Home Made Paintbooth

CSI32005 · Post by **CSI32005** » Sat Jan 07, 2012 12:42 pm

Has anyone made a paintbooth? I am looking to make one and I have searched the internet with no luck. What I am looking for is one where I do not have to vent it outside as it is cold where I live now. Any designs or suggestions on where I can find some is greatly appreciated?

Darth_Vapor · Post by **Darth_Vapor** » Sat Jan 07, 2012 2:17 pm

I noticed this link in the Future discussion a few links down the main page:

http://www.starshipmodeler.com/tech/pa_booth.htm

Looks pretty interesting. I might give it a try myself.

Ziz · Post by **Ziz** » Sat Jan 07, 2012 2:22 pm

Pat likewise told me he was inspired by my original concept from about 10 years ago - http://www.zizolfo.com/family/john/mode ... booth.html

Darth_Vapor · Post by **Darth_Vapor** » Sat Jan 07, 2012 3:32 pm

The plastic tub idea is really clever...

apsilon · Post by **apsilon** » Sat Jan 07, 2012 4:17 pm

Another plastic tub spray booth user here. I only use a 120mm computer fan though. Works well enough.

Best bit is once you spray you can pop the lid on and leave it to dry with no chance of dust floating in.

Beaveranger · Post by **Beaveranger** » Sat Jan 07, 2012 4:30 pm

Here's mine.

Nothing fancy. Just some OSB, 2x2's, and a range hood. Got <$30 in it total. Got the hood for $20 on eBay (new), but they go for a few bucks at an appliance recycle store.

Mr. Badwrench · Post by **Mr. Badwrench** » Sat Jan 07, 2012 9:13 pm

The indoor filter in the bottom half of Pat's article here works really well. It eliminates the need to vent outside. We built the test article in a hotel room and sprayed straight lacquers into it, with no smells or fumes escaping at all.

CSI32005 · Post by **CSI32005** » Mon Jan 09, 2012 3:06 pm

Thanks for the responses so far. I will check out what you have given me so far.

Underlord · Post by **Underlord** » Tue Jan 10, 2012 9:55 am

Darth_Vapor wrote:I noticed this link in the Future discussion a few links down the main page:

http://www.starshipmodeler.com/tech/pa_booth.htm

Looks pretty interesting. I might give it a try myself.

This is what I'm using now, including the indoor filter. It works, but I really want to move up to a pegboard bottomed unit. Before I found these plans and built this version, I used a large cardboard box, bathroom vent unit, and a window screen. The downdraft actually worked a little better.

I picked up some 9" flat fans from hospital ventalators, and I'm looking around for plans to build a spray booth that uses down draft exhaust through pegboard. I plan on building it into my hobby room corner. I'll need a bigger spray booth if I'm ever to tackle a 1/350 starfleet ship!

Underlord · Post by **Underlord** » Tue Jan 10, 2012 10:57 am

Found badgrendel's booth instructions video... and his is what I had in mind!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilIvHM7i ... re=related

greasyspoon · Post by **greasyspoon** » Tue Jan 10, 2012 11:27 am

Here is mine. Its extra cheap. about 15 bucks total. It's not pretty and it works like a charm, stores very small. I plan on building a nice one later on but this works great for me.

http://www.happinessismandatory.com/mis ... _booth.htm

Underlord · Post by **Underlord** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 10:24 am

greasyspoon wrote:Here is mine. Its extra cheap. about 15 bucks total. It's not pretty and it works like a charm, stores very small. I plan on building a nice one later on but this works great for me.

http://www.happinessismandatory.com/mis ... _booth.htm

DUDE, that is INGENOUS! Better airflow than any commercial unit! As long as it's warm enough, it's a GREAT set up!

It gets REALLY cold in Connecticut, so I couldn't use that set up since most of my modeling time is in the winter (gotta ride the motorcycle when I can in the summer).

greasyspoon · Post by **greasyspoon** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 4:55 pm

It is surprisingly not that bad at no letting cold/hot air back in the house. I used the other night and was about 20 degrees, I just shut the door to my hobby room and it really didn't affect the room temp that much. I left it running the whole time. I guess the fan sucked up the incoming air and blew it back out. But if is bad you could cut some card board to make "wings" on the fan to fill the holes on the side but like the sides for window air conditioner. that should help quite a bit. I just put socks on so my feet stayed warm.

But I can't use it if it is raining and blowing water that direction. Other than that the weather doesn't seem to affect it or the room temp.

