Building a portable spray booth

[Salamander]

Some time ago I moved to a flat. Although I usually use brushes for my painting, I have to use spray paints from time to time.
I could paint on the balcony, but my mother is afraid I'll paint the windows.
She suggests I use the shed. I don't like this, because the shed has horrible ventilation and no electricity for a fan and is quite dusty.

So as far as I can figure it out the best option is building a spray booth. Now the flat I live in is a typical Dutch flat, meaning it's kinda small. My hobby room is a 2.5m by 4m affair in the attic, which has loads of shelves and a desk that take up most of the room.
So the spray booth needs to be portable, unlike most of the booths I've seen on here, so I can easily store it when it's not in use. The largest items I need to spray-paint are RC car bodies, which are no larger than 50x20x20 cm. How large a spray booth would I need to be able to safely paint them?

Another issue is ventilation. The room's window is a rotating 'Velux' roof window that's mounted at about a 45 degree angle in the roof. When open, there's a hole both above and below the window.
I suspect the best way to get ventilation done would be to feed a sufficiently long tube through the lower hole, and to stuff the remaining holes with card-board or wooden inserts held in with tape or something...

[modelnut]

I have the same problem.

I was using a utility closet. I had a cardboard box that I used for a "spray booth". Been using it for about six years with no problem. Then I had to clean out the closet . . . The over-spray had become a thick layer of dust that covered the floor and almost every other horizontal surface. Nothing was ruined but it was a major hassle to clean.

I have an additional problem --- no ventilation. I work a graveyard shift and have all my windows covered. So I can't stick anything like a vent in the window.

But I still need a spray booth.

A friend is helping me out. He sent me plans for a booth that cleans the over-spray and paint fumes out of the air so that I don't need to stick an exhaust vent out of the window. The booth uses two filters. The main filter is a simple dust/furnace filter that you can get even at a grocery store here in the States --- it takes care of the over-spray. The second filter scrubs the smell and is made from activated charcoal. I can set it on a desk or card table and spray away.

I haven't actually built the booth yet though. My water heater exploded and flooded my apartment. That has put the project on hold.

Send me a PM with your email address and I will gladly send you the plans.

-Leelan

[Kylwell]

I've ran across plans for building a collapsible booth, even drew some up myself. The big cost, and the biggest cost of any spray booth, is the blower unit. You can never have too many CFMs. Mine runs 80cfm per cubic foot of booth area. Sucks everything out.

Now, ventilation. Somewhere around here is a discussion about using a 5 gallon plastic bucket to build a filter can. The one problem with this, as has been discovered, is that it needs a fairly high CFM blower to drive air through it. But it can be done.

[Salamander]

This will probably sound like a stupid question, but what does CFM and cpf mean?

[Kylwell]

This will probably sound like a stupid question, but what does CFM and cpf mean?

CFM: Cubic Feet per Minute, how much air a blower moves.

cpf: my crappy typing skills @ work again (meant to type cfm).

[Newbie Doobie]

I just use a 2X4 frame with plastic sheeting(visqueen) stapled over it with a hole cut into one of the 2X4s' for a vent tube. You need an explosion proof fan to mount into a spraybooth to keep fire out,but this works for me in a pinch.

[Pat Amaral]

I built a booth from a plastic storage bin, a bathroom fan, a small fluorescent light, a dryer vent/hose and some electrical bits. It has served me well. It's also pretty portable. I just put the vent and hose assembly inside and close the lid. the fan sticks out the back but it's not a problem to carry the rig around.

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[ronronzz]

I have the same problem.

I was using a utility closet. I had a cardboard box that I used for a "spray booth". Been using it for about six years with no problem. Then I had to clean out the closet . . . The over-spray had become a thick layer of dust that covered the floor and almost every other horizontal surface. Nothing was ruined but it was a major hassle to clean.

I have an additional problem --- no ventilation. I work a graveyard shift and have all my windows covered. So I can't stick anything like a vent in the window.

But I still need a spray booth.

A friend is helping me out. He sent me plans for a booth that cleans the over-spray and paint fumes out of the air so that I don't need to stick an exhaust vent out of the window. The booth uses two filters. The main filter is a simple dust/furnace filter that you can get even at a grocery store here in the States --- it takes care of the over-spray. The second filter scrubs the smell and is made from activated charcoal. I can set it on a desk or card table and spray away.

I haven't actually built the booth yet though. My water heater exploded and flooded my apartment. That has put the project on hold.

Send me a PM with your email address and I will gladly send you the plans.

-Leelan

think you had so much to fix even your filter here




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Furnace Filter