I don't have a dedicated spray booth; like pretty much everyone else, my garage doubles as body shop AND spray booth, which leads to pretty inconsistent paint work (dust, occassional bugs, etc.) I was wondering if anyone has built or bought a non-permanent set-up that helps cut down on this kind of stuff. Does anyone make an E-Z-Up type of thing that will safely isolate the painting area? In searching the internet and digging through catalogs, I've mostly found small but permanent set-ups. Also, does anyone have any recommendations for inexpensive exhaust fans that can safely be used around combustibles? (I have found exhaust fans in my searches - just wondering if anyone knows of any that are good or are junk) I realize the best way to do it is to pony up for an actual booth, and I realize that climate/moisture control is just as important as isolating other impurities in the air, but until I have the money and the space to do that, I'd like to get set up to at least paint some smaller stuff with a little more consistency. Thanks for any advice you've got! Curt
I've only done 1 paint job, but I did it under my free stanfing carport. I washed the cieling off, sprayed the concrete, the bought large rolls of plastic at Home Depot and taped it to all four sides of the carport. I cut an opening and put a box fan in one side, then another with a cheapy a/c filter taped to it. This was on low bringing air in, the other on medium for exhausting. I think it worked very good, just wish there was more room. Cost me about $35 or so and tossed it when I was done.
I have set up several temp booths over the years. Theres lots of ways to do it. Home Depot has large rolls of plastic you can cover a frame made out of whatever you have. Grainger sells a sparkproof exhaust fan I WILL buy before doing it again. I have seen several real paint booths after they burn. The OSHA guy told me its not the fire that kills, but the explosion. It knocks the painter unconscious and he breathes in toxic fumes and dies. A sparkproof fan may be worth the expense. Put air filters low in the wall for intake. A friend suggested that I make a frame out of EMT and pull it up over my workspace when not using it. My roof is 20 ft up. I like his idea.
If you can find a hanging space heater thats a gas unit, they come with explosion proof fans.But they are propeller type so you would need to make a box housing to hold fan.You can also buy total enclosed motor from Grainger and adapt to a furnace fan. You could set up a sprinkler line that shoots out a fine mist of water on the air being removed that would take the fumes out of the air and also keep your neighbors from calling the firedept. when they smell the fumes.
Curt I've done a couple "good"paint jobs out of my old garage. I had to use the same room for bodywork and painting. I put bathroom paneling on the walls(smooth and white) Before I would paint I would blow the garage out with a leaf blower. Then wash everything down really good. Don't forget the door tracks. If you have a 2 car garage split it with plastic sheeting. As far as bugs are concerned they get into those high dollar booths too, just keep a pair of tweezers handy. See ya at the Hoedown Clark
Curt, I strung some braided wire I had, around my garage ceiling perimeter. I then bought a couple of 10'x20' rolls of 4 mil plastic and hung the plastic up on the wire by using old fashioned shower clips. The clips allowed me to slide the plastic out of the way when it wasn't being used. I ran a 'cover' over the top with plastic and let it drape over the sides of the wire. I then cut holes in two opposite ends and taped in a couple of furnace filters in one end to filter the incomming air. In the other end, I hooked up an old 'squirrel fan" from a forced-air furnace (garage sale item) and ran it with a remote mounted 1/4 hp motor I had laying around. The motor, by being away from the booth, reduced any chances of an explosion. I adjusted air flow through the enclosure by changing pulleys on the motor & fan. The set-up was used for several paint jobs and worked like a charm. The total cost was, as I recall, under $20. -Bob
I used to average one car a week for paint jobs in my attached two-car garage. The garage was previously converted to a family room when I bought the house, naturally that shit had to go, but what it left was a hole in the roof where the free-standing fireplace chimney went through. I built a shaft out of plywood about 14x14 that came down from this hole about four feet and then I hung an old furnace blower on the end of it. The blower sucked air from the inside of the garage and blew it up through the roof. To filter the paint out of the exhausted air I cut a slot in the shaft and slid a regular furnace filter into it. When actually painting the car I would hose down the floor and everything around the car, this kept the dust down real well, just be careful how you sling your air hose around! I probably painted over 100 cars in that garage and never thought about sparks from the blower motor causing an explosion, maybe I was just lucky. In those days there was no such thing as HVLP, I used a DeVilbiss MBC gun to shoot lacquer and dupont Centari acrylic.
same as everyone else... i used 6 mil plastic sheeting, on the walls, ceiling, floor... all taped well together. Got some filters, taped them to cutouts in the plastic sheeting... But here's what i did differently... instead of pulling out the exhaust, i forced air INTO the "room" via two standard box fans (each with a filter on it). Among other things, it keeps the dust down, flows the vapors out through the exhaust filters, and keeps the "room" from falling down. Less overspray with a pressurized room, too. Now im building a quickly removable spray booth, cause part of my shop has to double as a paint and fabrication. The exhaust filters (actually made for a booth) are perminant on one side of the area, at floor level, routed to the roof... where they go through a water bath before exiting into the atmosphere. Styrofoam lookin walls (actually that insulation stuff they sell at Home Depot), covered in white hard vinyl wainscoat... the walls just kinda set in place. As for the air going into the booth, i got a blower from a 10 ton HVAC unit, put a sealed motor on that, which goes through two standard furnace filters... so again, it's a pressurized room... and no vapors going through (or near) the fan motor. Lots of lighting... which now im starting to worry about, with the whole "explosion" thing... im sure it's still not legal, 'specially since im in a modified residential neighborhood (i have a shop that is quasi-grandfathered in to the zoning)... and i really dont think they know im painting in it. Or much of anything else i do in there. Supposed to be a woodworking shop. I only work on cars and bikes in it.
Unless you go with an idea like Tagman's, I think it would be best to put a tag on all your parts. A $$$ value on the car parts, so you family can sell them afterwards. And an identifer for each one of YOUR parts, like "left leg" and "eyebrow", so they can be collected and reassembled from your neighbors' yards Sparking, old electrical motors and paint fumes don't mix!
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