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I'm thinking of making or buying a small spray booth for use in my garage. I need something no larger than 8'w x 8'l x 6'h. I use an Earlex and need it for finishing furniture. If you are aware of plans or merchants that might sell such a spray booth I'd like to know. Thanks.
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Would it work for you if you just suspended plastic from some rails hanging on the ceiling. That what I do, I've switched from the plastic to 8' long shower curtain liners but it seems to work fairly well. I hang a frame of 1.5" PVC that's about 8' by 8' square (8' tall shop) and then the plastic, when I'm done it all comes down and gets stored.
I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.
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Thanks Fred. That might work well. Since I don't spray often I would like something simple and easily portable. If you have a picture that would sure help.
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Similar to what Fred does, I use the overhead door rails, PVC pipe and the cheap plastic tarps from H-F along with cheap shower curtain hangers. Sorry no pics.
If you continue to cut corners, you'll end up going in circles!
It's my thumb so I'll hit it if I want to!
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My spray booth is just a 2x4 frame with 6 mil plastic stretched over it and two fans to exhaust air. I think it is a total of about 5000 cfm of air flow. Air input is just a hole in the wall with HVAC filters covering it. The door is just a light framed door with plastic stretched over it that seals pretty well when the fans come on. Light comes from the outside so I didn't need to worry about explosion proof lighting. One thing that is really nice is that when the plastic starts to get nasty with finish you just rip it off and staple on some more. I have seen people use PVC piping to build the same type of set up I have.
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A friend of mine sprays a lot of motorcycle stuff.
He built a PVC frame with 3/4" pipe from the Borg.
He got some cheap clear shower curtain liners from the dollar store & hung them with those old type curtain hangers.
He uses a 20" box fan with a filter strapped to it using a bungee cord.
Apparently it works fine for him. I think he has about $60 in it, including the fan.
It's a big step up for him. He used to use old cardboard boxes he got for free.
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Jim, I don't have any pics of my setup. If I get the chance I'll try to get it assembled later today and take a few. Honesty, it couldn't be any simpler. I bought 4 pieces of pipe and 4 tees then made a simple frame. Hooks into the ceiling allow me to hang it and then the shower curtain liners go on with shower curtain hooks. When I was using plastic I tried taping it to the pipe with duct tape, which was kind of a PITA, hence the 8' long shower curtain liners (Amazon).
I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.
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I converted my old darkroom into a spray booth. It is set up as a clean room, that is I have filtered air blown into the room. This forces all the dust out, and gives me fresh air. The flow is good because I have provided vents around the room. I turn off the fan outside the room. So I can open the door and dust does not come it, it blows out. It also eliminates any sparking issues if you are using lacquer. The filter is between the fan and the room and it it blowing in.
This is the right setup for a spray booth (or a darkroom). Exhaust fans are exactly the wrong setup for a spray booth or a darkroom.
As for construction, the simplest and cheapest is my route. I used sheet rock on both sides of 2 x 4s. The intake fan is simply a box fan bungeed to the side of a 16" x 16" opening. A 20" fine furnace filter is placed between the fan and the opening.
I needed to make light traps for my vents so I mounted a metal vent high on the inside of the room and another low on the outside of the room. This works well for the dust too as the dust falls to the bottom and remains in the cavities between the 2 x 4s. I have four exhaust ducts and one intake. The box fan was about $20.00 and moves a lot of air. The good 3M filters are about $12.00 but last a long time. The fiberglass cheapo filters are not good enough for darkroom work. They might be good enough for spraying but since the filter has lasted several years I would not go all cheapo on the filter.
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