Chas · Post by **Chas** » Tue Jan 17, 2012 8:43 pm

haven't used this resource yet, but thought it might be useful for someone. it's pretty comprehensive.
http://www.modelersite.com/Abr2003/engl ... gn_Eng.htm

ChrisQ · Post by **ChrisQ** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 12:16 pm

From what I have read here and other places, building a ventilation system that does not go outside is a pipe dream. You'll find contraptions that use buckets and supposedly filter out the fumes but everything that I have read in previous discussions says they don't work and the room ends up stinking anyhow.

Since you are looking for ideas here is my homemade booth. It looks retarded but it's fantastic. I built it completely out of my head with no plans and it shows

It's built on a weird angle so it will fit in the corner of the room and allow for maximum space inside. What you can't see is that I used 3 Delta 120mm 150cfm 12v fans and then built an enclosure to funnel the wind into the duct which is piped outside. If you plan on using a lot of enamels you may want to look at a squirrel cage instead. I had to cut through concrete block, run the pipe, then patch up the concrete and seal it. Works great.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v260/ ... 0053-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v260/ ... CI0114.jpg

NNYGamer · Post by **NNYGamer** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 2:13 pm

I made one ages ago but I hardly use it as my basement sucks (water problems). It needs a bigger fan too since the small squirrel cage doesn't seem to have the power. The floor of the booth is hardware cloth and the sides are heavy plastic. I may redo it this summer as I plan on making a closed off workshop in my garage. It vents into an old vacuum cleaner shell filled with charcoal and kitty litter.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v732/ ... PAINT1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v732/ ... PAINT2.jpg

Mr. Badwrench · Post by **Mr. Badwrench** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 9:23 pm

ChrisQ wrote:From what I have read here and other places, building a ventilation system that does not go outside is a pipe dream. You'll find contraptions that use buckets and supposedly filter out the fumes but everything that I have read in previous discussions says they don't work and the room ends up stinking anyhow.

We built the prototype for this one in a hotel conference room. That evening we sprayed acrylics, enamels, lacquers including Alclad, and even straight lacquer thinner into it, for about an hour and a half. The windows in the room were closed. About half the people in the room didn't know we were using it at all. The others knew only because they came up and watched. One guy asked when we were going to start testing it, unaware that we'd been using it all evening. When we told him, he said that it would probably only work for acrylics, but he wouldn't try anything stronger in it. I was cleaning out the airbrush with lacquer thinner at the time.

ChrisQ · Post by **ChrisQ** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 10:59 pm

Bah I wish you would have noticed the thread that went on as I was getting ready to build mine. It would have saved me about 2 hours of cutting through 8 inches of concrete block

In the end though, I'm glad I built the permanent ventilation. It has worked out great and only one filter to change.

starmanmm · Post by **starmanmm** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 6:58 pm

With all the talk about fans... what about lighting?

What is everyone using?

ChrisQ · Post by **ChrisQ** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 7:14 pm

I am using an 18in enclosed fluorescent fixture from Walmart. I did cut the plug off briefly to wire a switch into the line and add a few more feet of length so I could run it to an outlet.

Does the trick.

starmanmm · Post by **starmanmm** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 10:05 pm

So is fluorescent the way to go... or would using the clear incandescent bulbs be a better choice?

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 11:42 pm

Fluorescent bulbs produce less heat so that if you accidentally (and you will) bump you don't burn yourself.

ChrisQ · Post by **ChrisQ** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 11:52 pm

My booth is pretty large and oddly shaped compared to a tupperware bin or cardboard box, and it's permanent. So I probably have a different perspective than most. I do think an important part of lighting is to paint the booth white so it's more efficient.

Florescent - pros:
low profile and out of the way, soft light, lasts long time, no discernible heat. The whole booth is bright without being blinding and is evenly lit.
cons: unless you have florescent lighting where your model will be displayed, the paint colors can look pretty different in the booth than out. However the color is chosen and mixed before you get in the booth so I just spray even and ignore the tone until it's dry and back on the bench.

Incandescent - pros: will give truer light with regards to color tones because it's closer to sunlight and the other lamps in your house. That's all I got.
cons: The cone shaped lamp holder hanging down getting in the way, they give off a decent amount of heat, bulbs burn out faster, and you either have one point of light meaning shadows all over the place or you combat that by hanging several lamps spread out creating even more heat and having multiple cords.

It seemed like no contest to me.

starmanmm · Post by **starmanmm** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 9:20 am

Currently, I am relocating and I do have a booth... large enough to do a 350 scale starship. The inside was painted white.

How I use to light it was with incandescents clipped to the edge of the booth. But now I am thinking of installing lighting from the top. I picked up, from a rehab store, a light bracket which holds 3 lights ($5). They also had a bracket for flourencents, but I can get that later for $5 also.

So, I just was wondering which lighting is better?

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u88/ ... 0008-1.jpg

Here is a shot of how the setup use to be... want to get rid of the fish tank light on top.

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