Topic: Building a paint booth to paint my bike, question about static

[manjisann]

I am building a 7 foot x 7foot x 7foot paint booth to do my painting in as the garage is very very dusty. I built it out of 2x4 and 6mil visqueen plastic. The plastic is has a lot of static on it already, and once I start running the filtration/ventilation system the air flow will just cause more. Does anyone have any suggestions on ways to combat this? I have thought of running a bare grounding wire on all the inner surfaces to collect and remove the static, does anyone thing this idea would work? My second concern is safety related, if the static charge gets big enough and sparks while I'm spraying, there is a possibility of it igniting the fumes. I've managed to avoid publicity this long, I'd rather not be a headline on the evening news.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Brandon

[sangyo soichiro]

I don't have a ready solution for you, but I don't think it's as easy as just connecting a ground, because the plastic is not a good conductor of electricity.  If it were, then the ground wire would work great. 


The only idea I have, off the cuff, would be to brush the plastic with a conductor that has a ground wire connected to it.  Maybe an old metal rake would do.  The ground connection simply needs to be a wire attached to the conductor at one end and to a metal stake in the ground at the other.  Will this work?  I don't know.

I'm sure there are better ways.  I'd bet there is some material you could buy (like a cloth, or some special steel wool or something) that is made specially for this sort of thing.  I just don't know what it is.

I wonder if it would get rid of the static if you hosed down the plastic with water?  Might give that a try if it's feasible. 

Static electricity builds up easier when the ambient air is dry (such as in winter).  In humid conditions, there is much less static buildup.  However, I don't think it's recommended to paint in high humidity.  It's sort of a catch-22.


Anyone know how the professional painters deal with this problem?

[kghost]

They don't paint in plastic booths......

Why not ground the gun?

[luder]

Spray the plastic before hand with mist of water- you could ground your part to the floor but I dont think it would help much-wet her down...luder

[mcuozzo]

How about an anti-static spray?  Used to use them in a previous life when working on computers.  It's a temporary solution but you could spray the booth every once in a while to keep the static down.

[manjisann]

My mom suggested an anti static spray, would soaking a rag in it and then wiping the walls down work? Could also try water as well as it would get rid of the dirt that has clung to the wall as well.

Am I seriously the first one who has tried painting in a booth like this??

Brandon

[blackhog02]

Painted the 750 frame a few weeks ago.  Just hung the plastic from the garage door rails.  This is the second bike I have done this way.  It was a little breazy outside so I had to weight down the plastic.  Make sure you have a good resparator and cover the floor if you dont want it painted.

http://www.mptrackclub.com/photos/cb750_k1/DSC07344.JPG
http://www.mptrackclub.com/photos/cb750_k1/DSC07384.JPG

Here is the other bike I did in the garage.
http://www.mptrackclub.com/photos/cb550/cb550_paint.JPG
finished product
http://www.mptrackclub.com/photos/cb550/cb550_stripe.JPG

[Retro Rocket]

I don't know if you can buy it in the US but in Aus you can buy big rolls of antistatic plastic.
It works very well.

Mick

[blackhog02]

Manjisann,

Just move out of UT and come here to SC where the humidity is 80-90% and your static problem will be solved.

[tech10]

My cousin auto paints and to keep dust down he said the best thing to do in a garage is pour water on the floor. Worked for me. I also used plastic for walls.

[Mdub]

Actually, the static on the walls is a good thing as it attracts and holds onto the dust.
Wetting the floor, counter intuatively, causes a dirtier paint job in that the high evaporation rate in a booth actually suspends the dust from the floor to your paint.
Sweep and vacuum before painting. Most dust and dirt will float to the top of the paint, making it easy to remove with your prep sanding between coats.
Also, vigorously shake out your hair (outside the booth) and wear a cotton "hoodie", dual cartridge respirator and a Tyvec suit. Try these things and you'll be surprised how little crud you get in the paint.
Regards,
Mike 

[manjisann]

I have a full tyvec suit with hoodie, and built myself a full face positive pressure respirator, so I'm not worried about that 

I did a google search and someone pointed out that laundry softener gets rid of static, so I'll mix some of that with water in a spray bottle and wipe down everything. I've got paint booth air filters, so I am not too worried about dust, though I expect some will fall on it.

