint booth exhaust through. Painting in the home made booth worked perfectly and extremely rare to find a stray spec in the paint. We cleaned the booth before painting with a shop vac, wiped the plastic down with a damp cloth and dampened the floor before spraying. We discovered snow worked really well & there was lots around. We threw a 2 or 3 good shovels of snow in the booth and pushed it around with a broom. It got dirty and then we tossed the dirty snow. Floor was damp & good to go.

 

Booth is done except for some lights and exhaust. That's next.

 

Looks great, Blue! I can't wait to see your car in color.

 

Me too Fred, it will be a little while with all the block sanding I will have to do. The first step will happen soon, that's epoxy primer on the frame and body parts.

 

MMMMM, cant wait. JW

 

You will need to be care full with the type of lighting you use.
Paint vapors are extremely flammable!
The lights should be completely sealed or placed outside the plastic booth cover.
My booth was in a translucent canopy so I didn't need lights other than sunlight. I sprayed in the mornings to keep the heat down.

 

Wondering if LED lights would be safer for inside the booth.
For outside the plastic cover I can go up top above the plastic if I have to.

 

I believe florescent lights give off the best non-shadow lighting.
Outside the plastic would probably be the safest and least expensive.
The plastic would act as a def user.

 

One thing I've heard about is keeping your exhaust fumes under control to avoid any call-ins from your neighbors, and that would be my no. 1 concern as I live in a city full of environmentally concerned individuals who have nothing else to do but complain. The trick I heard is to run a sprinkler that has a fan pattern just outside the exhaust with enough water pressure to have the spray pattern just taller than the exhaust vent. Cheap water abatement system. If you wanted to go a little further you could put a filter under the sprinkler to keep anything nasty from going into the ground.


Sent from my iPad using H.A.M.B.

 

I bought some activated charcoal filter media that I can cut to size and use with my filters, I'm thinking it will probably help with the fumes issue.
https://www.amazon.com/Cut-Fit-Carbon-Pad-Purifiers/dp/B000U204W2

From the description:
Color: Black

• 
  Enter your model number to make sure this fits.
• Cut-to-fit charcoal sheet
• 16 x 48 material
• Removed odours and voc's from the air
• Can be cut to fit air purifiers, range hoods and furnace filters
• Made in the USA by All-Filters,

 

Well the lights have been made ready.
2 of my 4' ceiling fixtures were above the booth and I decided that keeping any additional lights outside the plastic would be wise.

So I picked up 2 - 4 tube hanging shop lights for extra light.

Of course I had already put the plastic on the top so hanging them from the ceiling was out .

So I figured out how to stand then up above the plastic and the garage door still opens without hitting them

Let there be light
Next comes the exhaust.

 

It will be a big help when painting if you have some good lighting for the sides.

 

I know that most paint booths have side lights, if I need to I can set up a construction light outside the plastic on one side.

It's pretty bright in there now however.

 

What seems bright now will not be so bright when you are spraying and that can cause inconsistent coverage and or runs in the paint. There is good reason why paint booths have lights all around, no substitute for being able to see what you are laying down on that car!

 

You will more than likely want something on the side. As soon as you start painting the lower half you will realize that it will be difficult to see what you are doing with the shadows being cast from the upper half of the body. You can see in you last picture how dark the lower half of the body looks spray a coat of that dark blue and you won't be able to differentiate anything after that.

 

I've got a stand up construction light that has 2 pretty bright led floods that I can shine through the side plastic and can set them up at the right height.

Then because the body is small and easy to move on the dolly (all 4 wheels svivel)
I can easily spin it around to the light to get all sides.

That way I don't have to try putting lights on the wall inside the booth.

 

I noticed you built a rotisserie for your frame. I recommend you build one for your body.
It will make every step of your body and paint work so much easier.
I used 1" square tubing under the original body bolt holes. By making a cradle shape I could rotate the body in a full circle, getting access to every inch, top to bottom. It measures about 10" from the pivot point to the top of the rails.

 

Thanks , I will be doing so. I had actually considered it after seeing how much easier it made working on the frame.

I'll mock it up with multiple mounting points so I can use it first for the body and then the bed.
It will also help with painting to be able to rotate it for visibility etc.
Larry.

 

Larry,it looks like it's time to let the paint fly! HRP

 

Very soon Danny

 

Another step closer.
I built a plywood box for 3 filters at the front of the booth.
I'm thinking that it should create some what of a down draft.
Almost done