Building my own paint booth

ionic1000 · Post by **ionic1000** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 9:29 pm

I have been wanting a spray booth for quite some time now. But I must admit I have been leary considering the hefty price tag. So I put it off in favor of just painting on a table on the front porch. Winter is fast approaching and I would prefer not freezing off my nether regions trying to make that perfect coat(plus the shaking probably won't help!

) As far as building the box and so forth I believe I can handle that well but what about a exhaust fan. I have been considering using a bathroom ceiling fan vent thingy but I am unsure how much CFM I need! Any suggestions you can give would be appreciated especially if I forgot something!

ionic1000 · Post by **ionic1000** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 8:05 pm

BTW: I run a badger 360 airbrush with a tabletop compressor if it matters!

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 8:14 pm

My rule of thumb, if you want enough cfm to spray damned near anything, if 80cfm per cubic foot of booth. Use a furnace filter to take care of the particulates & vent the rest outside.

ionic1000 · Post by **ionic1000** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 8:21 pm

I've heard some people talk about making sure the exhaust fan is explosion proof, is that something I should worry about? How would I know that? Any perticular exhaust fan/ blower/ pump I should look for?

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 8:36 pm

What you want is a blower that doesn't have the motor in the airflow.

Unlike most household vent fans.

photoguy · Post by **photoguy** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 9:04 pm

One of our IPMS chapter members posted an interesting article on our web-site. http://www.ipmstristate.org/tipsanddisasters.htm

Not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for, but I hope it helps.

Pat Amaral · Post by **Pat Amaral** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 1:11 am

Here are a few pics of the booth I built a couple years ago. I used a standard bathroom fan. I'm not sure what the fan's cfm rating is but it's served me well (even when using rattle cans). It's not the kind that's considered "safe" (the motor is in the path of he airflow" but it hasn't exploded on my yet.

ionic1000 · Post by **ionic1000** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 7:19 am

I never even thought of using one of those tubs as a booth! (Rethinking everything now!) Has anyone ever had one blow up on them?

Lichtbringer · Post by **Lichtbringer** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 7:40 am

Are you looking for something like that?

http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/cc35 ... ild041.jpg

Pat Amaral · Post by **Pat Amaral** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 10:44 am

I can't take credit for the plastic tub idea. Folks have been building paint booths out of tupperware/rubbermaid tubs for years. I actually took my que from another member on these boards (I think it was Ziz?).

This sort of design comes in handy in a bunch of ways. For one, it's relatively portable. I can just put all the pieces and parts of the booth inside and put the top on to get it out of the way if need be. Also, being able to put the top on allows me to use the booth as a relatively dust free drying environment. After painting is done, I just close the lid and leave the fan on. Seems to help with drying times in the right conditions too.

Devin · Post by **Devin** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 11:37 am

Here's a few step-by-step shots of how I built my plastic tub spray booth:

http://www.devinjpoore.com/models/booth.htm

I've been tweaking this design for the past 15 years or so, I made the first one out of a 20mm Phalanx ammo box while in the Navy; a little small, but I was only doing D&D figures back then. Since these photos I've upgraded the fan mount in the window so that it's one-piece and much nicer to look at.