I was more worried about the static build up causing a spark and them BOOM, all the problems in my life are solved 

I'll post and let everyone know if it works.

Brandon

[mystic_1]

I've painted in a "plastic spray booth" like that many times and haven't exploded yet.

mystic_1

[pdrides]

In regard to explosions. It can be dangerous. As long a you have good ventilation you should be okay, don't let the fumes build up to much and keep all your electrical switch's and connections outside the plastic.
 
 

[mystic_1]

In regard to explosions. It can be dangerous. As long a you have good ventilation you should be okay, don't let the fumes build up to much and keep all your electrical switch's and connections outside the plastic.

Quite right!  If the fumes build up enough to create a potentially dangerous environment, you don't have enough ventilation to begin with.  I like to build air movers into my "ghetto spray booths" using a combination of cheap box fans and furnace filters.  Oh, and duct tape of course.  Vent outwards with filters on intake side of the fan.


mystic_1

[manjisann]

In regard to explosions. It can be dangerous. As long a you have good ventilation you should be okay, don't let the fumes build up to much and keep all your electrical switch's and connections outside the plastic.

Quite right!  If the fumes build up enough to create a potentially dangerous environment, you don't have enough ventilation to begin with.  I like to build air movers into my "ghetto spray booths" using a combination of cheap box fans and furnace filters.  Oh, and duct tape of course.  Vent outwards with filters on intake side of the fan.


mystic_1

I agree. I did a ton of research and thinking on this subject (just didn't think about static  )  I have a box fan on the intake side of the booth, with the paint booth filters after it, then there will be an exhaust vent with a tunnel that goes all the way to the outside of the garage, and a filter in it to cut down on any paint spray that might get on things I don't want it to. I'm using 120watt equivalent Compact flourescent spot bulbs outside of the plastic to light it. Unfortunately I don't think they will be enough, gonna probably have to set up some halogen lights as well, but further away from the plastic so it doesn't melt.

After all this thought and prep work, sure hope the paint comes out nice 

Brandon

[mystic_1]

Rather than using the fan on the intake side, and having a cross flow of air, consider putting your fan on the output at floor level and put the intake up high near the top.  Poor man's down-draft spray booth.  Better control of overspray, dust, etc.

mystic_1

[Mdub]

I made such a spray booth and did 5 custom paint jobs using HOK polyurethanes in a 2 yr period.
(dang my old hard drive crashed and I lost all my pics
It really helps to set up some 8 ft flourescent fixtures, 1 along the ceiling and one along each wall.
These will allow you to see any 'waves and ripples' as you see the reflection of a wavy light in your primer when  you're wet sanding it. As far as flammability, if you're using lacquers you'd have a problem. However, polyurethanes and their reducers aren't nearly as volatile.
I was painting in the dead of winter in Michigan, and as a test, took my propane-open-flame-behind-glass-panel-heater outside, loaded my HVLP gun with polyurethane clear and reducer and sprayed it right at the heater! LOL!
All it did was 'vaporize' the spray no matter how much I tried for some fireworks.
I kept it on the floor in the booth in front of the fresh air intake,
so fumes really never 'saw' much of my heater, with no problems.
Now, if you have a hard time seeing because of sooo much vapor/overspray, leave the booth and let it clear out awhile.
It's all about vapor concentrations, when they get to a certain level, whether it be fumes or even flour/grain dust, you WILL have problems. I really can't recommend halogen lights as they will make your booth hot and don't offer much 'usable' light as it is so concentrated. They do make good supplemental heat in the winter though.
Have fun with your booth, few things are as rewarding as a beeautiful shiny paint job you did yourself!